Chapter 1 - Developing Learning Environments: Planning ...

1 Chapter 1 - Developing Learning Environments: Planning effective Lessons5 Chapter 1 developing learning environments : Planning effective Lessons How will I remember everything I need to do during a day? What if my students think my class is boring? How will I know if my students have learned anything?These are common fears of new teachers. Being prepared is the best way to overcome these fears. Even experienced teachers are faced with new curriculum, changing standards, and account-ability issues. You need to know your children, your classroom, and yourself.

2 What are the interests and abilities of your stu-dents? What strategies can you use to address their needs?Careful Planning will help you understand the needs of your students, design meaningful activities that will address those needs, and assess student progress to ensure Learning . In this Chapter , you'll learn to plan effective teaching/ Learning environments. You can't integrate technology into the class-room until you feel comfortable Planning the teaching/ Learning environment as a whole. This book isn't intended to teach you everything you need to know about Planning units and lessons.

3 Instead it will review the basic skills you'll need to integrate technology into your lessons. After completing this Chapter , you ll be able to: Describe the teaching/ Learning process. Discuss the importance of communication in the teach-ing/ Learning process. Describe the role of experience in the teaching/ Learning process. Identify the characteristics of students and their implica-tions. Describe the entry skills of students. Identify the purpose of instruction and educational out-comes. Write objectives.

4 Describe the classroom teaching/ Learning Treehouses for Learning : Technology in Today's Classrooms6 Design springboard activities that motivate students and help them recall prior Learning . Design information exploration activities that help stu-dents learn concepts and build skills. Design student involvement activities that include prac-ticing with feedback, solving problems, and creating proj-ects. Design closure/transition activities that draw conclu-sions and help students transfer ideas to new Learning situations.

5 Evaluate and revise instructional the Teaching/ Learning EnvironmentYour classroom is more than walls, desks, tables, chalkboards, and computers. It's made up of thinkers, communicators, collab-orators, and creators who use tools and resources to help them identify, organize, synthesize, and share information. You, your students, your resources, your activities, and your classroom are all active elements in an authentic teaching/ Learning environ-ment. Your primary role is to facilitate Learning by effectively arranging information and resources within the classroom envi-ronment.

6 Learning is the development of new knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values. In recent years our schools have moved toward a teaching/ Learning process that recognizes the importance of develop-ing the whole child. The child's social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development are all of equal importance. As a result, many schools have developed inquiry-based, collaborative Learning environments, and other Learning experiences that ad-dress individual differences and enhance a child's development. An important element of these experiences is providing a learn-ing environment for students where they can interact meaning-fully with the people and information around them.

7 According to Perkins (1990), a person is not a "pure and enduring nucleus, but the sum and swarm of participations." Learning is a cultural phenomena based in economic, and social conditions. There is a growing movement toward au-thentic Learning environments that require students to do "real world" kinds of activities as opposed to contrived exercises. In other words, rather than having students write three facts about bike safety, they might create safety videos, discuss bike safety with younger children, or start a "safe biking" campaign in the school.

8 Active, authentic Learning environments require students to interact and participate through varied senses or channels of communication. They may watch, touch, smell, or listen. In addition, they may discuss, debate, synthesize, and create. Treehouse TipLearning is the develop-ment of new knowledge, skills, attitudes, and 1 - Developing Learning Environments: Planning effective Lessons7 Technology can play an important role in conveying informa-tion through various channels and providing opportunities for student interaction, creativity, and communication.

9 All kinds of media can be used to carry informational and instructional messages to learners. These media can be classified into print, display, and projected materials. Information, questions, direc-tions, and feedback are just a few of the messages conveyed through the print medium. Print materials include books, hand-outs, worksheets, and other text and graphics materials. Stu-dents spend a lot of their instructional time working with print materials. However, teachers are increasingly passing up paper in favor of storing files electronically.

10 Students may complete assignments using a word processor and store documents on a school network. Or, they may participate in online materials are another common classroom media format. These resources include signs, graphics, bulletin boards, chalkboards, table displays, games, models, and Learning cen-ters. Materials such as realia (real objects), construction paper, lab equipment, and many other items are arranged in a way to help facilitate Learning . Displays can be explored and manipu-lated by students to provide an active, hands-on Learning en-vironment.