PPR Comp 005-Classroom Climate

Collaboration

Learning environments that encourage social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation. Example: The students worked in collaboration to create a multistep word problem for their group presentation in math. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Social Needs

Social needs include love, belonging, acceptance and safety. A student who is made to feel welcome, and accepted by others, who has the opportunity to develop social relationships and reach out for affection and to establish friendship among peers is more likely to perform well than one who does not have a sense of belonging or have a lack of affection, and lack of attention. For that to take place a supportive classroom climate must be created. Example: According to Maslow's theory, having one's social needs met also helps prevent problems such as loneliness, depression and anxiety.

On-Task Behavior

Student behavior that is appropriate to the task. Example: While the students conducted the science experiment, the teacher monitored the classroom for on-task behavior by the students. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Punishment

Using unpleasant consequences to weaken or extinguish an undesirable behavior. Example: The student was placed in time out as punishment for pushing a classmate. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Development

Growth, adaptation, or change over the course of a lifetime. Example: The development of the student's vocabulary had progressed steadily from year to year. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Peers

Individuals equal in age and/or status. Example: The student was normally well-behaved, but when her peers started talking back to the teacher and acting too cool to learn, she soon joined in. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Inquiry

It is a process students engage in when they have identified a problem to be solved. It involves generating possible solutions, developing a hypothesis, gathering data, and testing the hypothesis. It is a student-centered instructional technique. Example: One instructional strategy that requires students to use higher-level thinking skills, reasoning ability, and decision-making skills is inquiry. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Metacognitive Capacity

It refers to the capacity to reflect on and manage one's own thinking. The ability to use prior knowledge to plan a strategy for approaching a learning task, take necessary steps to problem solve, reflect on and evaluate results, and modify one's approach as needed is called metacognition. Example: The abilities students demonstrate to transfer or adapt their learning to new contexts and tasks is called metacognitive capacity.

Student Engagement

It refers to the degree of attention, curiosity, interest, optimism, and passion that students show when they are learning or being taught, which extends to the level of motivation they have to learn and progress in their education. Example: A positive classroom environment emphasizes collaboration and supportive interactions, respect for diversity and individual differences, encourages students to contribute constructively to the lesson and leads to active student engagement. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Diverse Population

It refers to the dimensions of student diversity in schools today which include race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, language, culture, religion, mental and physical ability, class, and immigration status. Example: Students who attend schools with a diverse population can develop an understanding of the perspectives of children from different backgrounds and learn to function in a multicultural, multiethnic environment. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Least Restrictive Environment

LRE is not a place. It is a principle. The special education law (IDEA) says that a student who has a disability should be educated with non-disabled peers, to the greatest extent appropriate. They should have access to the general education curriculum, or any other program that non-disabled peers would be able to access; when LRE comes up, so do the words "mainstreaming" and "inclusion." Example: The life skill student was included in science, social studies, and ancillary times with the general education classes in compliance with the least restrictive environment principle required by law. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Mainstreamed Hyperactive Students

A mainstream classroom is a general education classroom. Hyperactive students are those that are restless and fidget in their seats or play with their chairs and desks, or are constantly on the move, bouncing from one task to another and rarely completing any. Mainstreaming or inclusion means putting a student with special education needs in the general education classroom for part or all of the school day. Example: Instructional activities to allow interaction and movement can be an effective teacher response to mainstreamed hyperactive students in the classroom. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Peer Teaching

A procedure that provides teachers with an opportunity to practice new instructional techniques in a simplified setting, teaching lessons to small groups of their peers (other prospective or experienced teachers). Example: The new teacher took advantage of the peer teaching opportunity to try a new lesson out before his colleagues in order to get feedback. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Interference

A process that occurs when information to be recalled gets mixed up with other information. Example: In math class, interference caused the student to describe the three dimensional shape as a square instead of cube. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Teacher Expectations

A teacher's opinion of the likelihood that students will be successful. Example: The teacher expectations were high in the second-grade classroom. Before each lesson, the teacher would tell the students exactly what he expected to see as a product. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Regular Class

