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Home > Learning Environment

Learning Environment

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The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.

Teachers should create a classroom environment of discipline, tolerance, and relaxed learning.

Teachers who cannot keep students involved and excited for several hours in the classroom should not be there. ~John Roueche
Standard: 1. Case Teacher Licensure Mission: The mission of the Case educator preparation unit is to prepare Proactive Scholar-Practitioners who demonstrate thorough content and pedagogical knowledge; skill in instructional planning, delivery, and assessment; and dispositions consistent with the principles of commitment, collaboration, and creativity. We define Proactive Scholar-Practitioners as educators who, upon entering the teaching profession, demonstrate through their performance in instructional contexts:
Indicator: superior skill in creating optimal learning environments, in assessing and monitoring individual student performance and instructional effectiveness, in adapting instruction to accommodate changing student performance including effective application of technology, and in communicating effectively and working collaboratively with students, families, and co-workers (Practitioner)
Standard: 2. Case Teacher Licensure Vision: We envision the preparation of Proactive Scholar-Practitioners characterized not only by superior content and pedagogical knowledge, superior performance as practitioners of their respective disciplines and in the instructional application of that discipline, but also by dispositions consistent with the shared mission of Case and the educator preparation unit. These dispositions include:
Indicator: a caring and respectful demeanor toward students and their families, peers, co-workers, and professors
Indicator: fairness in relationships with others and personal ethics, that is, doing the right thing for not just themselves but for the world
Standard: 3. Case Teacher Licensure Philosophy and Belief System: Case prepares educators to be Proactive Scholar-Practitioners. A shared set of core beliefs about teachers, learners, and the learning process unifies the educator preparation programs at Case, and can be summarized as follows:
Indicator: Effective teaching is evidenced by the ability to create engaging, responsive, and collaborative learning environments.
Indicator: Effective educators manifest care and respect for students, families, and co-workers.
Indicator: Effective educators demonstrate fairness and personal ethics.
OH- Ohio Standards for the Teaching Professions
Standard: Standard #5: Learning Environment Teachers create learning environments that promote high levels of learning and achievement for all students.
USA- INTASC: Model Standards for Beginning Teacher Licensing and Development (1992)
Knowledge, Disposition and Performance Indicators
Principle 5: Learning Environment: The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
Area 5.10: Knowledge
Standard 5.11: The teacher can use knowledge about human motivation and behavior drawn from the foundational sciences of psychology, anthropology, and sociology to develop strategies for organizing and supporting individual and group work.
Standard 5.12: The teacher understands how social groups function and influence people, and how people influence groups.
Standard 5.13: The teacher knows how to help people work productively and cooperatively with each other in complex social settings.
Standard 5.14: The teacher understands the principles of effective classroom management and can use a range of strategies to promote positive relationships, cooperation, and purposeful learning in the classroom.
Standard 5.15: The teacher recognizes factors and situations that are likely to promote or diminish intrinsic motivation, and knows how to help students become self-motivated.
Area 5.20: Dispositions
Standard 5.21: The teacher takes responsibility for establishing a positive climate in the classroom and participates in maintaining such a climate in the school as whole.
Standard 5.22: The teacher understands how participation supports commitment, and is committed to the expression and use of democratic values in the classroom.
Standard 5.23: The teacher values the role of students in promoting each other’s learning and recognizes the importance of peer relationships in establishing a climate of learning.
Standard 5.24: The teacher recognizes the value of intrinsic motivation to students’ life-long growth and learning.
Standard 5.25: The teacher is committed to the continuous development of individual students’ abilities and considers how different motivational strategies are likely to encourage this development for each student.
Area 5.30: Performances
Standard 5.31: The teacher creates a smoothly functioning learning community in which students assume responsibility for themselves and one another, participate in decisionmaking, work collaboratively and independently, and engage in purposeful learning activities.
Standard 5.32: The teacher engages students in individual and cooperative learning activities that help them develop the motivation to achieve, by, for example, relating lessons to students’ personal interests, allowing students to have choices in their learning, and leading students to ask questions and pursue problems that are meaningful to them.
Standard 5.33: The teacher organizes, allocates, and manages the resources of time, space, activities, and attention to provide active and equitable engagement of students in productive tasks.
Standard 5.34 : The teacher maximizes the amount of class time spent in learning by creating expectations and processes for communication and behavior along with a physical setting conducive to classroom goals.
Standard 5.35: The teacher helps the group to develop shared values and expectations for student interactions, academic discussions, and individual and group responsibility that create a positive classroom climate of openness, mutual respect, support, and inquiry.
Standard 5.36: The teacher analyzes the classroom environment and makes decisions and adjustments to enhance social relationships, student motivation and engagement, and productive work.
Standard 5.37: The teacher organizes, prepares students for, and monitors independent and group work that allows for full and varied participation of all individuals.
USA- Praxis II
Test Names: Test Names
Licensure Area: Music K-12
Test 0113: Music: Content Knowledge (contains listening section)
Content Category IV: Music Learning, K-12
USA- Praxis II Principles of Learning
Test: Principles of Learning & Teaching: Grades 7-12
Category: I. Students as Learners
Topic: C. Student Motivation and the Learning Environment
Detail: 1. Theoretical foundations of human motivation and behavior
Detail: 2. How knowledge of human motivation and behavior should infl uence strategies for organizing and supporting individual and group work in the classroom
Detail: 3. Factors and situations that are likely to promote or diminish student’s motivation to learn, and how to help students to become self-motivated
Detail: 4. Principles of effective classroom management and strategies to promote positive relationships, cooperation, and purposeful learning
USA-Praxis III/Pathwise Teacher Performance Criteria
Copyright ©2003 Educational Testing Service. Used with permission of ETS. Also see Danielson, Charlotte (1996) "Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching" Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Domain: Domain B- Creating an Environment for Student Learning
Criterion B1: Creating a climate that promotes fairness
Criterion B2: Establishing and maintaining rapport with students
Criterion B3: Communicating challenging learning expectations to each student
Criterion B4: Establishing and maintaining consistent standards of classroom behavior
Criterion B5: Making the physical environment as safe and conducive to learning as possible

