Running Head: CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT PLAN

Classroom Environment Plan

What I Have Observed and How I Plan to Use it

Grand Valley State University

Brieann Ricketts
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Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport

I read an article about students being more and more disengaged in school and one way thought

to solve this is by creating positive learning environments (Shernoff et al.,2017, p. 202). This got

me thinking about how to create an environment that will excite and engage my students and I

think that this all begins with how I set the tone at the beginning of the semester. I will have set

expectations for my students but I would also like them to tell me what they expect of

themselves. My goal is to keep my expectations to myself and have students work together in

small groups in order to create a set of expectations for themselves as a class. I think that by

doing this students will feel as though they have a say in class and will in turn make good

decisions and use their good judgement when creating this list of expectations for themselves. I

would also like for them to create a list of what they expect of me. This will give me an idea as

to how each class feels and what they would like in class. I can then go over these expectations

with the class and create a plan for each class individually. By including my students in creating

this Social Contract, although this is not what I want to call it, I want my students to feel

respected and gain a sense of responsibility in my class because I have given them this initial

task that is typically dictated by teachers.

Establishing a Culture for Learning

I would like to create a culture for learning in my classroom by the way I set it up, by the way I

present myself and by the way I interact with my students and present them with information,

expectations, and assignments. Nelson et. al. discusses how to create a positive classroom

environment through management strategies which “include adjusting the physical structure of
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the room, reducing the time between activities, consistently reinforcing positive behavior, and

explicitly teaching rules and procedures” (Nelson et. al., 2015, p. 17). Before reading this article

I had ideas in regards to each of the statements made here which helped me to understand the

section of the article and better put in words what I want for my own classroom.

I have a specific plan in place for how I want to physically set up my room. It is a way in which I

feel will foster the highest level of learning for my students. I have also been working on my

transitions between topics in class and making sure things are moving without too much time

between each. I observed a class at the beginning of the year and the teacher was telling me how

his goal is to always be going so that students cannot lose focus and always have something to

do. I really liked what he had to say about this and want to make it a goal of mine because what

he said made sense. Reinforcing positive behavior is so important in a classroom and I think that

this is one of the things I have spent the least amount of time on because I am having a hard time

coming up with ideas without knowing who my students may be and what is going to be most

beneficial for them. As for explicitly teaching rules and behaviors, my goal is to establish these

in the beginning of the year and by giving the students the ability to establish them my hope is

that they follow them better. This is another one of those things though, that I feel are

circumstantial and need to fit each individual class.

Managing Classroom Procedures

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In the Wong and Wong text, it poses the thought “how much easier life would be if the teachers

supported each other with routines that were consistent from classroom to classroom” in regards

to classes within schools and districts (Wong and Wong, p.129). Where I think this is a great idea

in theory, I have to disagree because I think that will lead to students feeling as though they are

robots and have no safe space or solace if they don’t feel safe with the standard procedures. In

my class, I would like to be different in that students feel safe coming to me and don’t regard me

as a teacher like all the rest but one that they can trust to come to and learn from.

I would like to set up some sort of bell ringer for the beginning of each class to at least get

students settled and give them something to focus on at the start of class rather than just coming

in with nothing to do. Giving them a task right away, that they expect daily, will ideally make

transitioning into the lesson for the day much simpler because students should be focused.

Managing Student Behavior

This is one aspect of my classroom that I am having a hard time conceptualizing. I have observed

and read many examples of managing behavior and have yet to come up with a solid plan for

what I want to do. I have seen a Three Strikes You’re Out program where students who don’t

clean up after themselves or who cannot focus in class are given three warnings over the course

of a week and then receive a detention. My mentor teacher uses a Green Means Go policy in

which students can get sent into the hallway for being disrespectful and need to fill out a Green

Means Go worksheet in order to gain re entry into the room. Although I think these are good

ideas, they don’t fit what I want in my classroom. When it comes down to it, I think that I will
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have a general idea in place and then alter it to fit each class. My ultimate goal is to establish

expectations in the beginning of the semester and have a good enough relationship with the vast

majority of my students that we don’t have many issues with behavior. I understand that this is

somewhat of a pipe dream but I think that it is a good goal to have and to strive for.

One thing that I have adapted in just the handful of times that I have taught in my placement is

asking my students for their ears. It seems to work well when they get off task. I have this

aversion to using hand signals or clapping to get student attention at the high school level. When

I think about this I go back to my high school days and remember how much I hated teachers

that clapped at us or raised their hands because it made me feel like a child. This is far from how

I want my students to think of me.

Organizing Physical Space

I think that the physical space of the classroom is crucial in creating a positive and comfortable

environment for students and myself as a teacher. In my placement, I have been fortunate enough

to see many different classroom set ups and I think that I have a quite precise way I would like to

set up my room in order to create the most positive environment.

