The environment in which children are exposed to can have a positive or negative effect on their education. “Each child creates a set of core ideas or assumptions about the world, the self, and relationships with others through which all subsequent experiences are filtered” (Bee & Boyd, 2012). Some are in environments in which they view learning in a positive way and others are in environments in which they view learning as something they are not very interested in. Social context involves the social environment in which students learn in. It involves physical and social setting and it includes the culture that the individual is educated or lives in. Students enjoy learning if it is fun and relates to them. ‘In a gut sense it was pretty good because I enjoyed playing and learning’ (Perkins, 2009). Perkins talks about his experience of playing on a Little League Baseball team. As described it was good because he enjoyed playing and learning, this means that he was continuously engaged because it was something he liked and he enjoyed learning new things about this sport that he enjoyed. Perkins experience with playing baseball served a positive impact on his attitude when it came to learning.
To make learning a more positive factor for students, having a dynamic learning environment can help students thrive. A dynamic learning environment is characterized by change, activity, and progress. It is designed to meet the needs to students while enhancing current skills, interests and understandings as well and building new ones. In Learn the Game of Learning Perkins (Perkins, 2009) talks about a dynamic learning system that can increase students desire to learn. This is called the “driver effect,” in which students are taken out of the “passenger effect” where they depend on the teacher and switch to the “driver effect” where they have more independence. When a teacher facilitates learning and students are able to steer their own learning, they learn more and learn more about themselves and how they learn.
Reflection:
I see learning as something that never stops no matter how old you are and how many degrees you have. We learn every day and to be in a positive learning environment where learning can be fun and interesting is the most important thing. Above I discussed things that I learn in Units 6 and 7 of EDU510. Outside of this course, I am currently a 7th grade math teacher for the past two years and I have recently been attending workshops that deal with Culturally Responsive Learning. On things that I’ve taken from the workshops that I can compare to Unit 6 and 7 is that in order to build that positive work environment, we as teachers need to get to know our students. Who are they as a person? What do they like? How do they learn? Where are they from? What is their home life like? What are their morals? How can we integrate their cultural into our curriculum so they can feel important and respected? This is how we get to know the students and learn about them culturally. Once that foundation has been set, the social context and dynamic learning environment will be set. I know that as a kid growing up I loved tell my class about my family and our culture. I also loved when my teachers incorporated it into their lessons as well. There are some practices that I have tried in my classroom that have been successful and some that have not been. One practice that has been successful is, giving them discussion prompts that they not only have to talk about, but it requires them to figure things out using prior knowledge. This allows them to be independent because I do not help lead the discussion and I only make comments here and there. One practice that was not successful in the past was just straight instruction and not knowing the students personally. I’ve switched from that type of teaching and I’m glad that I have because learning who my students are as people has changed my relationships with them tremendously.
References:
Bee, H., & Boyd, D. (2012). The developing child (13th ed.). New York: Pearson
Perkins, D. N. (2009). Making learning whole: How seven principles of teaching can transform education. Jossey-Bass.
Crystol Thomas 