Classroom Environment Quotes

We do not need to attend classroom training programmes for everything. Observation opens the windows of knowledge around us

If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom. If you wanted to create a business environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a cubicle. And if you wanted to change things, you might have to tear down both and start over.

Every creature was designed to serve a purpose. Learn from animals for they are there to teach you the way of life. There is a wealth of knowledge that is openly accessible in nature. Our ancestors knew this and embraced the natural cures found in the bosoms of the earth. Their classroom was nature. They studied the lessons to be learned from animals. Much of human behavior can be explained by watching the wild beasts around us. They are constantly teaching us things about ourselves and the way of the universe, but most people are too blind to watch and listen.

One of the dictums that defines our culture is that we can be anything we want to be – to win the neoliberal game we just have to dream, to put our minds to it, to want it badly enough. This message leaks out to us from seemingly everywhere in our environment: at the cinema, in heart-warming and inspiring stories we read in the news and social media, in advertising, in self-help books, in the classroom, on television. We internalize it, incorporating it into our sense of self. But it’s not true. It is, in fact, the dark lie at the heart of the age of perfectionism. It’s the cause, I believe, of an incalculable quotient of misery. Here’s the truth that no million-selling self-help book, famous motivational speaker, happiness guru or blockbusting Hollywood screenwriter seems to want you to know. You’re limited. Imperfect. And there’s nothing you can do about it.

It's a sighted, hearing classroom, in a sighted, hearing school, in a sighted, hearing society. They designed this environment for people who can see and hear. In this environment, I'm disabled. They place the burden on me to step out of my world and reach into theirs

Why aren’t boys more engaged in school? According to Sommers, “schools today tend to be run by women for girls. Classrooms can be hostile environments for boys. They like action, competition and adventure stories. Those are not in favor. Games like tag and dodge-ball are out; tug of war has become tug of peace, and male heroes have been replaced by Girl Power.

Notice the difference: A child’s disability is the focus in traditional classroom settings, but his abilities are the focus in the homeschool environment.

Allowing bullying in the classroom is equivalent to excluding learning from the classroom. If bullying is present in the classroom it causes the classroom to not feel like a safe environment, and people do not learn in unsafe environments - except for those things which they feel will ensure their present safety.

Students want a safe, predictable, and nurturing environment—one that is consistent. Students like well-managed classes because no one yells at them, and learning takes place. Effective teachers spend the first two weeks teaching students to be in control of their own actions in a consistent classroom environment.

Owing to the shape of a bell curve, the education system is geared to the mean. Unfortunately, that kind of education is virtually calculated to bore and alienate gifted minds. But instead of making exceptions where it would do the most good, the educational bureaucracy often prefers not to be bothered. In my case, for example, much of the schooling to which I was subjected was probably worse than nothing. It consisted not of real education, but of repetition and oppressive socialization (entirely superfluous given the dose of oppression I was getting away from school). Had I been left alone, preferably with access to a good library and a minimal amount of high-quality instruction, I would at least have been free to learn without useless distractions and gratuitous indoctrination. But alas, no such luck. Let’s try to break the problem down a bit. The education system […] is committed to a warm and fuzzy but scientifically counterfactual form of egalitarianism which attributes all intellectual differences to environmental factors rather than biology, implying that the so-called 'gifted' are just pampered brats who, unless their parents can afford private schooling, should atone for their undeserved good fortune by staying behind and enriching the classroom environments of less privileged students. This approach may appear admirable, but its effects on our educational and intellectual standards, and all that depends on them, have already proven to be overwhelmingly negative. This clearly betrays an ulterior motive, suggesting that it has more to do with social engineering than education. There is an obvious difference between saying that poor students have all of the human dignity and basic rights of better students, and saying that there are no inherent educationally and socially relevant differences among students. The first statement makes sense, while the second does not. The gifted population accounts for a very large part of the world’s intellectual resources. As such, they can obviously be put to better use than smoothing the ruffled feathers of average or below-average students and their parents by decorating classroom environments which prevent the gifted from learning at their natural pace. The higher we go on the scale of intellectual brilliance – and we’re not necessarily talking just about IQ – the less support is offered by the education system, yet the more likely are conceptual syntheses and grand intellectual achievements of the kind seldom produced by any group of markedly less intelligent people. In some cases, the education system is discouraging or blocking such achievements, and thus cheating humanity of their benefits.

Girls like Mia and Shanice draw important connections between their desire to learn and their inability to do so in chaotic learning environments. Across the country, Black girls have repeatedly described “rowdy” classroom environments that prevent them from being able to focus on learning. They also described how the chaotic learning environment has, in some cases, led to their avoidance of school or to reduced engagement in school. In other situations, girls described contentious and negative interactions between teachers and students as the norm. In today’s climate of zero tolerance, where there are few alternatives to punishing problematic student behavior, the prevailing school discipline strategy, with its heavy reliance on exclusionary practices—dismissal, suspension, or expulsion—becomes a predictable, cyclical, and ghettoizing response.

God does not hold our environment accountable for our behavior; he holds us accountable. (p79)

Teachers deserve a safe working environment in which violence is not tolerated from students, parents, or staff, and educators can report it and other transgressions without fear of retaliation.

research suggests that all students are motivated to learn, as long as there are clear expectations, the tasks and activities have value, and the learning environment promotes intrinsic motivation (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 1995; Eccles & Wigfield, 1985; Feather, 1982; Kovalik & Olsen, 2005).

It is 100 years since John Dewey began arguing for the kind of change that would move schools away from authoritarian classrooms with abstract notions to environments in which learning is achieved through experimentation, practice and exposure to the real world. I, for one, believe the computer makes Dewey’s vision far more accessible epistemologically. It also makes it politically more likely to happen, for where Dewey had nothing but philosophical arguments, the present day movement for change has an army of agents. The ultimate pressure for the change will be child power.

Anybody gets to ask questions about any fiction-related issues she wants. No question about literature is stupid. You are forbidden to keep yourself from asking a question or making a comment because you fear it will sound obvious or unsophisticated or lame or stupid. Because critical reading and prose fiction are such hard, weird things to try to study, a stupid-seeming comment or question can end up being valuable or even profound. I am deadly-serious about creating a classroom environment where everyone feels free to ask or speak about anything she wishes. So any student who groans, smirks, mimes machines-gunning or onanism, chortles, eye-rolls, or in any way ridicules some other student's in-class question/comment will be warned once in private and on the second offense will be kicked out of class and flunked, no matter what week it is. If the offender is male, I am also apt to find him off-campus and beat him up. . . . This does not mean we all have to sit around smiling sweetly at one another for three hours a week. No truths about the form, content, structure, symbolism, theme, or overall artistic quality of any piece of fiction are etched in stone or beyond dispute.

