Standard 4: Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
Resource 1
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These special arrangement charts ensure that the teachers are aware of any special requirements that students have so that they can support their students' well-being.
(Standard 4.4) |
Resource 2
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This resource was shared with me by the special education teacher when he was explaining to me different strategies that can promote and encourage inclusive student participation and engagement in the classroom. In this article, Michael Carr-Gregg suggests ways by which teachers can further engage male students in learning.
(Standard 4.1) |
Resource 3
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The school's positive behaviour policy outlines the rights and responsibilities of the students, as well as the logical consequences for misbehaviour. This policy is designed to support and promote the students' well-being and safety within the school, as well as to inform teachers of the approaches to take when managing challenging behaviour.
(Standards 4.3 & 4.4) |
Resource 4
This seating chart is a strategy a teacher could use to support inclusive student participation and engagement in class discussions and activities. Especially in a VCE classroom where discussion about the unit content plays an essential part in consolidation of the information.
(Standard 4.1) |
Resource 5
These well-being charts are a prime example of how to create a positive classroom learning environment that is supportive of the students' holistic well-being. At the start of the year, each class in the school is required to meet together and decide upon the major points that they feel are most crucial in creating a safe and positive classroom environment. Classroom rules have been found to be more effective when the students are involved in the process, as the students establish them with the purpose of helping themselves achieve their own academic goals (Lovegrove et al., 1983). Later year's students are usually working towards achieving good end of year results and therefore it is important for them to understand that in order to be able to achieve academic success, there must first be a safe and supportive classroom environment that encourages and promotes learning. These points are then collated and printed on a well-being chart that the students must sign at the bottom to demonstrate their agreement to abide by these rules and responsibilities. The chart is then hung up on the wall in the classroom to serve as a constant reminder of how everyone should behave in the classroom in order to promote a safe learning environment that is conducive to both the teacher and students' well-being.
Research has suggested that an effective way of uniting the students in a classroom is to establish a shared sense of responsibility amongst them (Balson, 1989). By establishing these rights and responsibilities and having them on display in the classroom, the students should feel as though they have both the personal responsibility as well as the shared responsibility with their peers to ensure that the classroom remains a positive supportive environment so that all students feel safe and have the confidence to focus on learning and achieving their goals. The later years can be a time where students feel an excessive amount of pressure to compete with their peers and achieve high marks and therefore it is extremely imperative to ensure that when necessary, the students are reminded about this well-being chart in order to reinforce that they are all working towards a common goal and therefore need to work together to create the right environment to do so.
(Standard 4.4)
References
Balson, M, (1989). Discipline: An Old Problem in a New World. The Best of Set Discipline. 13, pp.1-4
Lovegrove, M. N., Lewis, R., Øyvind, K. J. & Strømnes, A. L. (1983). Classroom control techniques of good teachers: a Norwegian study. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 13(2), 157-165.
Research has suggested that an effective way of uniting the students in a classroom is to establish a shared sense of responsibility amongst them (Balson, 1989). By establishing these rights and responsibilities and having them on display in the classroom, the students should feel as though they have both the personal responsibility as well as the shared responsibility with their peers to ensure that the classroom remains a positive supportive environment so that all students feel safe and have the confidence to focus on learning and achieving their goals. The later years can be a time where students feel an excessive amount of pressure to compete with their peers and achieve high marks and therefore it is extremely imperative to ensure that when necessary, the students are reminded about this well-being chart in order to reinforce that they are all working towards a common goal and therefore need to work together to create the right environment to do so.
(Standard 4.4)
References
Balson, M, (1989). Discipline: An Old Problem in a New World. The Best of Set Discipline. 13, pp.1-4
Lovegrove, M. N., Lewis, R., Øyvind, K. J. & Strømnes, A. L. (1983). Classroom control techniques of good teachers: a Norwegian study. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 13(2), 157-165.