Ideal Classroom Research Articles

An Ideal Classroom as Depicted by Pre-service English Teachers

An Ideal Classroom as Depicted by Pre-service English Teachers

Homing into school to create the ideal classroom: young people want to combine the best of home and school learning environments

ABSTRACT We asked 28 young people (16–18 Years old) from two schools in Lancashire to reflect on their COVID-19 experience and Co-Design the ideal learning environment. In this paper, we present young people’s vision for the ideal classroom that combines the best of the home and school learning environments. Young people would like to have flexible furniture arrangements, with space for group and individual activities, a bespoke learning environment that can be appropriated and adjusted according to individual preferences (e.g. sound, light, temperature, ventilation levels). Furthermore, they aim for comfortable environments with earth colours, natural materials and a direct connection with nature. We argue the importance of taking young people's perspectives presented here to inform future policy, the design of learning spaces and school rebuilding programmes.

The Analysis of English Classroom Management of Islamic-Based Primary Schools in Pangkalpinang

This study aimed to investigate the English classroom management in both state and private Islamic based-primary schools in Pangkalpinang, bangka Belitung, Indonesia. It was a qualitative descriptive study in which data obtained from interview and class observation. The researcher interviewed two headmasters and two English teachers from both state and private Islamic-based primary schools in Pangkalpinang, schools under Ministry of Religious Affairs. The observation was conducted for eight meetings. Class observations were conducted several times looking for teachers’ way of teaching and any elements included in ideal classroom management. In some aspects of teaching, the schools have had quite good classroom management in which teachers knew what to do in the classroom handling the students. However, when it comes to the implemention of Merdeka Curriculum, the schools were got lack of support from the government. Some restrictions were faced by educators due to insufficient quality of teaching facilities, prosperity, large number of students in a class, and many others. Therefore, the findings of the study provide some reflection towards the reality of our education in which the schools and the teachers are not ready yet to implement Merdeka Curriculum. The emphasis on the dessimination and training of Merdeka Curriculum equipped by good quality of school facilities are highly recommended.

The Synergy Zone: Connecting the Mind, Brain, and Heart for the Ideal Classroom Learning Environment.

This paper proposes a new perspective on implementing neuroeducation in the classroom. The pandemic exacerbated the mental health issues of faculty and students, creating a mental health crisis that impairs learning. It is important to get our students back in "the zone", both cognitively and emotionally, by creating an ideal learning environment for capturing our students and keeping them-the Synergy Zone. Research that examines the classroom environment often focuses on the foreground-instructors' organizational and instructional aspects and content. However, the emotional climate of the classroom affects student well-being. This emotional climate would ideally exhibit the brain states of engagement, attention, connection, and enjoyment by addressing the mind, brain, and heart. This ideal learning environment would be achieved by combining proposed practices derived from three areas of research: flow theory, brain synchronization, and positive emotion with heart engagement. Each of these enhances the desired brain states in a way that the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. I call this the Synergy Zone. A limitation of this proposed model is that implementation of some aspects may be challenging, and professional development resources might be needed. This essay presenting this perspective provides the relevant scientific research and the educational implications of implementation.

Engagement among Malaysian Public University learners of Mandarin as a Foreign Language: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Engagement Scale

When imagining the ideal classroom, most teachers strive for engagement. To know if learners are engaged in their learning, teachers need to know if the learners get on with their tasks, be attentive in class, complete their assignments and actively participate in class activities. In contrast, learners feel relaxed and energetic and enjoy learning. Numerous theoretical models of engagement suggest that it is important in education and second languages but has limited adoption in foreign language learning, especially Mandarin as a foreign language. This study aims to analyse the psychometric properties of the Mandarin Foreign Language Engagement scale. A random sample of 614 individuals from selected public universities in Malaysia was used for the study. The 14 items of the Mandarin Foreign Language Engagement Scale (MFLES) factor structure was adopted from previous studies and analysed using confirmatory factor analysis. The study found that the MFLES has good psychometric properties.