In this regard, it is important to realize that the classroom and the educational system, in general, is a coercive environment. This means that the environment is imposed upon children as opposed to allowing to develop or choose it. Essentially, we judge students based upon on how well they fit into this coercive environment. A broader perspective suggests that when a child finds that she is an environment that is not suited to her, her natural response is to try to change that environment. In the case of a child that is overwhelmed by an overly complex environment, this kind of response is less likely because of the challenge she faces in dealing with the environment, but it could occur. In the case of the child that finds herself in an environment that is too simple, the natural response is apparent: an attempt to make the environment more interesting, more stimulating – so-call disruptive behavior. Therefore, the disruptive classroom behavior is actually quite a reasonable consequence of a coercive environment.

L'éducation ne se borne pas à l'enfance et à l'adolescence. L'enseignement ne se limite pas à l'école. Toute la vie, notre milieu est notre éducation, et un éducateur à la fois sévère et dangereux. Learning transcends childhood and adolescence just as teaching transcends the classroom. Our environment is the most strict and dangerous educator we will ever have.

I continued to find it much easier to assimilate knowledge within the structured military environment than at college, for at training sites such as Mare Island, outside influences were kept to a minimum.  All I had to do was make my bunk in the morning, show up at the appointed classrooms, and focus on the subject at hand.  Others took care of the daily routine of life while we hit the books.

Because we don’t fully understand how our brains work, we do dumb things. We try to talk on our cell phones and drive at the same time, even though it is literally impossible for our brains to multitask when it comes to paying attention. We have created high-stress office environments, even though a stressed brain is significantly less productive than a non-stressed brain. Our schools are designed so that most real learning has to occur at home. Taken together, what do the studies in this book show? Mostly this: If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom. If you wanted to create a business environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a cubicle. And if you wanted to change things, you might have to tear down both and start over.

Anybody gets to ask questions about any fiction-related issues she wants. No question about literature is stupid. You are forbidden to keep yourself from asking a question or making a comment because you fear it will sound obvious or unsophisticated or lame or stupid. Because critical reading and prose fiction are such hard, weird things to try to study, a stupid-seeming comment or question can end up being valuable or even profound. I am deadly-serious about creating a classroom environment where everyone feels free to ask or speak about anything she wishes. So any student who groans, smirks, mimes machines-gunning or onanism, chortles, eye-rolls, or in any way ridicules some other student's in-class question/comment will be warned once in private and on the second offense will be kicked out of class and flunked, no matter what week it is. If the offender is male, I am also apt to find him off-campus and beat him up.

In their writing on education, Deci and Ryan proceed from the principle that humans are natural learners and children are born creative and curious, “intrinsically motivated for the types of behaviors that foster learning and development.” This idea is complicated, however, by the fact that part of learning anything, be it painting or programming or eighth-grade algebra, involves a lot of repetitive practice, and repetitive practice is usually pretty boring. Deci and Ryan acknowledge that many of the tasks that teachers ask students to complete each day are not inherently fun or satisfying; it is the rare student who feels a deep sense of intrinsic motivation when memorizing her multiplication tables. It is at these moments that extrinsic motivation becomes important: when behaviors must be performed not for the inherent satisfaction of completing them, but for some separate outcome. Deci and Ryan say that when students can be encouraged to internalize those extrinsic motivations, the motivations become increasingly powerful. This is where the psychologists return to their three basic human needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. When teachers are able to create an environment that promotes those three feelings, they say, students exhibit much higher levels of motivation. And how does a teacher create that kind of environment? Students experience autonomy in the classroom, Deci and Ryan explain, when their teachers “maximize a sense of choice and volitional engagement” while minimizing students’ feelings of coercion and control. Students feel competent, they say, when their teachers give them tasks that they can succeed at but that aren’t too easy — challenges just a bit beyond their current abilities. And they feel a sense of relatedness when they perceive that their teachers like and value and respect them.

I don’t believe that the rough and tumble nature of children, especially boys is inherently wrong. We see in nature, bear cubs, deer, goats, puppies, especially males, play rough with each other. We’re not animals, so we do try to civilize things a bit, but that rough and tumble play creates an environment where children are strengthened, and they learn that their bodies endure pain a certain way. They also learn empathy, when they see that a twisted arm hurts, they are less likely to twist someone’s arm. This unstructured type of play isn’t suited for classrooms, where six years olds are expected to sit at a desk and work for more than eight hours a day, and so it is discouraged. Children do not have the opportunity to properly express those natural tendencies to compete, to wrestle, or to express the emotions behind those desires.

Montessori believed that if children were exposed to a safe, experiential learning environment (as opposed to a structured classroom), with access to specific learning materials and supplies, and if they were supervised by a gentle and attentive teacher, they would become self-motivated to learn. She discovered that, in this environment, older children readily worked with younger children, helping them to learn from, and cooperate with, each other. Montessori advocated teaching practical skills, like cooking, carpentry, and domestic arts, as an integrated part of a classical education in literature, science, and math. To her surprise, teenagers seemed to benefit from this approach the most; it built confidence, and the students became less resistant to traditional educational goals. Through this method, each child could reach his or her potential, regardless of age and intellectual ability.

The important parts of my story, I was realizing, lay less in the surface value of my accomplishments and more in what undergirded them—the many small ways I’d been buttressed over the years, and the people who’d helped build my confidence over time. I remembered them all, every person who’d ever waved me forward, doing his or her best to inoculate me against the slights and indignities I was certain to encounter in the places I was headed—all those environments built primarily for and by people who were neither black nor female. I thought of my great-aunt Robbie and her exacting piano standards, how she’d taught me to lift my chin and play my heart out on a baby grand even if all I’d ever known was an upright with broken keys. I thought of my father, who showed me how to box and throw a football, same as Craig. There were Mr. Martinez and Mr. Bennett, my teachers at Bryn Mawr, who never dismissed my opinions. There was my mom, my staunchest support, whose vigilance had saved me from languishing in a dreary second-grade classroom. At Princeton, I’d had Czerny Brasuell, who encouraged me and fed my intellect in new ways. And as a young professional, I’d had, among others, Susan Sher and Valerie Jarrett—still good friends and colleagues many years later—who showed me what it looked like to be a working mother and consistently opened doors for me, certain I had something to offer. These were people who mostly didn’t know one another and would never have occasion to meet, many of whom I’d fallen out of touch with myself. But for me, they formed a meaningful constellation. These were my boosters, my believers, my own personal gospel choir, singing, Yes, kid, you got this! all the way through. I’d never forgotten it. I’d tried, even as a junior lawyer, to pay it forward, encouraging curiosity when I saw it, drawing younger people into important conversations.

