Developing a Learning Classroom

Moving Beyond Management Through Relationships, Relevance, and Rigor

Nic Cooper, Betty K. Garner

• Publisher: Corwin
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781452203881
• eBook ISBN: 9781452283951
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Discover powerful ways to connect with your students!

All too often, managing a classroom means gaining control, dictating guidelines, and implementing rules. Designed for any teacher struggling with student behavior, motivation, and engagement, Developing a Learning Classroom explores how to create a thriving, learning-centered classroom through three critical concepts?relationships, relevance, and rigor. Discover how you can:

• Develop an interactive learning mindset
• Create a safe environment where students question, explore, and discover
• Uncover a student?s learning profile as well as your own teaching style
• Use student input to create classroom practices and procedures
• Apply brain-based instructional strategies to keep students engaged
• Use student surveys and a personal education plan to improve learning environments

Filled with classroom stories, starter worksheets, and action steps, this book reveals the secrets to transforming an ordinary classroom into an extraordinary learning community!

1 What is a Learning Classroom?: How to Develop Relationships, Relevance, and Rigor

Albert Einstein

Jerry, an eager preservice teacher, was starting a class on behavior management before student teaching. In previous classes, he learned instructional theory and strategies. However, he continued to have nagging worries. Would his students listen to him? Would they behave? What if they didn't? Would he be able to relate to them? Would he have control and good classroom management? These fears preoccupied him. He didn't want anyone to know he felt this way.

Megan, Jerry's classmate, had similar concerns. She struggled with a perceived conflict between being nice and being tough. How would students enjoy her class if she must be firm to gain their respect? How would they like her if she had to consistently enforce school rules? She pretended to be confident.

When Megan and Jerry first walked into the class, they were surprised to find names on assigned seats. Class rules, which clearly stated expectations and criteria for failure, were projected on a screen. Dr. Roy Nickelson, the instructor, marched sternly into the class, stood at the podium, and in a stern voice stated, “This class is the most important class for teachers. If you are going to make it in this class, you have to work hard and follow my instructions on how to manage and control a classroom. You need to be prepared and to keep my rules. If you don't, you can't be a good teacher.”

Students sat there, eyes glued on the rigid figure. He continued, “Now you have an idea of what expectations are for this class. Take a notebook and write your thoughts on classroom management and being in this class.” The students dutifully followed directions.

After about three minutes, Dr. Roy changed his tone and politely asked students to move their chairs into a circle. He moved the podium to a corner and pulled his chair into the circle. In a gentle tone of voice, he invited students to take a deep breath and reflect on what just happened. There was a noticeable sigh of relief. Students responded to his invitation to share their thoughts and feelings about what they just experienced.

One student said, “At first, I felt the class was structured and efficient.” Like many preservice teachers, this young man had learned that getting a good grade meant doing what he was told and giving the teacher what he or she wanted. Another said, “I thought, ‘This is scary! I already hate this class!’” This student responded negatively and would typically choose to withdraw before it was too late. Some students, who had Dr. Roy for other classes, said they were really confused and wondered what happened to the other Dr. Roy, because this was so out of character for him.

Dr. Roy carefully planned this brief demonstration to help his students experience how students feel when they walk into a controlled, sterile, uninviting, oppressive, strictly managed classroom environment. Although the dramatization was difficult for Dr. Roy, he knew it was an effective tool to help his students become aware of how important it is to develop a learning classroom.

After the brief shock demo, Dr. Roy encouraged students to reflect on their feelings in a relaxed environment. In the circle, they felt more comfortable to share their ideas in an atmosphere of respect and acceptance. In response to their comments, Dr. Roy modeled active listening by paraphrasing to clarify rather than evaluating or lecturing. He used open-ended questions to stimulate discussion as they created meaning through collaboration.

When Dr. Roy joined his students in a circle, he focused on building relationships within a safe learning community. Such an environment usually prevents inappropriate behavior and learning happens fluidly and powerfully.

Fortunately for Jerry and Megan, they were participating in a class where the instructor developed a learning community and encouraged the participants to voice their thoughts and concerns. In this environment, students felt safe to be honest about their insecurities. This instructor actually modeled the difference between developing and managing a classroom in a way that was very different from the typical educational lecture classes where they were told how to teach content rather than shown how to engage learners. Dr. Roy emphasized, “You can manage a classroom with fear, but that discourages creative learning.” He did not discard the need for managing or organizing the classroom. Instead, he emphasized the importance of focusing on interactive learning within a well-ordered, developed classroom.

