Student Engagement Model

The classroom climate is the foundation of positive learning experiences. An effective teacher designs a classroom with the intent to communicate procedures, provide support for individualized learning needs, display learning objectives publicly, and establish a vision for learning. The transparent classroom environment will positively affect learning outcomes.

For this assignment, review the case study about Mr. Roberts classroom environment.

Mr. Roberts is a fourth grade teacher. He has been teaching in the same school, in the same grade, and in the same classroom for 12 years. His greatest achievement is establishing a flexible classroom environment heavily aligned to individualized learning. At first glance in Mr. Roberts classroom, there are stations designed for student collaboration, flex seating encouraging student comfort and independence, and a table in the back of the classroom labeled “Mr. Roberts one-on-one time.” During his one-on-one time with students, he seeks to establish a positive learning experience through collaboration, goal setting to improve performance, and encouragement to improve confidence in the learning process. The smartboard at the front of the classroom displays learning objectives, schedules, instruction necessities, and an outline to support individual student needs during learning. When students enter the classroom, they hang up their backpacks/jackets on hooks along the back wall. Students find their desk and look to the whiteboard, where Mr. Roberts has bell work. He varies the question: sometimes he writes a word problem, sometimes a writing prompt. When students are about to transition from one activity to another, Mr. Roberts plays the song “Here Comes the Sun,” and students know that they need to be finished with their activity, papers handed in, and eyes on the teacher by the time the song ends. Mr. Roberts chooses two students at the beginning of the day to pass out/collect materials, another student to hold the door, and another to lead the line to specials.

Design a visual or graphic organizer identifying procedures that support student engagement and independence in Mr. Roberts’ classroom environment. The visual or graphic organizer should represent one of the procedures Mr. Roberts has established in his classroom. In addition, provide any additional procedures you feel Mr. Roberts’ classroom may benefit from. It should reflect characteristics of the classroom environment supporting self-regulated learning and collaboration among students.

In addition to the visual representation, include a 250-500 word summary to explain the following:

How is Mr. Roberts classroom environment designed for self-regulated learning and independent learners?

What are best practices for communicating learning objectives to students?

How does a positive environment support self-regulated learning and student development?

How does studying this type of environment prepare you for the design of your future classroom?

While APA format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide

Chapter 2 of the textbook discusses two scenarios in which evidence may not meet some audience’s expectations. In the first scenario, two scientific studies are in conflict with each other In the second scenario, a child psychiatrist uses stories from his patients rather than statistics as evidence. Each case poses a problem regarding the use of evidence: We sometimes have difficulty reconciling conflicting pieces of evidence, and we are reluctant to see stories, rather than statistics, as valid evidence. In the essay that you are writing right now, what kinds of evidence have you found?  In what way might it meet an audience’s expectations? Name the audience, discuss how it may meet–or not meet–the audience’s expectations, and explain why. Later in the week, compare your observations about evidence with those of your classmates.

Scenario 1The results of two scientific studies are in conflict with each other. In the first study, McAuley, Hopke, Zhao, and Babaian (2012) found “no apparent risk to human health from e-cigarette emissions” after taking into account the particular compounds found in e-cigarette vapor that the study measured (p. 850). In the second study, researchers suggested that the pollutants contained in e-cigarette vapor “could be of health concern for users and secondhand smokers” (Schober et al., 2014, p. 628). Before using these studies in a research paper, a writer would do well to answer questions like the following: What were the methodologies for both studies? Did researchers measure the same pollutants in each study? Why else might discrepancies between the two studies exist?

Scenario 2In a published academic journal article, child psychiatrist Andres Martin (2000) used qualitative evidence to convince his fellow psychiatrists to see tattoos as an opportunity to get to know their teenaged patients, rather than as an opportunity to assess the problems they are facing. Martin’s evidence contained no numbers—no statistics, no dollar amounts, and no measurable data. Rather, he used descriptions of two teenage boys, who were his patients at the time, and their descriptions of the tattoos they either had or were planning to get.