Even worse, traditional grading that penalizes students for mistakes often isn’t just limited to a student’s academic work. Teachers often assign grades based on mistakes in students’ behaviors as well: downgrading a score if an assignment is late, subtracting points from a daily participation grade if a student is tardy to class, or lowering a group’s grade if the group becomes too noisy while they work. In this environment, every mistake is penalized and incorporated into the final grade. Even if just a few points are docked for forgetting to bring a notebook to class or losing a few points for not heading a paper correctly, the message is clear: All mistakes result in penalties. While some might argue that this is simply accountability—“I asked the students to do something, so it has to count”—it’s missing the forest for the trees. The more assignments and behaviors a teacher grades, the less willing a student will be to reveal her weaknesses and vulnerability. With no zones of learning that are “grade free,” it becomes nearly impossible to build an effective teacher–student relationship and positive learning environment in which students try new things, venture into unfamiliar learning territory, or feel comfortable making errors, and grow. When everything a student does is graded, and every mistake counts against her grade, that student can perceive that to receive a good grade she has to be perfect all of the time. Students don’t feel trust in their teachers, only the pressure to conceal weaknesses and avoid errors.

A just society would be one in which liberty for one person is constrained only by the demands created by equal liberty for another. Such a society requires as a precondition an agreement excluding tools that by their very nature prevent such liberty. This is true for tools that are fundamentally purely social arrangements, such as the school system, as well as for tools that are physical machines. In a convivial society compulsory and open-ended schooling would have to be excluded for the sake of justice. Age-specific, compulsory competition on an unending ladder for lifelong privileges cannot increase equality but must favor those who start earlier, or who are healthier, or who are better equipped outside the classroom. Inevitably, it organizes society into many layers of failure, with each layer inhabited by dropouts schooled to believe that those who have consumed more education deserve more privilege because they are more valuable assets to society as a whole. A society constructed so that education by means of schools is a necessity for its functioning cannot be a just society. Power tools having certain Tools for Conviviality Page 18 Document developed using Purplestructural characteristics are inevitably manipulative and must also be eliminated for the sake of justice. In a modern society, energy inputs represent one of the major new liberties. Each man's ability to produce change depends on his ability to control low-entropy energy. On this control of energy depends his right to give his meaning to the physical environment. His ability to act toward the future lie chooses depends on his control of the energy that gives shape to that future. Equal freedom in a society that uses large amounts of environmental energy means equal control over the transformation of that energy and not just an equal claim to what has been done with it. 5

Any parent would be dismayed to think that this was their child’s experience of learning, of socializing, and of herself. Maya is an introvert; she is out of her element in a noisy and overstimulating classroom where lessons are taught in large groups. Her teacher told me that she’d do much better in a school with a calm atmosphere where she could work with other kids who are “equally hardworking and attentive to detail,” and where a larger portion of the day would involve independent work. Maya needs to learn to assert herself in groups, of course, but will experiences like the one I witnessed teach her this skill? The truth is that many schools are designed for extroverts. Introverts need different kinds of instruction from extroverts, write College of William and Mary education scholars Jill Burruss and Lisa Kaenzig. And too often, “very little is made available to that learner except constant advice on becoming more social and gregarious.” We tend to forget that there’s nothing sacrosanct about learning in large group classrooms, and that we organize students this way not because it’s the best way to learn but because it’s cost-efficient, and what else would we do with our children while the grown-ups are at work? If your child prefers to work autonomously and socialize one-on-one, there’s nothing wrong with her; she just happens not to fit the prevailing model. The purpose of school should be to prepare kids for the rest of their lives, but too often what kids need to be prepared for is surviving the school day itself. The school environment can be highly unnatural, especially from the perspective of an introverted child who loves to work intensely on projects he cares about, and hang out with one or two friends at a time. In the morning, the door to the bus opens and discharges its occupants in a noisy, jostling mass. Academic classes are dominated by group discussions in which a teacher prods him to speak up. He eats lunch in the cacophonous din of the cafeteria, where he has to jockey for a place at a crowded table. Worst of all, there’s little time to think or create. The structure of the day is almost guaranteed to sap his energy rather than stimulate it. Why do we accept this one-size-fits-all situation as a given when we know perfectly well that adults don’t organize themselves this way? We often marvel at how introverted, geeky kids “blossom” into secure and happy adults. We liken it to a metamorphosis. However, maybe it’s not the children who change but their environments. As adults, they get to select the careers, spouses, and social circles that suit them. They don’t have to live in whatever culture they’re plunked into. Research from a field known as “person-environment fit” shows that people flourish when, in the words of psychologist Brian Little, they’re “engaged in occupations, roles or settings that are concordant with their personalities.” The inverse is also true: kids stop learning when they feel emotionally threatened.

Not every teacher establishes a classroom environment in which student success directly corresponds to becoming an effective learner and innovator. But regardless of any teacher’s skills, students can focus on the goal of developing the lifelong habits that will change them forever.

Opportunities to Build Valuable Skills Case discussions present students with the opportunity to improve their ability to speak publicly, think on their feet, and improve their problem-solving and pattern-matching skills. While being forced to use these skills will provoke anxiety for many students, they will also have an opportunity to get past that anxiety and build skills that will help them succeed in both their academic and work careers. It is easy to draw direct parallels for students between the skills employed in a case discussion and those needed in a job interview or in their careers. After all, isn’t it better to fail and learn in the simulated environment of a classroom, than make your first fumbling mistakes with real money and your job on the line?

Papert takes great pains to declare that one particular experience, no matter how rich, might not have the same effect on other learners. To Papert, “the most powerful idea of all is the idea of powerful ideas.” (Papert, 1980) His life’s work has been creating tools, theories, and coercion-free learning environments that inspire children to construct powerful ideas through firsthand experience.