A typical classroom designed to serve students without disabilities. Example: A regular class will be very heterogeneous. You will have students of varying backgrounds and abilities. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Trust

A value relationship between and among individuals; includes such subordinate terms as confidence, reliance, stability, and absence of deception. Example: The teacher's students felt like they could trust him. He didn't hide information from them and was always upfront with his expectations and how they would be measured. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Identity Formation

Adolescents form their own personal sense of who they are based on many things. Faced with physical growth, sexual maturation, and impending career choices, adolescents must accomplish the task of integrating their prior experiences and characteristics into a stable identity. Erik Erikson coined the phrase identity crisis to describe the temporary instability and confusion adolescents experience as they struggle with alternatives and choices. To cope with the uncertainties of this stage, adolescents may over identify with heroes and mentors, fall in love, and bond together in cliques, excluding others on the basis of real or imagined differences. Chief amongst all the input adolescents use to form their identity is the feedback they get from family and friends. Example: The development of an individual's distinct personality by which he or she is recognized or known is called identity formation.

Productive Classroom Environment

An environment that encourages cooperation and sharing among younger students; provides middle graders with opportunities to collaborate with peers; older students are encouraged to respect the community and the people in it. Example: Volunteers in the classroom foster a strong sense of community, support more opportunities for students to learn, and provide for a productive classroom environment. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Peer Tutoring

An instruction practice in which students assist with the instruction of other students needing supplemental instruction; principal types are same-age tutoring, where the tutor is the same age as the tutee, and cross-age tutoring, where the tutor is older than the tutee. Example: The third-grade teacher paired students with high and low abilities together for peer tutoring during the math review lesson. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Culture

Characteristic features or behaviors typical of a group. Example: Some children behave in a manner consistent with their culture. Although some behaviors are acceptable at home, they are not acceptable at school. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. Example: The following are benefits of using cooperative learning with students: positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face interaction, use of collaborative skills, and team work. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Social Skills

Displaying good manners, communicating effectively with others, and being considerate of the feelings of others are all important components of solid social skills. Developing social skills in children prepares them for a lifetime of healthier interactions in all aspects of life. However, developmental delays of any kind (motor skills, language skills, cognitive skills) have a negative effect on the acquisition of social skills. Example: In school, teachers are best equipped to help children suffering from a developmental delay to develop social skills by making sure, for example, the child is not isolated from others in her age group. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking is creative, open-ended thinking aimed at generating fresh views and novel solutions. It involves the breaking up of old ideas, making new connections, enlarging the limits of knowledge. It is "thinking outside the box." Example: Because children are naturally curious, when teachers encourage divergent thinking they help maintain children's motivation and passion for in-depth learning. Encouraging children to keep on generating new ideas fosters their creative-thinking abilities. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Supportive

Encouraging and helpful with low levels of threat. Example: A school counselor can be a supportive faculty member when dealing with a difficult student. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Teacher Enthusiasm

One important component of classroom climate is the enthusiasm shown by the teacher. Teachers who enjoy teaching their subject, and teach with enthusiasm are more likely to motivate their students. Example: There is a positive relationship between teacher enthusiasm and student involvement during lessons. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Same-Age Tutoring

Peer tutoring in which one student teaches another student (usually a classmate) of the same age; runs the risk of being ineffective because resentment toward the same-age tutor (especially if he or she is a classmate) may develop. Example: The teacher used same-age tutoring in the classroom. Sometimes he would pair students in high-low partnerships. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Classroom Climate

Refers to the intellectual, social, emotional, and physical environments in which students learn. A teacher's attentiveness to the intellectual, social, emotional, and physical environments provides a learning atmosphere that encourages and motivates students to be successful, thus creating good feelings of self-worth. Example: The 5th-grade teacher provides content in an engaging manner, students feel safe taking risks, and believe they can succeed if they put forth effort. The teacher also fosters approachable and supportive social interactions with students and among students so that learning is a collaborative and not a competitive endeavor. The classroom climate she created influences student growth and behavior. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Norms

Rules that apply to all members of a group. Example: The group decided that one of their norms for meetings would be to start and end on time. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Teacher-Student Interactions

Teachers who foster positive relationships with their students create classroom environments more conducive to learning. Effective teacher-student interactions impact student learning because they create emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. Example: Consistent evidence suggests that to improve students' academic achievement and social skill development, teachers need to focus on the nature and quality of teacher-student interactions.