When teacher education students in Dr. Roy's classroom management course were asked to think about how it would feel to develop a learning classroom rather than manage one, without exception, they were enthusiastic about developing one because it removed a substantial amount of the fear. One student said the change in terms changed his mental picture from “battening down the hatches” to “building something strong.” It clearly represented a change in mindset.

Preservice teachers are confused and somewhat intimidated by the prospect of managing a classroom. This perspective permeates required courses like classroom management or behavior management. Teachers need to be effective and efficient; however, the word manage conveys a need to overpower or control. This often exacerbates their fears.

As noted earlier, it's not just the young teachers who struggle with this idea of managing a classroom. Seasoned teachers often believe they need to instill a certain fear in their students in order to keep them under control. This produces the illusion of a well-managed classroom. A well-managed classroom, though, is not necessarily one that promotes learning.

Even well-meaning teachers sometimes confuse managing and controlling the classroom with developing a learning classroom. Order in a classroom doesn't mean quiet; it means focused engagement where students understand the goals and feel safe getting involved. It means focusing on relationships, relevance, and rigor.

Students tend to listen more with their hearts than with their heads.

The Three Rs Revisited

To effectively teach and awaken the joy that Einstein described, we need to focus on what matters—relationships, relevance, rigor. These three words appear frequently in educational journals and are often used in discussions about improving our schools. However, they are usually ordered differently: rigor, relevance, and relationships. Our decision to present these in reverse order is intentional, based on the primary importance of forming relationships to facilitate learning and the need for seeing relevance before looking deeper for rigor. We encourage teachers, both beginning and experienced, to recognize the importance of these three Rs in developing a learning community within the classroom. We can become so busy just keeping up with everyday demands and managing details that we get caught in a survival mentality rather than enjoying and stimulating learning for ourselves and our students. In this book, we discuss many facets of effective teaching and learning that challenge our readers to take a different perspective on what matters.

From our years of experience, we realized that students tend to listen more with their hearts than with their heads. This insight opened our minds to carefully examine the effect of relationships on learning. Thousands of struggling students who turned their lives around reported that a caring teacher who believed in them made it possible for them to be successful. Good students who regularly got good grades reported that connecting with a caring teacher enabled them to excel in developing their abilities. At every age level, trusting relationships between teachers and students prime the brain for learning, activate willingness to cooperate, and encourage excellence.

Teachers who connect with their students create a safe environment where students can question, explore, and discover. Willingness to take risks can be limited by a fear of failure. A safe environment governed by principles that encourage growth and respect allows students the freedom to learn from their mistakes.

But what happens when teachers are uncomfortable building relationships with students? Teachers need to connect with kindness while maintaining appropriate boundaries. To build meaningful relationships, teachers need to know who they are, know their students, be competent in their content area, and be proficient in their ability to engage students in learning.

Students, who sometimes appear to resist learning, confront teachers by asking “Why do we need to know this?” This is a legitimate question. Instead of thinking students are just trying to avoid work, teachers need to look at the relevance of what they are teaching and how they are presenting it. Digital access to unlimited knowledge redefines the role of educators. As facilitators, teachers help equip students with the cognitive tools to learn, create, and change, so they can apply what they are learning to their own lives. With information doubling at astounding rates, teachers make instruction relevant by developing a learning community where students use rigorous, systematic approaches to build on the basics and enhance their cognitive capabilities to make sense of their changing world.

Although the term rigor usually connotes harsh inflexibility, we are using it to mean thoroughness and precise accuracy that is only possible with standards of excellence. A well-developed learning community provides the structure, opportunities, and security that challenge students to achieve depth and breadth of learning through self-discipline and continuing independent research. Rigor includes good organization and effective procedures that prevent many of the distracting behaviors interfering with learning.

As we worked with prospective and practicing teachers over the last three decades, we saw a need to emphasize the importance of developing a learning classroom based on relationships, relevance, and rigor, instead of stressing strategies for classroom and behavior management. Using a proactive approach, we involve teachers with the personal experience of a learning environment that is safe, stimulating, open, and challenging. Although education courses and seminars address innovative ways of teaching, most teachers teach the way they were taught without realizing the disconnect between what they claim to be their philosophy of education and their actual practice in the classroom. Our mindset, which is a composite of beliefs and values, filters and colors everything we do.