Piaget reminds teachers not to present students with pre-organized vocabulary and concepts, but rather provide students with a learning environment grounded in action.

If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom. If you wanted to create a business environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a cubicle.

As you doubtless noticed, sometimes the words matched the pictures and sometimes they didn’t. It probably felt more difficult to name the pictures when there was a mismatch. That’s because when an experienced reader sees a printed word, it’s quite difficult not to read it. Reading is automatic.Thus the printed word pants conflicts with the word you are trying to retrieve, shirt. The conflict slows your response. A child just learning to read wouldn’t show this interference, because reading is not automatic for him.When faced with the letters p, a, n, t, and s, the child would need to painstakingly (and thus slowly) retrieve the sounds associated with each letter, knit them together, and recognize that the resulting combination of sounds forms the word pants. For the experienced reader, those processes happen in a flash and are a good example of the properties of automatic processes: (1) They happen very quickly. Experienced readers read common words in less than a quarter of a second. (2) They are prompted by a stimulus in the environment, and if that stimulus is present, the process may occur even if you wish it wouldn’t.Thus you know it would be easier not to read the words in Figure 3, but you can’t seem to avoid doing so. (3) You are not aware of the components of the automatic process.That is, the component processes of reading (for example, identifying letters) are never conscious.The word pants ends up in consciousness, but the mental processes necessary to arrive at the conclusion that the word is pants do not.The process is very different for a beginning reader, who is aware of each constituent step (“that’s a p, which makes a ‘puh’ sound . . .”). FIGURE 3: Name each picture, ignoring the text. It’s hard to ignore when the text doesn’t match the picture, because reading is an automatic process.   The example in Figure 3 gives a feel for how an automatic process operates, but it’s an unusual example because the automatic process interferes with what you’re trying to do. Most of the time automatic processes help rather than hinder. They help because they make room in working memory. Processes that formerly occupied working memory now take up very little space, so there is space for other processes. In the case of reading, those “other” processes would include thinking about what the words actually mean. Beginning readers slowly and painstakingly sound out each letter and then combine the sounds into words, so there is no room left in working memory to think about meaning (Figure 4).The same thing can happen even to experienced readers. A high school teacher asked a friend of mine to read a poem out loud. When he had finished reading, she asked what he thought the poem meant. He looked blank for a moment and then admitted he had been so focused on reading without mistakes that he hadn’t really noticed what the poem was about. Like a first grader, his mind had focused on word pronunciation, not on meaning. Predictably, the class laughed, but what happened was understandable, if unfortunate.

People are more motivated and confident when they believe they have more control over their environment. “People with low-power mindsets do less than they otherwise could,” said one motivation researcher (Rigoglioso, 2008). Inviting students to have a voice in classroom decisions—where they sit, what day a test takes place, in what order units are studied, or even where a plant should be placed in the classroom—can help them develop that greater sense of control. An added benefit to this strategy could be fewer discipline issues. William Glasser suggests that power is a key need of students, and that 95% of classroom management problems happen because students are trying to fulfill that need (Ryan & Cooper, 2008, p. 85).

If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom. If you wanted to create a business environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a cubicle. And

Ask students what norms are important to them in school and in the classroom. Giving them a voice and then listening and acting on their needs gives them a sense of emotional, psychological, and cognitive safety. This trusting environment lessens the chance for stress and anxiety and prevents cortisol (stress hormone) release.

findings suggested that the type of instruction students had experienced—isolated pattern practice drills—resulted in a developmental sequence that appeared to be different from that of learners in more natural learning environments. For a time after their instruction had focused on it, learners reliably produced a particular grammatical morpheme in its obligatory contexts. For example, after weeks of drilling on present progressive, students usually supplied both the auxiliary be and the -ing ending (for example, ‘He’s playing ball’). However, they also produced one or more of the morphemes in places where they did not belong (‘He’s want a cookie’). The same forms were produced with considerably less accuracy in obligatory contexts when they were no longer being practised in class and when the third person singular simple present -s was being drilled instead. At this point, many students appeared to revert to what looked like a developmentally earlier stage, using no tense marking at all (for example, ‘He play ball’). These findings provided evidence that an almost exclusive focus on accuracy and practice of particular grammatical forms does not mean that learners will be able to use the forms correctly outside the classroom drill setting, nor that they will continue to use them correctly once other forms are introduced. Not surprisingly, this instruction, that depended on repetition and drill of decontextualized sentences, did not seem to favour the development of comprehension, fluency, or communicative abilities either.

teachers hanging in with challenging students, such as Marcus, are not therapists, but we must behave as therapists; that is, we must provide an emotionally safe environment in which our students can become their best selves, intellectually and emotionally. We, the adults, are the most significant force for honesty and integrity in the classroom. We have to display a professional self that is authentic. This does not mean that we talk about our personal lives—we are not leading students, with details of our lives, into a friendship—but that we share our professional hopes, fears, and expectations with all the passion and sadness and sincerity in us. If we behave professionally so that students trust us and seek to relate to us, we offer them a path to find a healthy place for themselves in the less-than-ideal world the adults are bequeathing to them. Succinctly put, "Relationships are the means and ends to our development" (Nakkula & Toshalis, 2006, p. 95).

Young children have short attention spans and will require frequent breaks and changes in activities. Do not plan for one or two activities to take up several hours. A good rule is to plan on thirty to forty-five minutes per activity depending on the age of the child. A two year-old will likely require your assistance in helping them focus for any length of time, while a six year-old will be able to work independently for that same amount of time. Break up activities with shorter periods of about ten to fifteen minutes of story or circle time. Circle time is a concept used in many Montessori classrooms and it can be effectively used in a home school environment, even with only one child. Have a designated circle, or space for your child to sit in between activities. This can be utilized as a way to center and focus the child before the next activity. Use this time to read a story or talk, either about what they just did or an entirely different subject. Remember that your daily routine should be one that honors both you and your child. This may take some time to figure out, and will likely require periods of adjustment as well as trial and error. Even once you feel that you have a solid routine in place, you will find that as your child grows and develops that your daily activities will need to be adjusted.

