Ms. Toor's Blog

seating plans!

Posted by jasleen toor in Inquiry Project, Inquiry Reflections

The article “The Role of seating Position in group Interaction: A Review, with Applications for Group Trainers” by Jerald Greenberg mentions the importance of seating positions. It talks about studies that have found that people who sit in central seating positions were able to maintain better eye contact with other members around them. The study also found that tasks requiring interpersonal communication were associated with the use of close seating arrangements and tasks requiring independent activities were associated with distant seating arrangements. This article provides studies and research to help…read more

Mar.07

A Learning Experience

Posted by jasleen toor in Inquiry Project, Inquiry Reflections, inquiry resource, Practicum Reflections

As a teacher candidate, my biggest fear is not being able to manage a classroom environment and behavior; therefore, I’m always trying to find new ways to become more comfortable with this. My fear of classroom management and disruptive student behavior led me to various resources that could help me overcome this. I found an article “Classroom Management for Elementary Teachers” by Carolyn Evertson that offers techniques to prevent poor classroom management by planning and addressing decisions that a teacher makes on a daily basis. This article also mentioned that…read more

Mar.01

Process of Planning

Posted by jasleen toor in Inquiry Project, Inquiry Reflections, Practicum Reflections

My inquiry question and observations are something I really value! As a teacher candidate, it is important to gain and absorb all the knowledge I can while I’m still completing the program. Everyday and every single observation has been a learning experience for me, which I can hopefully incorporate into my own practice one day. By creating my own detailed lesson plans for each activity, I have been able to understand the importance of valuing every aspect from a teacher and student perspective. Through observation, I have been able to…read more

Feb.29

Inquiry Discussion

Posted by jasleen toor in Inquiry Project, Inquiry Reflections, inquiry resource, Practicum Reflections

Today in my small group discussion I shared a resource about the physical classroom environment and its effects on students. This article was great because it gave my group an overview of the issue and my inquiry question. My group and I discussed direct impacts (classroom environment organization and structure) that we have noticed throughout our observations. The article was informative because it offered many factors such as seating plans and cleanliness within the classroom that have direct impacts on student learning. Prior to my inquiry question I was not…read more

Feb.29

The Physical Classroom

Posted by jasleen toor in Inquiry Project, inquiry resource

My inquiry has mainly focused on the effects of the physical environment on the behaviors of young children. The article “The Impact of Physical Classroom Environment on Student Satisfaction and Student Evaluation of Teaching in the University Environment” by Mary Hill and Kathryn Epps provides a different perspective on my inquiry by focusing on post-secondary students. This article would be very beneficial in my inquiry project because it brings various studies into conversation. It also looks at more specific factors that may affect student learning behavior such as tiered…read more

Feb.29

Inquiry resources: physical environment within a classroom

Posted by jasleen toor in Inquiry Project

For my inquiry question I decided to look at “Classroom Environment and Student Affective Performance: An Effective Profile” by Yin Cheong Cheng. This source provides a study in which the relationship between student performance and classroom physical environment, social climate, and management style are looked at. My inquiry looks at the effects of the classroom environment on student behavior, attitudes, and performance. The study provided in this source looks at profiles of effective and ineffective classroom environments. It depicts that an effective classroom consists of teachers caring for their students,…read more

Dec.01