Analyzing Teachers' beliefs about the Desired Classroom: A Phenomenological Study of the Intellectual System of High School Teachers

Aim: The purpose of this study is to analyze teachers' beliefs about the desirable classroom. Teachers' beliefs about a desirable and ideal classroom are important in the sense that these beliefs shape teachers' expectations, actions, and behaviors in the classroom and influence better education that meets students' needs.
 Methods: The method of study was qualitative and phenomenological and the data were analyzed using Culizzi method. The population of the study consisted of all teachers in the first and second grade of Kermanshah city during the academic year 2018-2019, of whom 15 individuals were selected through purposeful sampling for in-depth interviews. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded through Epochs method.
 Findings: After analyzing the data, 3 main categories were obtained. The categories of behavior-oriented beliefs, which includes the subcategories of multidimensional upbringing, control, boundaries, non-discrimination-justice and personality. The category of relationship-oriented beliefs include empathy and acceptance, knowing the psychological world, teacher's self-disclosure, relationship with peers, motivation and interest, support, respect and trust, counseling and consultation, teacher's relationship with parents, modeling, changing and cultivating personality traits, and family. Also, beliefs aimed at teaching under the categories of knowledge, attention to individual differences, teaching method (transfer of concepts), educational technology, teacher's appearance, physical structure of the class, time, learning, educational level, limitations, teacher's age, teacher's experience, the role of education includes student's readiness, and intelligence.
 Conclusions: According to the findings of this research, it can be said that teachers' beliefs about the desirable classroom have a wide range that is not limited to the behavior of the teacher or student and other factors such as family, teacher relationship with parents, physical structure of the class and teaching style also affect this.

ENGLISH TEXTBOOK ANALYSIS: SECONDARY LANGUAGE PERSPECTIVE FROM THE KERALA STATE BOARD

The textbook is an integral tool in the ELT classroom, often functioning as the primary source of teaching material. The education system in the Indian context places quite a lot of importance on textbooks in their curriculum as a central part of the syllabus dissemination. The English textbooks under consideration in this paper are targeted at grades 10th, 11th, and 12th and are formulated by the Kerala State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) used for the schools affiliated to and following the Kerala State Board of Education. These textbooks are critically analysed using qualitative content analysis on the included reading material and the suggested activities to evaluate them as appropriate tools for second-language development. Through such a critical analysis, it is established that these textbooks are quite well-developed and all-rounded tools for second-language development, which could succeed in fulfilling all the learning objectives and achieving all the learning outcomes when used in an ideal classroom.

Review Faktor Pembentuk Perilaku Belajar Siswa Generasi Z Dalam Ruang Kelas

Classroom has a significant role in student learning performance. So, its procurement becomes a concern. Nowdays, classrooms have not gained much attention. The preponderances of classroom conditions are old. They exist based on the preferences of prior generations. It is reputed to be less relevant for the current age. Generation Z has different learning behavior from the preceding cohort. From this phenomenon, it is crucial to develop an ideal classroom. Thus, the first step could conduct a study related to user learning behavior in the classroom. It is important to understand their wants and needs. This study reviewed nine previous inquiries related to student learning behavior through systematic literature review method. It provides an overview of student's experiences while learning in the classroom. The study concludes several factors that influenced Generation Z's learning behavior. They are classroom physical elements, self-uplifting, institutions support, and social affection. This result becomes useful information for education principals. Also, the next study can use it as an instrument to test on college students. This selection of college students is the absence of this topic research. It is because previous studies have focused on secondary or higher school students. So, it will enrich research on the factors that influence learning behavior

Acoustics in South African classrooms: Regulations versus reality

This research set out to broaden the pool of evidence regarding the acoustic conditions at schools in South Africa. A review of local and international literature, standards and design guidelines shows that the ideal classroom acoustic conditions of 35 dBA ambient and 0.7 s reverberation time are required to enable a suitable environment for teaching and learning. A review of local literature revealed a very small body of knowledge regarding actual acoustic conditions and monitoring of classroom acoustics and that these cases demonstrated ambient noise levels in classrooms (whether occupied or unoccupied) to be above the recommendations of the relevant South African National Standard (SANS 10103). The limited local research promted the need for this case study. The findings of a province-wide survey of urban schools showed that traffic noise is the main source of noise disturbance in schools. A case study of five schools showed that the average outdoor noise level at schools exposed to traffic throughout the day is 63.3 dBA and the average indoor noise level at these schools when classrooms are unoccupied is approximately 58 dBA, which is significantly higher than the requirement. The reverberation time in classrooms was between 0.6 and 1.75 s. It is concluded that the current acoustic conditions in South African urban schools is poor when evaluated against the South African National Standards. However, since this is based on only five case studies, a broader study is required to understand the general conditions and establish suitable mitigation measures.

Transformative or Tokenistic?

Transformative or Tokenistic?