We like to create a prepared environment, but do not require participation at a specific time. We have a dedicated learning classroom and choose to spend a specific amount of time in the mornings each day. Lessons come from the interest of the children. We notice their curiosity and create lessons around those interests. It helps to keep 2-6 year olds interested because THEY choose when and what they will learn. Other times of the day are open play in a prepared home. We also keep busy by taking advantage of free community events like library story time

learning a second language in a non-instructional setting is different from learning in the classroom. Many believe that learning ‘on the street’ is more effective. This belief may be based on the fact that most successful learners have had experience using the language outside the classroom. What is special about this ‘natural’ language learning? Can we create the same environment in the classroom? Should we? Or are there essential contributions that only instruction and not natural exposure can provide?

Think about the size of the environment we 7.3 billion people share. One of the most recognizable images from the space age is Earth as seen from afar, a blue marble suspended in icy blackness. If you are near a computer or tablet or smartphone (and who isn’t these days?), pull up an image of our planet from outer space. Look for the atmosphere, and you’ll notice you can’t see it, not really. It’s as though Earth doesn’t even have a layer of gas surrounding it. Relatively speaking, the atmosphere is about as thick as a layer of varnish on a standard classroom globe.

At the same time states across the country were rushing to adopt the Common Core, they were also adopting a new tool for evaluating teachers: the Danielson Framework. Like the Common Core, the framework is so laden with technocratic language that one might imagine its sole purpose is to confuse its readers. And as with the Common Core, if a teacher does not meet its demands, she may be out of a job. Taking its name from the education consultant Charlotte Danielson, the framework divides the teaching process into four “domains”: “planning and preparation,” “classroom environment,” “instruction,” and “professional responsibilities.” Each of these domains is then broken into four or five subcategories ranging from “using questioning and discussion techniques” to “showing professionalism.” Subcategories are then separated into a series of components. For example, the components of the subcategory “participating in the professional community” are: “relationships with colleagues,” “involvement in a culture of professional inquiry,” “service to the school,” and “participation in school and district projects.” Danielson describes “proficient” (tolerable) instruction in the “communicating with families” subcategory of the “professional responsibilities” domain as follows: “The teacher provides frequent and appropriate information to families about the instructional program and conveys information about individual student progress in a culturally sensitive manner.

Conversely, we humans are born premature and highly dependent newborns whose brains are shaped through years of interactions with our caretakers and the environment.

Too often, learners see questions as evidence of ignorance rather than as pathways to understanding. If students are to reach their full potential, teachers need to create classroom environments where it is OK for students to acknowledge that they are confused, that they are struggling with challenging new ideas and skills, and that they don't understand yet (Dweck, 2006).

Though we know precious little about how the brain works, our evolutionary history tells us this: The brain appears to be designed to (1) solve problems (2) related to surviving (3) in an unstable outdoor environment, and (4) to do so in nearly constant motion. I call this the brain’s performance envelope. Each subject in this book—exercise, sleep, stress, wiring, attention, memory, sensory integration, vision, music, gender, and exploration—relates to this performance envelope. We were in motion, getting lots of exercise. Environmental instability led to the extremely flexible way our brains are wired, allowing us to solve problems through exploration. To survive in the great outdoors, we needed to learn from our mistakes. That meant paying attention to certain things at the expense of others, and it meant creating memories in a particular way. Though we have been stuffing them into classrooms and cubicles for decades, our brains actually were built to survive in jungles and grasslands. We have not outgrown this.

It is far more effective to arrange classroom furniture and move about the room while teaching in ways that ensures proximity to all students at various points in the lesson. This movement will proactively decrease acting-out behavior, rather than putting teachers in the position of reactively responding to inappropriate behavior. Marzano states that “desk arrangements should provide access to any student within four steps from where the teacher spends most of his time” (2007, p. 121). Students’ social-emotional development can be improved by proactively setting up the room for student academic and behavioral success. As we saw in the cycles of deficit mindset and growth mindset in Chapter 1, the fewer instances when we need to address misbehavior, the more we can affirm appropriate behavior, and the more likely we are to reverse the cycle of deficit mindset. Room arrangement and teacher proximity is an important first step in creating a positive learning environment.

The environment in the Montessori classroom is designed to exclude distractions and to offer opportunities for constructive work.

Innovations are happening in conventional schooling. Some people will read the chapters to come and respond that their own children’s schools are incorporating evidence-based changes, making them more like Montessori schools—eliminating grades, combining ages, using a lot of group work, and so on. One could take the view that over the years, conventional schooling has gradually been discovering and incorporating many of the principles that Dr. Montessori discovered in the first half of the 20th century. However, although schooling is changing, those changes are often relatively superficial. A professor of education might develop a new reading or math program that is then adopted with great fanfare by a few school systems, but the curricular change is minute relative to the entire curriculum, and the Lockean model of the child and the factory structure of the school environment still underlie most of the child’s school day and year. “Adding new ‘techniques’ to the classroom does not lead to the developmental of a coherent philosophy. For example, adding the technique of having children work in ‘co-operative learning’ teams is quite different than a system in which collaboration is inherent in the structure” (Rogoff, Turkanis, & Bartlett, 2001, p. 13). Although small changes are made reflecting newer research on how children learn, particularly in good neighborhood elementary schools, most of the time, in most U.S. schools, conventional structures predominate (Hiebert, 1999; McCaslin et al., 2006; NICHD, 2005; Stigler, Gallimore, & Hiebert, 2000), and observers rate most classes to be low in quality (Weiss, Pasley, Smith, Banilower, & Heck, 2003). Superficial insertions of research-supported methods do not penetrate the underlying models on which are schools are based. Deeper change, implementing more realistic models of the child and the school, is necessary to improve schooling. How can we know what those new models should be? As in medicine, where there have been increasing calls for using research results to inform patient treatments, education reform must more thoroughly and deeply implement what the evidence indicates will work best. This has been advocated repeatedly over the years, even by Thorndike. Certainly more and more researchers, educators, and policy makers are heeding the call to take an evidence-based stance on education. Yet the changes made thus far in response to these calls have not managed to address to the fundamental problems of the poor models. The time has come for rethinking education, making it evidence based from the ground up, beginning with the child and the conditions under which children thrive. Considered en masse, the evidence from psychological research suggests truly radical change is needed to provide children with a form of schooling that will optimize their social and cognitive development. A better form of schooling will change the Lockean model of the child and the factory structure on which our schools are built into something radically different and much better suited to how children actually learn.