Reflections on the Learning Outcome

The sixth outcome of the Case Western Reserve University Proactive Scholar Practitioner Program is Learning Environment. The standard requires that “the teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.” In other words, teachers are responsible for keeping students involved an invested in their education and for providing time and space in which it is conducive to learn.

A music teacher is responsible for keeping the classroom environment a place of active learning. In order to preserve an orderly classroom, good discipline and control over the students is a must coupled with great classroom organization. Class space should be kept neat but not “sterile”; posters, diagrams, pictures, and even plants lend to creating an aura of relaxed learning. The teacher should strive to make the time his/her students spend in his/her classroom is productive, educational, and engaging all at once with a perfect balance of social and individual work. Teachers are also responsible for creating an environment of tolerance and acceptance for all students (See Outcome #4). The attitude of the instructor plays an important role in creating a Learning Environment; music teachers should express a love for their field, a love of teaching, and a friendly but no-nonsense demeanor. All of these will create a classroom situation where students love to learn and explore the field of music.

The best way to improve in the Learning Environment outcome is to shadow or aid a teacher in a classroom setting. The future teacher will easily pick up on the instructor's subtle maneuvers for keeping a well-disciplined class as well as observe ideas for creating a good learning space. Future teachers should also teach their own students in a classroom setting, starting with just a few students, to practice these techniques themselves. Also, attending conferences, lectures, and masterclasses to learn from classroom veterans is an excellent idea. Suggested artifacts include essays and projects done in class as well as reviews of articles and books on learning environments. Video recorded teaching episodes in a classroom setting are also a great idea.

Author: Natasha Marsalli
Last modified: 4/28/2009 8:30 PM (EST)