Thinking back to my own high school experience and what I have observed recently, I think that

to have my desk or my space either on the side of the room or in the back of the room will be the

most beneficial to both my students and myself. Although I have not witnessed any teacher desk

areas in the back of a room, the teacher at my diversity experience had her space on the side of
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the room and I thought it was awesome. She wasn’t always front and center in the room and it

seemed more private being on the side. She did have a desk at the front of the room with her

document camera and some other teaching tools but that is not where she spent her time unless

she was using what was in that area. For students, I think that a teacher space being anywhere but

at the front of the room can be more comforting because if they need to go to the desk, they are

not doing it directly in front of the rest of the class. To me, this is also less of a distraction to

students because their eyes will be away from me and they can focus on what they are supposed

to be doing. I have noticed that in some cases, students get distracted by trying to focus more on

what the teacher is doing at their desk than on what their own task was. As a teacher, this gives

me the ability to have my own space without student eyes on me constantly.

I would much prefer my students to have their eyes on tools that I have placed around the room

and on the wall to aid them in their academic adventure. Having a room full of examples and

ideas is very important to me because I think that it will make my room more inviting and less

stressful because students will come to know how to use each of the tools to complete their tasks.

I do not plan on having anything that will not be useful or benefit them. I also think that it will be

effective to have any physical tools or supplies that students may need, readily available and not

hidden so that they can quickly and quietly retrieve what they need and continue their work with

minimal distraction.

Reflective statement that defines how your learning environment and experiences are

supported through the use of technology

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By using Google Classroom I am creating an environment where my students know everything

they have done and everything that is coming up. Nothing will be a surprise to them. This will

also be a place for everything to be in one place if they need another copy or if they miss a day of

class. I would like for this to be very detailed but easy to navigate so all students have everything

that they need and can keep at least my class organized and relatively stress free. This should

also make my life less stressful because I can direct absent students to the website to do missed

work and I can post and pull assignments directly from the website in order to assign or grade.

In terms of using technology for experiences, I think that if I can figure out how to effectively

incorporate Smart Board use in many of my lessons I can create a fun learning environment

where my students are willing and wanting to learn because they enjoy it. The idea of students

wanting to come to class to learn makes me look forward to having my own classroom and

finding ways to excite my students and get them engaged in class.

Organizing an Online Environment using CourseSites

My mentor teacher is a tech savvy human being and has been amazing enough to give me many

ideas on how to use technology and the internet to create classroom websites and organize them

in a way that makes sense to both students and teachers. She has given me the ability to access

all of her sites and even edit them in order to help with our classes. I would like to definitely

have Google Classroom set up for each of my classes. This seems to be the most user friendly
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site which is important for me because I am an oldschool technological caveman. I understand

that there are many web bases that I could use to create a space for my students but I don’t want

to overwhelm them with websites when I could have everything on Google Classroom.

How Technology Impacts your School Environment

While I love Smart Boards, I have not yet thought of many ways to use them in an English

classroom for my high school students. This may be because in my placement, although we have

one, my mentor doesn’t know how to use it and I am not sure of the program that is available and

if I can do all of the functions with it. I would love to have one in my classroom and I would

make an effort to use it for each unit or most of them to get my students up and moving and

using their brains in ways that they are not used to in high school classes. I think that it is

important for students to have a light, fun atmosphere that is getting them thinking without

straining their brains or even realizing that they are learning.

Beliefs about Effective Teaching and Facilitating your Classroom

I believe that if I establish a good relationship with my students that I will be an effective teacher

and have a great classroom environment. It is important for students to feel comfortable coming

to you and to be able to feel safe in the classroom. I plan to have a classroom setup that creates a

positive environment first and foremost as well as an attitude and demeanor that shows my

students that I am there for them and want what is best for them. It is important to me to give
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them choice and the ability to make decisions and have a part in the community of the classroom

in order to show them that I respect them just as I want them to respect me.

Describe the management model(s) that best supports your beliefs

I believe that I have enough ideas for how I want to manage my classroom to create a positive

environment but I am sure that many of them will change when I am actually in the situation. I

don’t think that I fit any one model in particular but have taken aspects and built a Frankenstein-

esque model to fit my personality and beliefs. As for things changing once I have my own

classroom, I think this is inevitable for any new teacher because we think we have so many ideas

but until we meet our students we have no idea what we need to focus on. I also know that even

within the first year of my teaching, my ideas are going to alter and become entirely new beings

and will continue to grow and to change throughout my career.

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References

Nelson, P. M., Ysseldyke, J. E., & Christ, T. J. (2015). Student Perceptions of the Classroom

Environment. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 41(1), 16-27.

Shernoff, D. J., Ruzek, E. A., & Sinha, S. (2016). The influence of the high school classroom

environment on learning as mediated by student engagement. School Psychology

International, 38(2), 201-218.

Wong, H. K., & Wong, R. T. (1991). The first days of school. Sunnyvale, CA: Harry K. Wong

Publications.