Foundations of Teaching and Learning

docx

School

Maseno University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

101

Subject

Psychology

Date

Nov 24, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by UltraKomodoDragon152

1 Creating a Stimulating and Caring Classroom Name Institution Course Professor Date

2 Creating a Stimulating and Caring Classroom Creating a stimulating and caring classroom tailored to realize optimal learning should feature necessary physical and psychological elements which meet the student's level and accomplishes the purpose and principles of effective teaching. Optimal learning takes place in an environment where the teacher behaviors noted as effective and supported through primary research are translated and implemented in practice by classroom teachers. When these competencies are implemented, teachers can realize desirable competencies expected among learners. Policies, teacher observations, formulation of teaching methods, and the role of teacher competencies and knowledge base and preparation have been argued to play a role in the development and practice of the learning environment. This stimulating and caring learning environment is expected to provide a teacher and learner an opportunity to transform understanding and performance into skills, attitudes, and values through talking, representing, enacting, and depicting ideas and concepts. This essay focuses on creating a stimulating and caring classroom or early learning environment where optimal learning can occur. Theory Theories about cognitive development in young children and how the mind develops in the early years need to be the core part influencing the creation of a stimulating and caring classroom. Through an understanding of cognitive development and early learning, children are supported to acquire skills by providing necessary developmentally appropriate stimulation achieved through a safe and caring environment. Theory of mind suggests that people can infer others’ actions as motivated by intentions, thoughts and objectives (Allen et al., 2015). In comparison, young children develop their access to their environment through adulthood and evaluate peoples’ intentions and fairness of intent. This understanding allows learners to

3 determine when teachers are communicating something beneficial to them. Observation in early childhood environments is significant. Children observe their environment and teachers and infer conviction that their teachers intend something valuable to them. Therefore, the learning environment should not be sophisticated; the language used during play should be child-directed and stimulate cognition and social interaction. Children are supposed to interact within an environment that nurtures their cognitive development and curiosity and addresses their emotional demands to enable them to develop emotionally. Therefore, this learning environment should support children’s success by effectively using available materials to facilitate the acquisition of skills. A virtually supportive, stimulative and caring classroom assists learners by having well-organized, appropriate materials used to learn and succeed. An inadequate learning environment fails to implement its purpose of producing high-achieving children; therefore, other than being effectively challenging, the classroom should be a high-quality teacher and student interaction. The generous support of the teacher, temporal environment, and social and physical environment are essential aspects that go together to provide practice avenues necessary for a stimulating and caring classroom. Besides, children should have opportunities to play outside, where activities such as writing, coloration, cutting and exploration are practiced. Children with disabilities are also cared for to have sufficient opportunities to succeed; their actions, interaction and routines are managed to yield target improvements for the individual child. Personal Values and Beliefs A qualified and well-trained teacher equipped with content knowledge, pedagogical expertise, curriculum knowledge, and knowledge of learners' behaviors is needed to create a stimulating and caring classroom environment to facilitate optimal learning. They should also

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

4 have educational context awareness, educational purposes, values, and philosophy. This teacher is responsible for managing and shaping the learning environment to include features that will be of specific interest in stimulating and caring for learners to achieve optimal learning. With these skills, the teacher can blend pedagogical understanding, content, and available resources to design an appropriate setting that meets the specifics of a given topic or problem or adhere to the specific needs, interests, and abilities of learners during instruction. Since teaching is a learned profession, the teacher is expected to master the subject matter of tenets of the conceptual organization and research the essential ideas and concepts that should be used to achieve optimal student understanding. Through employment and utilization of these multifaceted dimensions, the teacher can attain flexibility, comprehension, and communication sufficient to provide alternative explanations and descriptions of the same concepts and principles to achieve a marked influence on students' understanding. Therefore, a caring and stimulating learning environment has been completed. Stimulating Environment Another aspect of creating a stimulating classroom is focusing on educational materials and structures. These resources are used in teaching and learning within the scope of availability and usability. The available materials bind teachers within the context of the school, classroom, and policies since they are bound to operate with the available resources. Lack of sufficient resources in the classroom inhibits the teachers' ability to develop a stimulating and caring learning environment to facilitate optimal learning because such presence or absence of these materials impedes the teaching efforts (Shulman, 1987). These resources available are safely deployed to promote students' well-being through the set of rules and standards of expectation to ensure a seamless interaction within the classroom where learners interact without injuries and