Cohesiveness

The collective feeling that the class members have about the classroom group; the sum of the individual members' feelings about the group. Example: When Mr. Smith's class won field day, the students showed their cohesiveness by chanting their team chant, high-fiving, and hugging one another. Together they had won. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Cultural Pluralism

The condition in which all cultural groups are valued components of the society, and the language and traditions of each group are maintained. Example: Public school classrooms are encouraged to embrace cultural pluralism to create an atmosphere that is welcoming to all students. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Diversity

The condition of having a variety of groups in the same setting. Example: The diversity of the students' backgrounds, interests, and abilities in the classroom was something the teacher incorporated when planning activities. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Emotional Needs

The need to feel accepted, believed in, cared about, forgiven, loved, safe, supported, trusted, understood and valued are called emotional needs. Example: Satisfying the social and emotional needs of students does more than prepare them to learn. It actually increases their capacity to learn. However, for that to take place a supportive classroom climate must be created.

Inclusive Classroom Environment

The regular classroom where all children are educated to the maximum extent appropriate rather than in separate classes. Example: Heterogeneous grouping is one effective teaching strategy when dealing with diversity in an inclusive classroom environment. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Student-Centered Classroom

The student-centered classroom operates on collaboration, project-based learning, technology integration, and plenty of conversation between students and teachers about learning. Students are directly involved and invested in the discovery of their own knowledge. Through collaboration and cooperation with others, students engage in experiential learning that is authentic, holistic, and challenging. Students are empowered to use prior knowledge to construct new learning. Through the development of the metacognitive process, students reflect on their thinking. Example: Construction of learning, metacognition, teacher/student partnership in learning, collaborative learning, and meaningful assessment in real-world contexts are critical attributes of a student-centered classroom.

Learning environment

The surrounding conditions in which instruction takes place. Example: The teacher had structured everything in the learning environment to be warm, inviting, and conducive to the students' learning. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Manage

To control. Example: The teacher was expected to manage her students' behavior when passing through the hallways. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Facilitate

To help or cause (something to happen or increase). Example: The teacher facilitates a positive social and emotional atmosphere in the classroom. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Create

To make or set up (something). Example: The teacher knows how to create a learning environment that takes advantage of positive factors and minimizes negative factors. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Positive Classroom Environment

To the extent that students feel safe, cared for, appropriately supported, where everyone is valued and respected and lovingly "pushed" to learn, they will tend to participate more fully in the process of learning. Such environment is called a positive classroom environment because it enhances and motivates student learning. Example: In a positive classroom environment, teachers make sure that students can express their ideas and feelings freely as they invent, play and explore. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Consider

To think about (something and respond to it). Example: The teacher considers environmental factors that may affect learning in designing a supportive and responsive classroom community. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Classroom Physical Arrangement

Warm, well-run classrooms begin with the room's physical layout — the arrangement of desks and working space, the attractiveness and appeal of bulletin boards, the storage of materials and supplies. A well-designed classroom space can motivate children, enhance learning, and reduce behavior problems. Example: A quiet reading corner, a music area where soft music plays in the background while students complete work, a discussion/conversation center, a large table for cooperative projects, spaces for wet or messy projects, multimedia spaces, learning stations and individual work areas might describe a classroom physical arrangement. Comp. 005 - Classroom Climate

Supportive Interactions

Ways of acting toward one another that encourage and help each other. Example: The students engaged in supportive interaction in trying to figure out how to read the spring scale's measurement and present the result in the metric system.