BUILDING BETTER LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Mr. G. Lingeswaran, AP/ECE Mr. J. Sridhar, AP/ECE Erode Sengunthar Engineering College, Thudupathi, Erode -638 057

ABSTRACT When student goes to college, he or she takes the social and emotional skills they have learned at outside and apply them in their classroom, the lunchroom, on the bus, at their locker, and at recess. At college, they will have even more opportunities to learn and/or reinforce basic social and emotional skills they need to successfully navigate their larger communityregardless of whether they transition into a work environment or an institution of higher learning. Just as they have learned the skills at outside, they will learn their new skills, framed within the context of their colleges standard for appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Student will learn these skills by observing the behavior of adults and students alike; through focused learning exercises; through interpersonal exchange with their peers in play and learning activities; and through interpersonal exchange with adults other than their parents/family. The way your college operates represents the culture of the school, and it defines how students treat each other and how they do their work. At college, the cultural (or daily) practices evoke many layers of reinforcement for good manners, behavior, responsibility and other character traits. These daily practices send powerful messages to your student about respecting oneself, others, and the college building. Simple things such as greeting your student by name show your student that they are important, and build stronger connection to education. Student who feel connected at college perform much better.

Introduction
I think that we can all relate to sitting in a class trying not to nod off or listening to an instructor who is brilliant in a particular field but who has no ability to engage students. As adult learners this is often something that we can overcome through self-motivation. We can be motivated by genuine interest in the subject or by the urge to get enough credits to graduate either way works. Younger students, however, often do not have a high degree of self-motivation they are in your class, most likely, because their parents enrolled them. In these types of cases it is up to you, the teacher, to create a positive classroom environment that is going to engage and motivate your students externally.

Assist with special interest groups or sports activities. Work in the library. Create bulletin boards for special community events, holidays, or character building themes.

Communicate
The most important thing you can do for your students academic success relates to homework. New on-line technologies make it so easy for you to communicate with the parent about your students academic performance, concerns, or special needs. Routinely, most colleges use planners or agendas for students to write homework down. Depending on the level of your student, here are some things you can do:

Be Involved
You play a vital role in helping shape the culture of your college community. By getting involved in your students academic pursuits, activities, and sports, you strengthen the students sense of college connectedness. You reinforce the importance of education, and of doing your best. Here are a few ways you can play a vital role in your college community. Each kind of activity establishes your presence at the college and sends the clear message that your family cares about supporting the work of the college.

Check the planner every night; Communicate with your student about the day; successes they might have had or difficulties; Assign a specified time in the evening for homework and assist student, as necessary, in completing all assignments; Sign planners if asked; Communicate with the parent areas of academic difficulty your student is experiencing. Meet with the parent periodically in the college to determine learning goals. Ask how you can help the student meet those goals. Keep track of unit

Participate in the parent-teacher association. Attend parent-teacher conferences as invited; attend open houses. Be a college/volunteer Serve as a reader or group leader for special fun days. Offer to tutor or mentor.

Minimize Chaos
Chaos is a serious deterrent to peace of mindfor both parent and child! Minimize chaos and your student will do better in college, your time with your student will be happier, and your student will come to

college ready to learn. Here are some simple ways to minimize chaos:

Organize your student`s work like academics, co-curricular activities (like paper presentations, project presentations, workshops, etc.,), extra-curricular activities (sports, cultural, etc.,) Organize the study time. Make sure all library books are utilized and returned in due date. Get up early enough in the morning to have plenty of time and avoid rushing. Lay out proper dress coding, shoes, hair bows, books, assignments, projects, observations, records for the scheduled subjects etc.,

they have irritated eyes, stuffy nose, and headaches. What IS a positive classroom environment? A number of factors contribute to a positive learning environment for your students. Three of the most important ones are:

