INTASC standard

Taylor Brown
Standard #3 – learning environments
The teacher works with others to create environments that support individual and
collaborative learning, and that encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in
learning, and self-motivation.

This standard is mostly talking about how we can arrange students or the classroom to
make it the best learning environment for the students. For example, placing the students next
to someone that will either keep them focused or won’t distract them as they try to work. This
is also a way to encourage positive social interaction instead of placing students with friends
that don’t encourage poor behavior but instead keep them on the right track. Plus, placing the
students around others who may not have that many friends to begin with, this allows the
students to branch out and make new friends who may even have a better influence on them. I
have seen it happen in my own classroom. This standard works well with a seating chart. I have
been able to do a seating chart that I have always wanted to try and I am seeing the pros and
cons of this in actions.
With the seating chart I have tried, I steered away from the table groups because in my
class for the most part they all get along and there is only so many groups that you can do that
won’t work. I decided to the half circle repeated and repeated inside itself. I did almost a boy
girl boy girl pattern to get the students quiet down. But I have also placed students next to
other students that will either motivate them to get their work done, keep them from talking or
distracting the class, and so on. I have one combination where I put one my strongest students
in the middle of two chatter boxes and she does a very good job at keeping them quiet. I like
having the set up that I do because the students that need to be close to the teacher can be
close to the teacher by sitting near or up front. This helps those students who would normally
sit in the back and not pay attention this gives us the opportunity to give them the attention
that they deserve. This also works because instead of spread out in groups the students are all
together, they are right in front of you and you don’t have to travel through groups to get to
another group, this seating chart we are all one big group. It is easy to see where everyone’s
attention is so when you are teaching you can pin point the chatter boxes and put an end to it.
This seating chart helps to get everyone involved because we are all facing the front, you can
pin point and end the chatter, and they are next to people that they don’t necessarily talk to
and that like to focus during class.