4 strategies to improve your teaching space

As teachers, we spend a lot of time making sure we know and understand our content. But we need to spend just as much time creating a positive and productive learning environment, where students are immersed in the instructional process. This article offers four strategies to improve the learning environment in your classroom.

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Many people believe that teaching is about the person with the knowledge standing in front of students and verbally delivering this new information. The underlying assumption is that in a classroom, if the students are TOLD the information, then this content has been ‘covered’ – that teaching has happened and students should now know the new information. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Here’s why:

Telling Isn’t Teaching!

We need to create an environment that actively supports learning. As the dictionary tells us, the two primary definitions of the word ‘covered’ are:

To shroud in darkness, or

To bury in a hole.

Given these definitions, our objective, as a teacher should certainly never be to ‘cover’ our content! In fact, our goal should be very much the opposite – we need to ‘uncover’, ‘reveal’, or ‘bring to light’ this new material.

Doing this requires us to fundamentally switch our thinking about how learning occurs. We need to:

Consider learning from the viewpoint of the student.

Here are four fundamental techniques for achieving this:

Segmenting learning Incorporating physical movement Creating student ownership Using music

Segmented Learning.

Learning occurs best when it is delivered in short bursts. This means offering new information in chunks of approximately 5-10 minutes, then allowing students to process and encode the information in memory. When we teach in this way, the amount of material students retain rises dramatically compared to the more traditional approach of endless lecturing.

Many teachers become trapped by believing that the more they talk, the more students learn. In fact, the opposite is true. From the student’s point of view, the ‘overload’ point comes much sooner than we expect. Once a student’s brain reaches ‘overload’, the more the teacher says, the less material is truly retained. Simply put –

Too much, too fast, won’t last.

In the right learning environment, learning is delivered in manageable segments, allowing students sufficient time to feel confident with one idea, before building upon that point and adding more information.

Once we have delivered our first 5-10 minute lecture, options for students to processes the information include:

Peer to peer conversations about the content. Making notes or drawing mind maps.

Students summarising main points in partners.

Applying the idea in some practical way.

Large group discussions where the class considers how this information could be applied in the real world.

Physical Movement.
When students are actively engaged in the classroom, their attention levels soar. Traditional learning environments have somehow become erroneously linked to sitting when in fact standing or stretching stimulates blood circulation, which actually enhances learning. Conversely, sitting for extended periods of time has a sedating affect and can become physically uncomfortable— factors that impede concentration. In an interactive learning environment, there are plenty of opportunities to encourage standing rather than sitting. Teachers stand; why not students?

Why do so many students dread the classroom? Perhaps one reason is that they know they’re going to be sitting uncomfortably in a hard chair for most of the day. Certainly there is a time and place for sitting in the classroom, such as while taking a test or taking notes. However, making students sit still for extended periods will very likely decrease their attention, motivation, and recall. Here are just a few options for getting students up and moving – as a natural part of the lesson:

  • Invite students to stand up and form a pair or trio to come up with the answer to a question – or decide what questions they have for the teacher.
  • Let students stand up to get their own resources – never ‘give out’ supplies or handouts.
  • Conduct a short demonstration in the front of the room and ask students to gather round to watch.
  • Ask students to stand up and repeat the main learning point to at least three of their peers before sitting down again.
  • After a test, celebrate by inviting students to give high fives to at least four other students, while up-beat music plays.

Ownership.

Too often the entire learning environment is primarily controlled by the teacher. Ownership refers to the value students derive from being included in decision- making processes during a lesson. When students feel their own voice matters a subtle, yet important shift in perspective and energy occurs. They move from being a passive receiver to an active explorer.

When students are given the opportunity to be involved at the decision-making level, they no longer sit back and expect the teacher to do all the work; they become stakeholders in their own success. This group dynamic not only produces a more stimulating teaching environment, it balances the onus of responsibility between the teacher and participants.

In a classroom, when students feel empowered, they tend to accept more responsibility for the conditions around them. This shift in perception makes them more receptive, and improves cognition and recall. This is because ownership gives learning meaning, which plays a critical role in cognition.

Opportunities to allow more ownership in the classroom include allowing students to choose:

  • Where to sit
  • Who they work with
  • Whether to do a project as an individual or with a partner
  • The order content will be addressed during the lesson
  • To do just 7 of 10 homework problems Music.

Music

Music is often thought of as purely fun, something to be used only when taking breaks. Yet the fact that music can facilitate a state change in our mind/body makes it a powerful tool for teachers. Not only can music (when it is used purposefully) help reduce stress; it can enhance cognition, memory and emotional intelligence. We also know that music can induce relaxation, creativity, self-discipline and motivation.

Since music has an immediate physical, emotional, and psychological effect on human beings, it can help build social connections, heighten awareness, and provide a sense of safety. It floods the brain in rhythms and beats that induce a wide range of states from energized to relaxed. What better way is there to tap into the emotions and consciousness of a learner than with the music they love?

As teachers, we can tap into music’s ability to enrich the classroom environment. Here are a few easy ways to integrate music into your teaching practice:

  • Play an up-tempo song to energise a group or set a lively mood
  • Play slow-tempo music to calm your students or set an inspirational mood.
  • Play music during transitional activities, for example, while students pick up handouts or reorganise their chairs.
  • Use a particular song to signal the end of an activity.
  • Play music while students are in small group discussions. This ‘sound pad’ acts as a cover for conversations, encouraging introverts to contribute and ensuring conversations from one group don’t distract others.

As teachers, it’s important that we know and understand our content. However, it’s just as important that we create the right learning environment, so our students can understand, process and remember the new information. When we involve students in the learning process – physically, emotionally, and intellectually – student engagement increases and educational outcomes improve dramatically.

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Dr Rich Allen


master trainer, with a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology. His cognitive learning theory research, which provided understanding on how the brain receives, processes, stores, and recalls information, forms the basis for his radical approach to teaching, presenting and facilitating.