Core Ideals

Health

Proper hygiene is important to your students overall health. Bathing, washing hair, brushing teeth, caring for skin irritations and sores are part of a hygiene regimen that students should get into the habit of early. When students feel ill or uncomfortable they cannot focus on their academic tasks. Proper sleep contributes to their ability to concentrate on their academic work. The amount of sleep students need will vary, but the rule of thumb is 8 hours of sleep per night for everyone! When student goes to college hungry, they will not be able to focus on their tasks. Starting the day with breakfast contributes to their overall health, but also their ability to stay on task at college. An annual health check-up is optimal to ensure all immunizations are up-to-date, including the annual flu shot. Seek help for students with severe allergies. They will not be able to focus on their tasks if

Each teacher will have different standards and values in the classroom, but the only universally important element is that these remain consistent so that students know what to expect and what is expected of them. It is important that your students know that theirs is an inclusive, respectful, community-oriented environment. To build community and an inclusive atmosphere in the classroom, one idea is to involve students in taking attendance, using photos of each student as a supplement to the boring old HERE style of attendance-taking check out the following link for a bit more detail and put your own twist on it: http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/page s/578.shtml It is also important to remember that, more than anything else; students will emulate your actions in the classroom. Therefore, it is very important to work well within your community with your partner teachers as well as other members of the staff.

Ambience

This is an extremely important and fun part of creating a positive learning environment. Your classroom should be a dynamic and engaging place to be for your students. What would you think if you walked into an elementary

classroom with nothing on the walls? Weird. So have fun, but keep your dcor related to both your particular students and to the topic being taught. In an ESL classroom, keeping it related to the subject matter is pretty easy, since almost anything in English counts, but keeping it related to your students requires that you know a bit about them. If you are afforded your own classroom, this is much easier than if you have to go from class to class although its still possible. In your own classroom, reserve a portion of the wall for each class that you teach. This allows them to feel that they belong in the classroom. You can also use the walls to re-enforce your core ideals, such as community, by posting photos of students, group photos and student work. If you have to move from room to room, have a portable poster for each group you teach, and this will establish a similar sense of belonging. Keep their past projects so that they know that their work is valued. Another aspect of ambience in the classroom is how it is physically set up. Again, this should reflect your core ideals. Desks arranged in rows does not allow for a very communal atmosphere, so you may want to come in just before your class and rearrange the desks in a circle, groups or pairs. Dont forget to move them back when youre finished in the room!

quintessential to your success as a teacher. Involve your students in this to be sure that they are aware of the rules and the consequences. This is another great way to add to the ambience of your classroom post the ground rules and always lean towards positive, rather than negative, re-enforcement of them. Posting something on the wall when a student doesnt follow the rules will likely affect the entire class in a negative way, but posting something for each student that did adhere to the rules will do the opposite.

Relativity

The role of the teacher goes both ways you are responsible for imparting knowledge to your students, but you will be a more successful teacher if you also allow yourself to learn from them as well. This is particularly true when you are teaching ESL in a foreign country. Your students can teach you multitudes about their culture. Learning about your students will allow you to keep the material and classroom activities relative to their interests. I taught in South Korea during the World Cup, so an easy and usually accurate default for me was soccer. Teaching a difficult concept with a topic that your students are interested in will result in a higher rate of retention.

The Wrap Up

Expectations

If you establish your expectations for student behavior early and keep them consistent, you may be able to avoid many classroom management issues. Laying down the ground rules early in your relationship with a class is

Putting together a classroom with the above ideas in mind will create an environment where your students will thrive. They will feel involved and responsible for their own learning as well as being comfortable enough to actively participate in individual and group activities. Your positive re-

enforcement will allow them to build self-esteem and be more successful students, which of course, makes you a successful teacher! How to Develop Positive Environment?

Creating a positive learning environment in your classroom will allow your students to feel comfortable, safe and engaged something that all students deserve. In a classroom where values and roles remain constant and focus is placed on the positive aspects of learning, students will be more open to actively participating in class. If they are given the opportunity to become responsible for their own learning, students will be more likely to benefit from the lesson, and thus more likely to be self-motivated. This should be a primary goal for all teachers, since lack of motivation is often the root of disciplinary issues.