The Climate for Learning
Prompt:
What does it mean to have a conducive “Climate for Learning”?
What is a positive “Climate for Learning”?
How can we create these..?
Looking at photos of classrooms over the last two hundred years (pre-WW1, pre-WW2, post-WW2, modern-??) what differences do we see? What, if any, progress is there in terms of the physical environment for learning and the emotional environment for learning...? What does the future hold...?
These two criteria (emotional and physical climates) steered our discussion for this meeting during which we also had student representatives: Atousa Khajehpour (G07), Oliver Valenta (G10) & Tatendu Dzvuke (G12) who also contributed significant and meaningful insights into our discussions.
Our challenge is to consider how we can work on and develop such conducive environments for education at DISV for ALL stakeholders: students, parents, teachers, administrative and household staff together.
What is the “EMOTIONAL & PHYSICAL” environment...?
This is how we “feel” within school, within the classroom, while teaching and learning...; the criteria which (perhaps) do create a conducive may include...:
EMOTIONAL conditions:
· Safe – with good self-esteem, confident and unafraid to take risks with our work/opinions
· Respectful – of ourselves and each other, modelled and enforced as necessary
· Praise – should be sincere and pervasive
· Fun & Enjoyment – purposeful and shared enjoyment of learning
· Celebrate (and use) Diversity – relevant and integral as able
PHYSICAL conditions:
· Display – can be focussed, sharing/celebrating, may be interactive/living, changing every lesson
· Order – shows organisation, pride,
· Layout & Seating – varied/flexible vs static/fixed, rows/individual/groups
· Sensory – lighting, plants, sounds/smells
Whatever the directions followed the main consideration always lead towards an appreciation of how our surroundings affect how we work/teach/learn...
There are, of course, challenges: shared classrooms with multiple teachers teaching in them, classroom size varies, routines, habits, classroom/teaching cultures already established and costs...
Do such challenges stand irremovably in the way of a new direction, or can they be developed, even completely changed/overcome if need be...?
Our further discussion directions revolved around...:
· Motivational teaching for motivated learning
· Student self-responsibility/ownership for work & behaviour
· Combined ownership student/teacher for the overall environment
· Creating an atmosphere where all ENJOY learning.
· Balance for assessment options (movement, activity, oral, audio, written, exam etc...)
· Language – varied use even of other languages (groups within classes)
Encouraging through the school, from the youngest to the oldest:
I CAN do this... I will enjoy doing this...
FURTHER DISCUSSION PROMPTS:
· What do YOU feel makes a “good” climate for learning in your or in any other classroom?
· Do YOU feel that our “climate” is always at the optimum for teaching and learning?
· How can we, with collective ownership, develop and strive for continued improvement and development of our climate for learning...?
