Joseph Crowley
Domain 2:
Classroom Environment
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The candidate presents artifacts and accompanying descriptions that demonstrate his or her belief in the importance of creating a classroom environment with norms that value learning, hard work, perseverance, and respect
NCTE Standard 1: Learners and
Learning in Ela
InTASC Standard 1(h): The teacher respects learners’ differing strengths and needs and is committed to using this information to further each learner’s development
InTASC Standard 3(i): The teacher understands the relationship between motivation and engagement and knows how to design learning experiences using strategies that build learner self-direction and ownership of learning
Ohio State Standards 5(b): Teachers create an environment that is physically and emotionally safe
Ohio State Standards (c): Teachers motivate students to work productively and assume responsibility for their own learning.
InTASC Standard 3(k): The teacher knows how to collaborate with learners to establish and monitor elements of a safe and productive learning environment including norms, expectations, routines, and organizational structures.
Candidates apply and demonstrate knowledge of learners and learning to foster inclusive learning environments that support coherent, relevant, standards-aligned, differentiated, and antiracist/antibias instruction to engage grade 7–12 learners in ELA
https://ncte.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021_NCTE_Standards.pdf
and
https://ccsso.org/sites/default/files/2017-11/InTASC_Model_Core_Teaching_Standards_2011.pdf
and
https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Teaching/Educator-Equity/Ohio-s-Educator-Standards/TeachingProfessionStandards.pdf.aspx?lang=en-
NCTE Standard 1.2: Candidates apply and demonstrate knowledge of how the constructs of adolescence/adolescents and learners’ identities affect learning experiences to foster coherent, relevant, inclusive, and antiracist/antibias instruction that critically engages all learners in ELA
Description
This artifact is a teaching heuristic paper written for Teaching Writing as a Process (ENG 328) that describes the characteristics of an educator who can provide good writing instruction. The paper is four pages long and lists seven qualities of effective writing teachers which are as follows: teachers know how to write, teachers know writing methodology, teachers have experience, teachers know their students, teachers are good collaborators, teachers are ethical, and teachers create an effective learning environment. Each point listed is elaborated further in about 200 words citing various teaching theorists mentioned in Kirby, Kirby, and Liner’s Inside Out: Strategies for Teaching Writing and Dr. Sunyoger’s Life Lessons while I provide my insight and interpretation. Each point provides examples of good instruction or offers helpful advice on how to implement instruction in a classroom. They describe common mistakes new teachers may make and how to avoid them. The heuristic paper was written as a short reflection of everything I learned in Teaching Writing as a Process and my pre-education classes up to December 1, 2021.
Implications
This artifact reflects a deep understanding of a teacher’s duty to create a classroom environment where students can thrive. The heuristics describe teaching qualities and characteristics that establish a classroom as a valuable place dedicated to education, and how a good learning environment can elevate student learning. It explains how teachers can act as guides to encourage students to become independent learners by establishing high expectations for their abilities. This paper shows how teachers can help students recognize their responsibility to understand the material without assistance from a teacher. Finally, this artifact understands that students are diverse, and each student learns differently. The paper elaborates on how teachers can accommodate students’ needs by instructing according to what would best improve their skills and not by a teacher’s instructing preference.
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I am glad I wrote this heuristics paper because it shows the responsibilities and duties required of a teacher to create an effective classroom environment. I realize that a teacher has to know the needs of each of their students to better their instruction. I will remember the quote within this heuristics paper by Elliot Eisner that says that “a teacher has to instruct the whole person” because I believe this sentence perfectly summarizes what a teacher needs to do to make a good classroom. An effective classroom environment is one where it tailors to the needs of the students. No student should be neglected, and everyone has to have an opportunity to learn. Everyone has a right to be educated, and it is my job as a teacher to instruct everyone who wants to learn.