Mindsets

Carol Dweck (2006) described two mindsets and their impact on learning. The “growth mindset” is grounded in a belief that growth is ongoing and that more effort will bring improved intelligence and performance. In contrast, a “fixed mindset” is grounded in a belief that “we are what we are,” and it isn't likely to change. Those with a fixed mindset are apt to say things that define themselves unequivocally, like “I'm dumb” or “I'm not good at math,” and use that as a reason to avoid learning. They are not likely to put effort into changing their viewpoint since they see it as unchangeable. Those who think they are smart may think they will always get good grades based on their native intelligence and unrelated to their effort.

Classrooms with positive learning environments use strategies that promote a growth mindset. Students’ efforts are noticed and encouraged. Grades are not the focus as much as multiple indicators of ongoing learning. Mistakes are embraced as a step in the learning process. Misconceptions provide opportunities for dialogue and clarification. Questions from students give teachers feedback on their effectiveness in promoting growth.

As with the students, schools that promote developing growth mindsets and sharing among professionals create classrooms that promote learning.

Fixed mindsets occur across the learning spectrum from the very strong to the very weak students. With fixed mindsets, students are unwilling to take risks. They resist trying because they expect to fail no matter what they do. With growth mindsets, students are open to challenges and are willing to try new things because they are not afraid of making mistakes and focus on effort, expecting to improve if they work hard.

With students, the power to shape their perspective does rest with the teachers and their parents or other significant adults. By noticing the effort with statements like “wow, you really worked hard on that,” the students who are working on establishing their identities will begin to focus on the effort and a belief that they can change. When adults say things like “wow, you are really smart” or “you're going to be the next LeBron James,” they are focusing on the outcomes and may stifle growth.

Mindsets become a focus for teachers, too. Teachers with a fixed mindset are less likely to engage with their peers in professional learning communities where they examine their teaching and assessment strategies. As with the students, schools that promote developing growth mindsets and sharing among professionals create classrooms that promote learning.

Developing a learning classroom means focusing on creating a growth mindset as well as keeping the brain in the game. Good teachers implement strategies that engage students’ brains while developing good relationships. That's where focus on developing relationships, relevance, and rigor changes things. When students are afraid, they are not fully using the part of their brains that allows them to learn. Instead, they remain stuck in their lizard brain. In addition to avoiding the lizard brain, this also means making sure the students understand its significance.

Understanding the Importance of the Survival Reflex to Teaching

The lizard brain is the most primitive part of the brain shared with other living creatures (including reptiles like lizards) and is focused on survival. Comprised primarily of the cerebellum and the brain stem, it keeps various bodily systems working. When we feel threatened, it becomes the primary focus for our autonomic system to work efficiently and activate our fight-or-flight response. Although this is critical for our survival, reacting can be problematic when we engage these defensive reflexes inappropriately in situations incorrectly perceived as threats due to our past experiences.

For example, Perry walks into his math class. He heads straight to the back of the classroom where the teacher is less likely to see him. He expects to be embarrassed in this class because he has often heard that he is a poor math student. Although his survival isn't really threatened, his ex...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• About the Authors
• 1 What is a Learning Classroom?: How to Develop Relationships, Relevance, and Rigor
• 2 Who am I who Teaches?: How Knowing Oneself Impacts Practice
• 3 Who are the Students we Teach?: How Knowing our Students Affects Teaching and Learning
• 4 How do we Reach our Students?: How Procedures and Clear Expectations Develop a Learning Classroom
• 5 How do we Teach our Students?: How to Engage Students in their Own Learning with Rigor and Relevance
• 6 How do we Know if our Students are Learning?: How to Assess and Motivate Students
• 7 How do we Stay in the Game?: How to Cultivate Learning Communities for Continual Professional Growth
• Appendix A: Introductory Student Survey (Also Available at http://www.corwin.com/books/Book237330)
• Appendix B: Advanced Student Survey (Also Available at http://www.corwin.com/books/Book237330)
• Appendix C: Sample Socratic Questions: Tools to Stimulate Critical Thinking
• Appendix D: Flexible Lesson Design
• Appendix E: Personal Education Plan (Also Available at http://www.corwin.com/books/Book237330)
• References
• Index