Tiara Miles 02-7-13 EDUC: 323

Knowing the Classroom

The classroom is one of the most important aspects of education. This is where students spend the majority of their day and time at school. Teachers must ensure that the classroom is an effective learning environment. This is carried out through organization, arrangement, and management. In this paper I will be sharing how my mentor teacher Mr. Hodges is energetic, organized, arranged, and manages he classroom very effectively. An important component of running an effective classroom that promotes learning is the organization of the classroom. This includes, where materials, student items, and equipment are stored. Mr. Hodges class is organized very well. My first day there I instantly noticed how put up and neat the entire class was. The materials Mr. Hodges used on a daily base were all located on his makeshift workstation/desk that is positioned at the front of the class room. This includes textbooks, student worksheets, and any other resource or curriculum materials that are being utilized that day. On the work station there is a lab top, projector, and in front of the entire class is a smart board. By placing all his materials and equipment on the workstation everything is easily accessible. This minimizes down time because the teacher doesnt h ave to run back and forth to his desk in order to get the needed materials. Important papers such as referrals and any papers that need to be taken home with students from the school are

stored on the teachers actual desk and passed out at the end of the school day. The time is displayed on the classroom television which is located at the upper right hand corner of the classroom. Student belongings such as back packs are neatly placed at each childs cubby. They place the backpacks there at the beginning of the class and take out whatever papers and textbooks they will need for the day. Backpacks are then off limits until the end of the day. This keeps the students safe and less distracted. Arrangement also plays an important role in how effective a classrooms learning environment is. Mr. Hodgess classroom is arranged in a way that is student centered and promoted teamwork and teambuilding skills. While most teachers tend to work from their desk, Mr. Hodgess is rarely at his actual desk he has set up a work center in the middle of the classroom so that he can be closer and more active with his students. He has arranged the student desks in groups of four..Mr. Hodges arrangement is student centered and friendly and it promotes teamwork and team building skills. One of the most important aspects of ensuring an effective classroom is behavior management. Mr. Hodges class is generally a well behaved class. Mr. Hodges is a single gender instructor. The first half of his class is all boys and the second half is all girls. I came to visit the second half of the day so I observed how he interacts with the young ladies. I could tell that the rules had been implemented at the beginning of the school year and that the girls have a clear understanding of the rules and they abide by them.In order to move around the classroom during instruction, the ladies must first raise her hand and ask for permission to move out of their seat for whatever reason.

A system that I have noticed about the way Mr. Hodges implements in his classroom is the student centered atmosphere. Ive noticed that the environment is focused more on student guided learning and Mr. Hodges serves as a monitor. Students are actively involved in each lesson, there are even times when they lead the discussion and Mr. Hodges facilitates. If there is a student not involved the teacher will call them into the discussion by asking their opinion on a certain topic or to give a example of what is being discussed. I found the environment both interesting and effective. Mr. Hodges also works one on one with the students. Once he assigned and essay to the students, he walked around helping students individually. At the end of the day I was able to sit and talk Mr. Hodges. He has been an educator for 10 years. He has been doing singled gender instruction for 4 years. His all boys classroom is composed of 21 African American males. His girls classroom is composed of 21 African American females and 1 Indian female who is a ESOL student. Brook dale is a fairly small school with an average of 350 students. The majority of the students are African American. Teachers must ensure that the classroom is an effective learning environment. This is carried out through organization, arrangement, and management. Every teacher will manage his or her classroom differently, and this is fine. Whats most important is that they all have the same outcome; a classroom that fosters an effective learning environment.