5 those with special needs are considered, addressed, and cared for. Some of the physical environment, resources, materials, and structures necessary to facilitate learning in the classroom include space, furniture, layout, and good classroom organization. Physical resources and environment support students' and child development because they impact their learning behavior and creativity (Karlidag, 2021). A well-organized classroom provides ample time for student interaction, aids positive outcomes, and improves motor skills, language, and cognitive abilities. The well-planned physical environment includes the proper organization of other materials, such as shelves, carpets, tapes, and flooring, which are decided based on the objective of the topic. Caring Environment Teachers are responsible for creating a caring learning environment to support effective learning. Shulman (1987) derived a portrait of a proficient teacher. While borrowing from the experiences of Nancy, who has been teaching for 25 years, the classroom, as observed, is the work of a teacher who maintains tight control to actualize the study’s goals. A teacher aims to liberate students by teaching organized appropriately to achieve specific objectives. Assignments and activities in the classroom are meant to attain pedagogical purposes and meet individual differences, learners’ level of difficulty, theme and kind of student. Flexibility and adjustment are core aspects of a teacher when creating a caring classroom; a combination of resources in the learning environment should be used tactically to address the shortcomings or complement other instruction. Ample time should be dedicated to helping learners interpret and understand the subject matter. Since learners are different and have varying levels of understanding, the complexity of the subject matter should be consciously delivered. Pupils should be left to engage in the subject matter and work independently or guided, depending on the concept and ideas

6 involved in instruction. However, the teaching methods and style should not be predictable or uniform but flexible in responding to the difficulty and nature of subject content, learners’ ability and educational needs. Through independent or self-directed learning, students can acquire skills that steer them throughout their lives besides promoting engaging and inspiring students that are socially influential individuals. A teacher’s use of open-ended instruction questions allows the learners to learn, think, deduce, discover and make breakthroughs. These concepts outline the role of the teacher in designing the state of a classroom as a facilitator of a stimulating and caring classroom which enables optimal learning. An effective learning environment should be designed for learning where all the physical apparatus and spaces are accessible to individual students. Learning resources such as books should be equally accessible to students using wheelchairs and white canes due to the disabilities caused by impaired vision in an inclusive environment. Different methods and styles, such as blending online and face-to-face interaction among early children, can also be a great way to achieve long-term retention besides increasing academic achievement and instilling future skills. Ceylan & Kesici (2017) notes that a blended learning environment is more stimulating and can be academically more successful than unblended classrooms. These teaching styles expose learners to experiences and skills that are necessary and sufficient to complement face-to-face interaction with teachers. Contrary to the existing norm that has subjected teachers to technicians employed and pressured to improve student academic scores, teachers should also be facilitators of the development of practical communication skills, problem-solving, and creativity (Richardson & Mishra, 2018). Therefore, the learning environment should overcome creativity’s constraints using curriculum, time and space. The pedagogical strategies employed in the classroom to support creativity mean teachers’ roles should not be structured, rigid, and more

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

7 practical. Through these ways, the learning environment can be stimulating and caring so that optimal learning and creativity occur despite the students’ differences. In conclusion, a stimulating and caring classroom where optimal learning occurs is created by a well-trained teacher equipped with content knowledge, pedagogical expertise, curriculum knowledge, and knowledge of learners’ behaviors. They are supposed to organize the overall design and layout of the classroom materials and request the necessary materials deployed to facilitate optimal learning. Temporal, social and physical environment should be well presented within the learning environment to provide ample time for learners’ interaction, aid positive outcomes, and improve motor skills, language, and cognitive abilities. An optimal learning environment designed for learning should have all the physical apparatus and spaces accessible. All individual learners should access resources, such as books, and should also be accessible to learners using wheelchairs and white canes; this environment will be caring and stimulating to learners.

8 References Shulman, L. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard educational review , 57 (1), 1-23. Karlidag, I. Ö. (2021). Creating Learning Environments in Preschool Classrooms: Perspectives of Pre-Service Preschool Teachers. International Journal of Progressive Education , 17 (3), 327-342. Allen, L., Kelly, B. B., & National Research Council. (2015). Child development and early learning. In Transforming the workforce for children birth through age 8: A unifying foundation . National Academies Press (US). Richardson, C., & Mishra, P. (2018). Learning environments that support student creativity: Developing the SCALE. Thinking skills and creativity , 27 , 45-54. Ceylan, V. K., & Kesici, A. E. (2017). Effect of blended learning to academic achievement. Journal of Human Sciences , 14 (1), 308-320.

Foundations of Teaching and Learning

Related Documents