The Environment |
As a teacher, I believe in a relationship-driven approach to teaching. I believe that by connecting with the students, and their families, the learning in a classroom can be student-centred and full of new discoveries and wonder. Families, specifically parents, are the child's first teacher and as a teacher I recognize the importance of this connection. The learning space of a classroom will change to best fit the needs of the students. By providing resources where students can ask open-ended questions, and be independent with their learning. Students will be able to be co-constructors of their learning spaces, using the classroom environment as a third teacher.
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What is the "Third Teacher"? |
The third teacher can be described as the environment where the setting is designed to be functional and beautiful, reflecting the child's learning. By planning activities that build upon the curriculum, children can construct their own knowledge and build upon what they already know (Biermeier, 2015). The teacher has actively seemed out and understood the interests of the students, developing an emergent curriculum based upon those findings. The learning environment is intentional and involves all those who are working in that classroom, reflecting on how the environment is use as the third teacher.
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What children learn does not follow as an automatic result from what is taught, rather, it is in large part due to the children’s own doing, as a consequence of their activities and our resources. |
This environment reflects the whole child as this space is designed as a large gathering space for whole-group work, discussions and learning. This space supports and nurtures all areas of children’s development-- from social-emotional to cognitive skills—it is a place where people come and work together. The teaching area of the classroom is largely focused around a rainbow-table and the rolling easel-whiteboard that the teacher used to use in this area. Through the use of this physical space, exploration is encouraged and expressed. It is also a place that enables learners to become clearer and more confident about what they know and understand.
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The environment is set up to encourage balance and support the needs of students with varying needs and abilities. Within this classroom there are students that require the support of an EA, but they are not sitting at separate desks away from others—they are with other students their age that do not require the support of an EA. There are times when students benefit from separate spaces, or sitting at their own table, but these students did not require that. The environment reflects the ability to support these students as they are learning, and being flexible with how they can support all learners in the classroom. These students also recognized ways that they learned best- some students sat at the table for work, some sat on the carpet and some were standing at their tables. They also recognized when they needed quite breaks, or the time to move before refocusing. They were beginning to use their environment for self-regulation, it is a safe place where they are able to be themselves.
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The use of an outdoor classroom has created an area where students can create inquiry questions, investigate those questions and explore while outside. In this classroom, the teacher used the interests of students—the emergent curriculum-- to investigate what plants can grow in the winter. Within the classroom they had investigation notebooks where they drew their predictions, and planned out how they were going to take care of their plants. The exploration has moved from inside the classroom to outside of the classroom. This environment has become the third teacher by helping students make meaning of what they are learning and what interests them.
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