Establishing an Environment for Learning

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Establishing an Environment for Learning

• KINE 4200

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The Ecology of the Gym

• Teachers have a responsibility to
• provide students with appropriate/challenging
  content
• develop an environment conducive to learning
• cultivate student self-discipline
• Management
• arranging the environment
• Content
• what is to be learned

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Management

• Cannot be effective without good management
• There is a strong relationship between management
  and content
• one must reinforce the other i.e compatibility
• Compliance is a very limited goal
• Management is measured by the degree to which
  students engage in the set tasks

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Why So Important?

• What you reinforce is what you get
• If you say itGET IT!
• Its much harder later
• The first week or two sets the tone
• Children prefer
• structure
• It saves time and
• increases ALT!

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To Achieve Higher Levels of Engagement

• Students need to be able to act responsibly
• without teacher direction
• without teacher monitoring
• Students need to be able
• to interact with each
• other in positive and
• supportive ways

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Two Distinct Management Roles

• 1. Teaching what is expected
• and not from the first time it is done wrongly
• 2. Maintaining what is expected
• you cannot just do it once
• This applies to appropriate engagement in the
  learning tasks (content) as well
• we often forget this part

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Establishing a Management System

• Positive is more effective than negative
• teach expectations for rules and expectations
• dont see inappropriate behavior as personal
• Know what you expect
• what constitutes order and appropriate behavior
  (this may vary according to the teacher)
• applies to both management and content

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A Positive Climate

• Expectancy
• Protocols

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Expectancy

• Why?
• its easier in the long term
• children prefer structure
• When?
• right from the start
• Types of expectations
• behavior -- equipment transitions
• skill performance

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Protocols

• established forms
• predetermined
• formally presented
• practiced
• learned

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Protocols for What?

• Entering the class
• Starting and stopping
• Gathering equipment on stop signal
• Listening to the teacher
• Asking questions
• Getting out / putting away equipment
• Selecting partners

http//pecentral.org/climate/disciplinelis.asp
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Entering Leaving the Gym

• where to meet?
• group travel
• nature of arrival
• PRACTICE

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Starting and Stopping

• Need to have a signal
• What happens next?
• Signal for beginning
• REINFORCE

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Equipment

• Getting it out
• before class -- teacher distributes
• what happens then?
• What to do when the teacher is talking
• hold?
• on ground?
• How to put it away
• placing, not throwing

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Listening to Teacher

• Formation
• in arc-behind partner
• Eye contact
• is it critical?
• Ask questions
• better off with a demonstration

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Placing into Groups/Pairs

• Avoid Boys/Girls
• Avoid picking teams
• Use some system

Why not have them practice . by themselves
more!!!!
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Teaching Protocols

• Firm but Warm
• mean it -- but catch them being good
• Critical Demandingness
• repeat a protocol if not correct
• Rules
• clear -- positive -- posted
• Student ownership

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Establishing Routines

• What events occur regularly?
• Develop what is known as protocols
• stop/start
• gather
• equipment procedures
• Taught, practiced,
  reinforced
• Whole idea is for classes
  to run more smoothly

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Basic Principles for Routines

• Teaching routines
• explain and practice
• share expectations and appropriate behavior
• give positive and negative examples
• Degree of structure
• younger students need more structure
• move towards less structure but not less
  appropriate!
• Reinforcing rules
• cannot forget this part especially as the year
  progresses
• If you establish a consequence, you must follow
  through

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Rules

• General expectations
• basically concepts and are implicit
• learned through continuous example
• some for specific content areas
• (e.g. gymnastics)
• Some principles
• developed cooperatively
• where possible
• stated positively
• made explicit (even posted)
• reinforced constantly
• few in number

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Management is never achieved

• Its an on-going process
• not just at the beginning of the year
• once you achieve minimum control, go for more
  self-control
• be consistent over the school year
• You cannot just put
• it on the shelf

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Essential Keys

• DESIGN
• how do you want to manage the class
• COMMUNICATE
• explain -- give examples -- practice
• MONITOR
• consistent -- repeat if necessary