It is instructive rather than evaluative. The feedback is focused on correcting some aspect of the student’s performance—a step in a procedure, a misconception, or information to be memorized. It isn’t advice or a grade but some actionable information that will help the student improve. It is important to know the difference between the three types of feedback because not all feedback is actionable. It is specific and in the right dose. Your feedback should focus on only one or two points. Don’t point out everything that needs adjusting. That’s overwhelming for a dependent learner and may actually confirm her belief that she is not capable. It is timely. Feedback needs to come while students are still mindful of the topic, assignment, or performance in question. It needs to come while they still think of the learning goal as a learning goal—that is, something they are still striving for, not something they already did. It is delivered in a low stress, supportive environment. The feedback has to be given in a way that doesn’t trigger anxiety for the student. This means building a classroom culture that celebrates the opportunity to get feedback and reframes errors as information. Making Feedback Culturally Responsive: Giving “Wise” Feedback For feedback to be effective, students must act on it.

Kidd, C., & Hayden, B. Y. (2015). The psychology and neuroscience of curiosity. Neuron, 88(3), 449–460. An overview of contemporary theories of curiosity, focusing on the idea that curiosity evolved to ensure that animals, including humans, learn about their environment. We are maximally curious when we think the environment offers the greatest opportunity to learn.

enthusiasm for their subject to motivate them, to bring their subject alive and make learning an exciting, vivid and enjoyable experience.    It is teachers’ passion for their subject that provides the basis for effective teaching and learning. These teachers use their subject expertise to engage students in meaningful learning experiences that embrace content, process and social climate. They create for and with their children opportunities to explore and build important areas of knowledge, and develop powerful tools for learning, within a supportive, collaborative and challenging classroom environment. (DfES, 2003a: paras 1–

A classroom can be a post box. In writing that letter, she is trying to stop the same things from being posted: white supremacy as occupying of space. But the letter ends up being what is posted. A complaint about the letters in the box becomes another letter in the box. This is why to hear complaint is to learn about occupation. What usually happens keeps happening because those who try to stop it from happening, who complain about the hostility of an environment, are stopped. To post that letter, to make that complaint, can mean to end up being displaced. PART III IF THESE DOORS COULD TALK?

Mothers Are So Wonderful We are the ones who carry babies for months We feel anxious about their safety We do our best to keep them healthy We worry the most when they are thirsty We feed them when hungry We are the ones who look after their wellbeing We ensure our kids’ lives are worthwhile We find ways to provide optimum care We are patient to see them grow older Yes, they always run to us for cover We are the ones who are called names When things go wrong with our children But given no credit when they excel in life We create conducive environments all the time We take the bullet for our loved ones We brace raging storms on their behalf We are the ones who walk miles In search of better opportunities for our offspring We sleep very late and wake up too early We guide them to achieve great things We say prayers for them to prosper God was right to entrust women with childbearing because Mothers are so wonderful

Scientists agree that while high sensitivity allows individuals to be especially aware of nuances in their surroundings - like subtle sounds, unique smells, and different textures - it also causes people to feel overwhelmed. Stadiums and concerts and busy markets can be exasperating rather than enjoyable. So too can loud classrooms and testy tones of voice. To survive, sensitive people might try to control their surroundings, they can become less emotionally flexible, and they might even flee. Essentially, life is richer yet harder for individuals with high sensitivity. Unfortunately, rather than appreciate the valuable attributes of sensitive people, modern society often regards them disdainfully. The exceptional skills related to sensitivity are disregarded as 'soft', and the people themselves are devalued for being delicate, inhibited, reactive, rigid and anxious. Aware of the excessive scrutiny they face, sensitive kids might feign composure at school and then break down at home. They also mighty become perfectionists and react intensely to even the slightest error. Many seek constant affirmation to calm their nerves and perform poorly when watched or tested. Given these distinct responses, experts encourage adults to allow for calmer environments, gentler forms of guidance, and more compassion.

The need for a fundamental sense of compassion has never been more visible than in our current higher educational context, where institutional resources and morale decline as the diversity and needs of our student population increase. To reverse what’s become decades’ worth of starvation budgets and an increasingly hostile political-cultural environment for higher education, we need to build a future radically different from our present. The work we do with and among our students— teaching and learning, creating and collaborating, building knowledge and burnishing confidence— is also the work of building that future. But that future can only come to pass if we involve as many students as possible in its creation. A future that’s shaped by processes that push significant numbers of students to the margins is one that will end up depressingly similar to our present. To militate against this outcome, we ought to begin dismantling the systems that marginalize our students. That’s a practice that starts in our own classrooms, in the routine choices we make every day about how we engage with our students and their stories— about what we say to them. An approach that embraces empathy and compassion as its default orientation is foundational to a pedagogy of radical hope.

In an experiment she conducted while still a graduate student, Cheryan commandeered space in Stanford’s Gates Computer Science Building, creating what she called a “stereotypical” classroom and a “non-stereotypical” classroom. The stereotypical classroom was filled with soda cans, books of science-fiction fantasy, and Star Trek and Star Wars posters. The non-stereotypical classroom featured accoutrements like nature posters, literary novels, and bottles of water. After spending time in each room, undergraduates were surveyed about how interested they were in computer science and how well they thought they would perform in that discipline. Following a few minutes in the stereotypical room, male students reported a high level of interest in pursuing computer science; female students indicated much less interest than their male counterparts. But after they spent time in the non-stereotypical room, women’s interest in computer science increased markedly—actually exceeding that of the men. Subsequent research by Cheryan has found that women exposed to a non-stereotypical classroom are more likely to predict that they will perform well in computer science courses, whereas men tend to predict that they will succeed regardless of which room they encounter. That’s important, says Cheryan, because “we know from past work in psychology that how well you expect to do in a certain environment can determine how you actually perform.

Finance will open the world of business organization and its environment to the student in ways that will be well served in the future. Competence

Robert lee saunders teacher qld The role of the teacher As we have seen so far, learning does not occur in the same way in everyone. Faced with this reality, the teacher has two options: Robert saunders teacher australia Use the differences that are presented to you as a potential that brings diverse talents to the group and that benefits everyone, or Treat them only superficially, or ignore them, and miss out on the great opportunity that diversity offers. It is necessary for the teacher to be able to create an atmosphere in the classroom that invites everyone to investigate, to learn, to build their learning, and not just to follow what he does or says. Robert lee saunders teacher australia The role of the teacher is not only to provide information and control discipline, but to be a mediator between the student and the environment. Ceasing to be the protagonist of learning to become the guide or companion of the student.

