www.coursera.org Commonwealth Education Trust FOUNDATIONS OF TEACHING FOR LEARNING 2: BEING A TEACHER Week 4.

PEER ASSESSMENT TWO Student: urea N. Anguiano Snchez

CREATING A POSITIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

These past weeks Professor Dennis Francis (2013, Coursera) has explained us the importance of different factors that influence our teaching and that we must reflect on in order to engage and motivate our students, such as language in the classroom, the conditions and behavior settings, the educational needs of our students as well as their different learning styles, the public educational policies, the philosophy of education of our workplace, and even our own beliefs and values. In the conditions and behavior settings issue, one of the key components towards an effective learning is providing a positive environment when we are teaching (see Figure 1) so students are more receptive for meaningful learning. In order to understand the construct positive learning environment it is important to define its components: The Online Edition of the Oxford Dictionary defines the word POSITIVE as good, constructive, showing
progress or improvement, encouraging, beneficial, rich and effective (University of Oxford, 'positive'). Learning environment refers to the use and organization of the space in your classroom, the daily schedule and routines, and the social and emotional atmosphere (Teaching Strategies Inc. 2010, 61). So, the idea of a positive learning environment is pretty much what the Queensland Government has pointed out in Figure 1. Key Components for Effective Learning. their Learning and Wellbeing Framework: The core business In order to reach academic and behavioral expectations in of schools is to provide students with a rich learning the classroom, it is essential to establish a rapport with environment that is open, respectful, caring and safe. students in a positive environment. (Learning Environment, deta.qld.gov.au) 1
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This Framework provides interesting data and information that can be a good resource for Professional Development. It is available online and you can download it here: http://deta.qld.gov.au/initiatives/learningandwellbeing/resources/learning-and-wellbeing-framework.pdf

This matter has been treated in different ways by various authors and learning theories, putting less or more emphasis either on the physical, social and/or emotional aspects of the concept 2 (Stone McNeeley 2007): Behaviorists believe that learning occurs when a change in behavior is noticeable due to environmental stimuli, so the learning environment must be specific-oriented in order to avoid undesirable stimuli. Cognitivists rely on the social environment to acquire new knowledge, infusing the classroom syllabus with meaningful interaction that provide deep and authentic experiences. Constructivists express that the learning should never be forced, so it requires an environment that must be authentic with relevant learning experiences, so motivation and thirst for knowledge will appear naturally. While studying my major in language teaching, I was exposed to different language learning theories, and one that came to me as soon as I read the topic for this assignment was Suggestopedia 3. Why? Because it is a curious, interesting and somewhat effective teaching method, developed by the Bulgarian psychotherapist Georgi Lozanov, that has an affective-humanistic approach in which there is respect for students feelings and its goal is to help students eliminate the feeling that they cannot be successful or the negative association they may have toward studying and, thus, to help them overcome the barriers to learning (Larsen-Freeman 2000, 73). Some of the principles found in this philosophy of teaching that have proven to be useful include2: Learning is facilitated in a bright and cheerful environment the use of light, color and texture, relaxing music, sitting comfortably in a more interactive-inducing way (see Image 1); students can learn from what is present in the environment, even if their attention is not directed to it (peripheral learning); multisensory teaching strategies are implemented (dramatization, use of fine arts, visualauditory-kinetic activities); display student work and accomplishments, the teacher speaks with confidence and encourages student interaction; etc. Suggestopedia breaks a lot of the rules found in traditional methods, some of them in a good way; others havent proven to be effective, but the ones mentioned can be incorporated in a more eclectic approach.

Image 1. Suggestopedia type classroom This educational philosophy looks for ways to lower the learning barriers by providing a safe, friendly and relaxing environment in the classroom.
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The ideas presented in this section are rather simplistic in regards of the theories they come from but were given just to realize the important role of the learning environment has had in the learning process. 3 Suggestopedia is also known as Desuggestopedia due to the focus on dessugestive learning. It has been used mainly in language teaching scenarios but many of its principles may apply in other teaching areas.

I am also aware that sometimes we have our hands a bit (or a lot) tied to be able to promote the positive changes we would want in the classroom because the learning environment is determined and limited by the classroom facilities and the flexibility within the school policies. Anyhow, within our resources and capabilities it is our job as teachers to use our creativity and passion for teaching to create a learning environment that optimizes wellbeing, provides opportunities for all students to participate learn, is well organized, respectful, exciting and stimulating.

Bibliography
Commonwealth Education Trust. 2013. Foundations of Teaching for Learning 2: Becoming a Teacher. Accessed 10 2013. https://class.coursera.org/teach2-001/class. Larsen-Freeman, Diane. 2000. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. OECD. 2009. Creating Effective Teaching and Learning Environments - First Results from TALIS. Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), OECD Publishing. Queensland Government. n.d. Learning Environment. Accessed 10 16, 2013. http://deta.qld.gov.au/initiatives/learningandwellbeing/learning-environment.html. Stevick, Earl W. 1996. Memory, Meaning and Method: A view of Language Teaching. 2. Rowley, Massachusetts: Heinle ELT (Newbury House). Accessed 10 16, 2013. Stone McNeeley, Rebecca. 2007. Theories of Learning. Accessed 2013. http://web.utk.edu/~rmcneele/classroom/theories.html. Teaching Strategies Inc. 2010. "The Creative Curriculum." Chapter 2. http://www.teachingstrategies.com/content/pageDocs/CC4_Ch2_exrpt.pdf. University of Oxford. n.d. "Definition of 'positive' in Oxford Dictionary (British & World English)." Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Accessed 10 14, 2013. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/positive.

Images and Figure References:

Coursera. Coursera logo, 2013. Online Image. MarketWired, 17 Oct 2013. http://media.marketwire.com/attachments/201304/60575_coursera_logo.jpg Commonwealth Education Trust. CET Trademark graphic representation. 19 July 2011. Online Image. markify.com, 17 Oct 2013. http://www.markify.com/images/ctm/originals/010134336.JPG Figure 1. Image taken from http://www.tackboardsunlimited.com/images/boards/4-puzzle.jpg and modified by urea Anguiano. Adapted from the concept and image LearningEnvironment.gif found in http://myresearchbaseit.wikispaces.com/my+literature+review+2 Image 1. Suggestopedia Online image, 17 Oct 2013. http://metodologiediinsegnamentodellelinguestraniere.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/suggestopedia.jpg

For Further Reading:

http://metodologiediinsegnamentodellelinguestraniere.wordpress.com/tag/method/ In this website, Ingrid Lpez explains the differences among the different methods in language teaching, but they can be helpful for teaching in general. http://deta.qld.gov.au/initiatives/learningandwellbeing/resources/learning-and-wellbeing-framework.pdf