A Productive Learning Environment

Mrs. Wheatley teaches fourth grade at Cascade Elementary. She is a great teacher and has definitely worked to create a classroom community within her class. To make her students feel loved and safe, Mrs. Wheatley began the day by meeting them at the door with a high five. It was obvious that this was not new and that the students loved it. There were some who were silly and fist bumped her high five or did a high one with her instead. There were some who were not interested and shook their head no at her. Either way, the students knew what to expect from this morning routine and the predictability of it created a safe, caring environment.

After arriving in the classroom, Mrs. Wheatley set the students to work right away. With a few simple instructions they knew what needed to be done. She already had listed their morning routine on the easel with which choices they would be having today. As the class moved into reading time, the students had a clear guideline of what they should be working on before and after their guided reading group was called back. Having this system in place helped produce a more productive learning environment because it took away the question, "What do I do now?" This allowed the students to be more productive and get their work done and Mrs. Wheatley to more efficiently work with her guided reading groups.

There were many times that Mrs. Wheatley allowed the students the freedom to choose how to get something accomplished. The two most obvious times were right before the students left for specialties, when they got ready to listen to a book. The students were told to sit where ever they wanted. And they did. There were some who chose chairs, some who chose the floor, some who chose desks, and some who even chose to lie down under the desks. Later in the day, the students were working hard on understanding a new math concept. Mrs. Wheatley noticed that some were quickly grasping the concept and getting bored with the review and some were needing it explained over and over; overall the students were getting restless. She told them that if they worked hard for 5 more minutes they would get a "brain break". At the appointed time, the students all put down their work and started to gather in the front of the room. This was obviously something they had done before. Mrs. Wheatley then pulled up a dance video and most of the students chose to join in the dancing. Some chose to just watch. All the students seemed to enjoy this special break that came when they really needed it.