This involved doing two things, changing the classroom environment in order to reduce the extraneous cognitive load placed on my students and making some changes to teaching practice in order to reduce the intrinsic cognitive load of the work I was asking my students to complete.

Worse, tests emphasize exactly the wrong skills. They emphasize the memorization of massive amounts of facts that neurologically have a half-life of about 12 hours. They focus on short-term rewards through cramming to compensate for a failure in long-term development of value. It is no wonder we have financial meltdowns caused by successful students. We have to swallow a hard pill. The issue is not how do we make tests better? Or how can we have more or different types of tests? Or how do we arrange for more parts of a school program (such as a teacher’s worth) to be based on tests? The reality is, tests don’t work except as a blunt control-and-motivation mechanism for the classroom, the academic equivalent of MSG or sugar in processed food. In place of schools as testing centers, we have to begin imagining and setting up learning environments that involve no tests at all, that rely on real assessment and the creation of genuine value instead.

Join a complete Digital Marketing Course in Bangalore that reflects the lively environment of a digital marketing agency. This special program goes beyond traditional classroom methods, offering hands-on, real-world situations to teach practical skills and insights. Dive into the details of digital marketing through interactive projects, case studies, and exercises tailored to specific industries, building a solid understanding of the subject. Improve your skills in a setting that mimics the fast-paced nature of digital marketing agencies, helping you confidently use your knowledge in real-life situations.

Digital boards, also known as interactive or electronic whiteboards, have revolutionized the way information is presented and shared in various settings, ranging from classrooms to corporate boardrooms. These sophisticated devices combine the benefits of traditional whiteboards with cutting-edge technology, providing a dynamic and interactive platform for communication. Unlike static whiteboards, digital boards are equipped with touch-sensitive screens that respond to both stylus and finger input, allowing users to write, draw, and manipulate content with ease. This versatility enhances collaboration and engagement, making learning and business meetings more interactive and productive. The potential applications of digital boards are vast, from facilitating remote collaboration to enhancing creative brainstorming sessions. As technology continues to advance, we can expect further innovations in digital board design, with features such as artificial intelligence integration and enhanced interactivity. In essence, digital boards have become indispensable tools in modern communication, fostering dynamic and collaborative environments across educational, professional, and creative domains.

the primary social goal of children (and adults) was to belong and feel significant within their family or social group. Although they are not always conscious of this goal, children constantly adjust their behavior to achieve a sense of belonging (connection) and significance (responsibility and capability).

In the transformative classroom, Constructivist theories come to life as students actively construct their understanding through interaction with their environment, deep learning and meaningful connections.

Inclusive education principles advocate for learning environments that embrace and celebrate diversity and foster a sense of belonging and equity among all students.

By integrating theories like Transformative Learning, Constructivism, Critical Pedagogy, and Experiential Learning, educators can create a transformative classroom environment where students are active participants in their own learning journey.

By integrating humanistic theories, inclusive education principles, and feminist pedagogy into transformative teaching practices, educators can create learning environments that honour the unique identities and experiences of every student, fostering a culture of respect, empathy, and social justice.

By incorporating humanistic, inclusive, and feminist pedagogical principles into transformative teaching practices, educators can create learning environments that prioritize student well-being, equity, and empowerment, fostering meaningful connections and transformative growth for all learners.

Utilizing collaborative learning strategies creates an inclusive and dynamic classroom environment where students actively engage with course material, exchange ideas, and learn from one another, enhancing both academic achievement and interpersonal skills.

The pursuit of quality education requires a collective effort from governments, educators, parents, and communities, working together to create inclusive, equitable, and accessible learning environments.

us who teach Montessori did not receive as children: an environment where open communication,

The US Navy’s Top Gun program is an example of slowification. Instead of expecting pilots to learn life-and-death lessons in the middle of air combat (during what we call performance), they could learn and hone their skills before entering combat (in what we call planning and practice). Flaws in their performance could be spotted and coached by instructors in a slower classroom environment.

Understanding the nuanced interplay between autonomy, competence, and relatedness can guide educators in creating learning environments that empower students to thrive and succeed on their educational journey.

By implementing scaffolded learning activities, educators create a supportive environment where students can gradually build their skills and knowledge, motivation and sense of competence to tackle increasingly challenging tasks.

Montessori School located in Little Falls, NJ, providing Montessori-based practices to education for ages 6 weeks old to 9 years old. Spacious, bright and warm classrooms are filled with natural light and provide an environment that is safe, clean and homey. Carpeting, natural bamboo flooring, and surroundings that echo the home are designed to encourage children to create, explore, feel at ease and ready to learn. Outdoors, children can continue their “work” of play in our play area, set on 1.3 acres of open space. Several times daily, they have the opportunity to engage in physical activity and use their imaginations. In Spring, they plant their own outdoor garden, incorporating the “fruits of their labor” into classroom meals and snacks.

if a bright child is placed in a supportive, flexible, and challenging classroom environment, we can reduce the negative outcomes classically ascribed to gifted individuals, like perfectionism, anxiety, or underachievement.

Environmental factors, including the classroom setting, school environment, peer-relationships, and learning formats, play a significant role in shaping motivation and influencing academic achievement.

At the heart of effective classroom management is proactive planning, setting clear expectations, and creating a positive learning environment where students feel safe and supported.

In an inclusive classroom environment, every student feels valued, respected, and capable of reaching their full potential.

The principles of classroom management guide teachers in creating environments where every student can thrive, learn, and succeed.

Public humiliation and verbal abuse have lasting effects on students' self-esteem and mental well-being, undermining the very foundation of a supportive learning environment

As educators, it's our responsibility to create environments where students can thrive academically and emotionally, without resorting to harmful or demeaning practices.

Rapid learning extends its impact to address learning gaps—disparities in knowledge and skills in students in the same classroom. Educators can employ rapid learning interventions to swiftly address these gaps, fostering a more inclusive and supportive learning environment for all students.

Aimshala's Vision for Education: Empowering Educators, Enriching Lives In the heart of every learner's journey, there exists a light of inspiration, a guide through the moving seas of knowledge and discovery. This guide, often hidden and ignored, is the educator. At Aimshala, we understand the transformative power of educators not just in imparting knowledge, but in enriching lives and empowering minds. Our vision for education is deeply rooted in the belief that by empowering educators, we can create ripples of change that extend beyond classroom walls, enriching the lives of countless individuals and, by extension, society itself. The Unknown Heroes of Our Society Educators are the unknown heroes of our society, the architects of the future, shaping minds and inspiring hearts. They do more than teach; they awaken curiosity, instill resilience, and foster a lifelong love for learning. The impact of a passionate educator extends far beyond academic achievements; it touches on the very essence of who we become. At Aimshala, we recognize the challenges educators face daily juggling administrative tasks, adapting to new technologies, and meeting each student's unique needs. Yet, despite these hurdles, their commitment never wavers. They continue to light the path for their students, often with little recognition for their monumental impact. It's for these unsung heroes that Aimshala dedicates its mission: to empower educators and acknowledge their invaluable contribution to shaping our future. A Journey of Empowerment Empowerment is at the core of Aimshala's vision for education. But what does it truly mean to empower educators? It means providing them with the tools, resources, and support they need to thrive in their roles. It means creating an environment where their voices are heard, their challenges are addressed, and their achievements are celebrated. We believe in a holistic approach to empowerment. From continuous professional development opportunities to innovative teaching tools, Aimshala is committed to ensuring educators have what they need to succeed. But empowerment goes beyond material resources; it's about fostering a community of educators who can share experiences, challenges, and successes. A community where collaboration and support are the norms, not the exceptions. Enriching Lives Through Education Education has the power to transform lives. It opens doors to new opportunities, develops horizons, and builds bridges across cultures. Aimshala's vision extends to every student touched by our educators. By enriching the lives of educators, we indirectly enrich the lives of countless students. An enriched life is one of purpose, understanding, and continual growth. Through our support for educators, Aimshala aims to cultivate learning environments where students feel valued, respected, and inspired to reach their full potential. These environments encourage critical thinking, creativity, and the courage to question. They nurture not just academic skills but life skills—empathy, resilience, and the ability to adapt to change. Building a Future Together The future of education is a collaborative vision, one that requires the efforts of educators, students, families, and communities. Aimshala stands at the forefront of this collaborative effort, bridging gaps and fostering partnerships that enhance the educational experience for all. Technology plays a pivotal role in shaping this future. Aimshala embraces innovative educational technologies that make learning more accessible, engaging, and effective. However, we also recognize that technology is but a tool in the hands of our capable educators. It is their wisdom, passion, and dedication that truly transform education. At Aimshala, our vision for education is clear: to empower educators and enrich lives. We understand the challenges and celebrate the triumphs. We believe in the power of education to transform society.

As long as we think about the competitive power a school might possess because of its size rather than what the daily social experience will be for the vast majority of children (most of them not football players) we are missing the boat. What all children want is a safe environment where they are known and appreciated. I do not believe it is possible to provide such an experience for enough children in gigantic schools.

Lindsay Massaro demonstrates adept Classroom Management skills, fostering an environment conducive to artistic exploration and growth.

Teachers who possess strong emotional intelligence skills are better equipped to create a positive and supportive learning environment.

The Responsive Classroom approach creates an ideal environment for learning--every teacher should know about it.

The Responsive Classroom approach creates an ideal environment for learning--every teacher should know about it.

IT training and certification. Microtek Learning offers internationally recognized IT training courses and certifications. Gaining IT certifications will validate your skills and advance your career. Our online courses will prepare you for top IT certifications, from vendors like CompTIA, Cisco, Microsoft, VMware and more. Stay on top of your game and boost your credentials with the best IT certification courses in the industry. As the forerunner of infocomm technologies, we are committed to providing the highest quality of training to IT professionals, both novice and experienced. We are an advanced IT training and professional certification provider and have, since established from many years, provided the most comprehensive classroom education in the industry. IT Training with us provides you with valuable hands-on learning and in-depth instruction in a highly structured environment. Our experts are there to support you in the sharpening of your technical skills.

CSWE’s standards for accreditation stipulate that schools must have required classroom courses in the content areas of social policy and programs, methods of practice, human growth and development in the social environment, and research. In addition, there is a requirement for a practicum of at least 900 hours in which the students practice in the field. As a result of the political clout within the profession of racial minorities, lesbians, gays, women, and clinical social workers, there are requirements that there be sufficient content about these groups. There are no requirements for any content about the poor and deprived, or dependent children, or the mentally ill, or the frail aged. Nor is there any requirement that students complete courses on the family, the publicly supported social services, community work, work with groups, or the law. Thus, CSWE leaves rather large gaps in the education of professional social workers.

Potential adaptive leaders must be able to assimilate the education with their training and apply both through their personal actions. Learning is a measurement of whether the adaptive leader is ready to practice in the real environment what has been preached in the classroom.

The brain is only interested in changes in information. That's why people don't really hear the noise of the air conditioner unless it suddenly cuts off or the noise made in some classrooms unless it gets very quiet. Although they actually are hearing it, they aren't paying attention to it. This is called habituation, and it is the way the brain deals with unchanging information from the environment.

Another factor in the success of French immersion, Krashen postulated, was the exclusion of native-French-speaking students. The linguistic composition of the classroom, restricted to second language learners, made teachers constantly aware of the need to shelter their French to make it understandable at or near the level of the class. This also created a relaxed learning environment, reducing students’ stress levels. They all made errors in French and, without the presence of native speakers of French, errors were less cause for embarrassment. The result was to lower what Krashen has termed the affective filter, a psychological barrier that can keep comprehensible input

the classroom environment can be a setup for serious stress-related health problems. In a sense, both teachers and their students are “captives”—they can’t leave during class without suffering adverse consequences. Furthermore, the social and emotional dynamics of a room full of children or adolescents can be intense and sometimes chaotic. Under pressure, some students become disruptive, distracted, and even defiant, and teachers may become anxious, frustrated, embarrassed, and hopeless. From this perspective, it’s easy to see why teachers are burning out and students aren’t learning. The stress response is derailing our teaching and our students’ learning.

In a permeable classroom, schools use their community and beyond to learn by using the resources, inspiration, and environment beyond the walls of the classroom to generate learning experiences that can’t be replicated in the school house.

In an emerging consumer learner environment, the faculty member can engage and direct understanding.

Some teachers will appreciate being invited to a school leader’s office to receive feedback, perhaps because they value time out of their classroom and they feel that doing so formalises the process, which they like; others will feel intimidated by this and would much prefer to receive feedback in the more familiar environment of their own classroom.