Cultural Sensitivity and Classroom Management of Teachers

The diversity of cultures in schools is on its rapid growth. Consequently, the knowledge of teachers on cultural background becomes a valuable input to the way they manage their classroom. This study aimed to find out the relationship of cultural sensitivity with the classroom management of teachers. The study employed correlational research design. It is quantitative in nature that was complemented by interviews. It involved thirty-one (31) accessible respondents who were public school teachers of Dadiangas South Central Elementary School, General Santos City employed during the school year 2015-2016. Three (3) of the teachers were randomly chosen for an interview. The data needed were gathered using questionnaires following the survey method and interviews of randomly chosen teachers. The data were analyzed using frequency count, weighted mean, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The result of the study revealed that teachers display a high-level cultural sensitivity. They employed ideal classroom management to a great extent. The findings also disclosed that a moderate significant relationship between cultural sensitivity and classroom management exists. Based on the findings, the cultural sensitivity of teachers influences their classroom management. The study recommends capacity-building programs for the teachers such as seminar-workshop on multicultural approaches to education and culturally responsive classroom management strategies for them to enhance their knowledge and skills on culture-sensitive classroom management.

‘I thought all you needed for a successful class was a desk and paper … ’: shifting pedagogies in pre-service teachers’ drawings of early childhood classrooms

ABSTRACT This paper draws on data from an ongoing study on pre-service (PS) teachers’ perceptions of early childhood/elementary classrooms, conducted during a university course on arts and creativity in early childhood education (ECE). The study focuses on PS teachers’ perspectives on arts and material pedagogies in ECE classrooms via pre- and post-class drawings of an ideal classroom and written reflections. The findings reveal that PS teachers’ perceptions of and experience with materials and environment in the classroom may have a direct influence on ways they incorporate materials and environment in their future pedagogies. The study also shows ways in which university coursework and field experiences both compliment and come into tension with one another. We conclude with implications for early childhood/elementary teacher education.

Challenges of Students with Speech-Language and Communication Needs in Classroom Interactions at Bilingual Schools

An ideal classroom must ensure active students' participation, participative teaching methodologies, the use of technological resources, and teachers’ positive attitudes towards disability. The National Education Policy 2010 attempted to address inclusive education and the implementation strategies of inclusion into the country’s existing education system. Children with specific speech-language and communication needs (SLCN) are frequently placed in mainstream schools with varying degrees of support yet little or almost no attention is paid to the children’s actual problems and their personal educational needs. Bangladesh is still considered a country where speech-language pathology services are not provided within schools, and many of the children's needs are not deemed to be severe enough to access other educational funding or support services. In this study, the authors explored some of the difficulties children with speechlanguage and communication needs face when learning language and interacting with peers in a classroom setting. The research applied a qualitative research method to investigate the learning and schooling experiences of the sample of children. Interviews were conducted with 36 participants including 10 selected children, their parents, and teachers to highlight the challenges of these children in school and the challenges and frustrations the families and teachers faced. An inductive reflective thematic analysis of the data identified sympathetic attitudes of the teachers and peers, equal opportunities for performance in the classroom discussions, guidance from trained teachers and language therapists, and most importantly the introduction of a personal improvement plan are all needed to create a positive environment for students with SLCN to participate in classroom interaction.

Prospective Teachers’ Belief of an Ideal Mathematics Classroom: Changes over Time

This research aims to qualitatively portrait the changes of beliefs that the prospective teachers have since they were at the middle of their second year until the end of their third year in university. The data from this research is taken from the reflection the prospective teachers made in February 2017 and an interview done on the same prospective students in May 2019. The research shows that prospective teachers’ belief of an ideal classroom changes over time and their reason is categorized by several reasons such as the courses they take, their experiences when practice teaching students in schools, and also by the exposure they have related to the resources related to teaching and learning mathematics.

Mathematics Teachers’ Knowledge, Networks, Practice, and Change in Instructional Visions

An instructional vision is the discourse that teachers or others currently employ to characterize the kind of “ideal classroom practice” to which they aspire but have not yet necessarily mastered. In mathematics education, prior work has demonstrated relations between teachers’ instructional vision and a variety of aspects of their classroom practice and professional pursuits. We examined what might contribute to teachers’ development of mathematics instructional visions through a quantitative analysis of a longitudinal data set collected in four urban school districts. Controlling for instructional vision in the prior year, we found middle school mathematics teachers’ current instructional vision to be related to their prior mathematical knowledge for teaching, their prior instructional practice, and their colleagues’ prior instructional visions—with the strength of the relation depending on the density of teachers’ advice networks. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for both inservice teacher professional development and preservice teacher education.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING SPEAKING: VOICES OF INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS

<p>Among the four English skills, oral communication becomes crucial for undergraduate students to be more competitive in the work-places. In a foreign language teaching, designing appropriate classroom activities is a prerequisite for the success of a language learning. Therefore, this study sheds some light on 92 EFL learners’ perceptions and insights of classroom activities for teaching speaking. Drawing on the data obtained from questionnaire and focus group discussion (FGD), the findings illustrated that the students held moderately positive perceptions toward the speaking activities in their classroom. In addition, the results of FGD revealed some insights from the students with regard to the ideal classroom activities for teaching speaking. The findings of this study provide insights for EFL teachers in designing appropriate classroom activities to achieve the success of teaching speaking.</p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong>teaching speaking, classroom activities, students’ perception</p>

Ideal Classroom Setting for English Language Teaching Through the Views of English Language Teachers (A Sample from Turkey)

English is the most common foreign language given as a class in Turkey. Although English language education has been given for many years, it is seen that there is not a desired result yet. There are many factors that affect this situation such as language, program, method, language education policies, teacher, and student. One of the factors affecting language education is the pysical classroom setting. Within this context, it is searched for ideal classroom setting in language education at high schools. 22 English language teachers from 9 different high schools participated in the study. Views of teachers were reported to Word and analyzed through content analysis. In the context of the current research, it is stated that there are some technological problems, the areas where foreign language materials are exhibited in the classroom environment are limited, and the classrooms do not allow different seating arrangements. According to English language teachers, it was stated that there should be technological equipment and hardware in an ideal language learning setting, there should be sufficient areas for displaying visual materials, furniture should be flexible and classroom population should be at an ideal level.

Acting, thinking, feeling, making, collaborating: The engagement process in foreign language learning

Engagement represents the goal most teachers seek when imagining the ideal classroom. When teachers speak of motivating their students, they refer to getting them on task, inducing them to pay attention, helping them complete assignments, and stimulating them towards asking probing questions. All the while, students feel relaxed, energized, joyous in their learning. Numerous theoretical frameworks have been tied to engagement, indicating its importance as a construct beyond any one single paradigm. Some models treat engagement as an outcome, others a dynamic pivot in the motivational process, and reciprocally related to student and teacher interactions. The topic has wide coverage in first language studies, and has been a topic of growing interest in education and educational psychology, but has had only limited adoption as a topic of study in language education. As a construct more easily recognizable to teachers, discussing engagement may help bridge the “black box” world of the classroom, the “impractical” world of educational theory, and the “uninformed” perspective of lay theorists. The current review covers the basic theoretical and methodological issues in measuring and using engagement as a construct for understanding second and foreign language learning in classrooms.

Using meaningful experiences as a vision for physical education teaching and teacher education practice

ABSTRACTBackground: Teachers’ visions are vivid and concrete images of ideal classroom practices. A vision for teaching is important to both practices in the classroom as well as teacher development across time. A useful tool to explore and analyse the role of vision in teacher practices is provided by [Hammerness, K. 2003. “Learning to Hope, or Hoping to Learn? The Role of Vision in the Early Professional Lives of Teachers.” Journal of Teacher Education 54 (1): 43–56], whose framework of vision consists of three dimensions: focus, range and distance.Purpose: The writing of [Kretchmar, R. S. 2000. “Moving and Being Moved: Implications for Practice.” Quest 52 (3): 260–272; 2008. “The Increasing Utility of Elementary School Physical Education: A Mixed Blessing and Unique Challenge.” The Elementary School Journal 108 (3): 161–170] provides the basis for a vision focused on meaningful experiences in physical education. The purpose of this paper is to describe the ways a vision based on meaningful experiences enabled two teachers and three teacher educators to name, describe, and enact their physical education teaching and teacher education practices.Methodology: Raw data from six separate self-studies of practice involving the five participants provided the starting point for this research. Data sources, including written reflections and critical friend responses as well as audio recordings of conversations with critical friends, were mined to identify examples where vision was represented. Further data were generated in a focus group where participants shared and analysed their experiences and discussed how meaningful physical education served as both an individual and collective vision for practice. A final written reflection allowed participants to articulate their current vision for meaningful physical education. A thematic analysis of all data sources supported the organisation of data into three distinct phases of development of practices with emphasis on the role of vision in each phase.Findings: Over time, there was an evolution in our understanding of both what meaningful physical education consisted of and how we might facilitate meaningful experiences for children. In particular, our visions became clearer and better aligned with our practices. We illustrate how we developed our practice in ways that allowed us to take ownership of this vision, and, in the process, changed who we were as teachers and teacher educators. Finally, we share how the process of exploring and analysing our individual visions allowed us to articulate a shared vision of meaningful physical education and explain how to go about implementing our collective vision in practice.Conclusion: We highlight the value of paying attention to the role of vision in promoting and supporting educators, individually and collectively, in developing and sustaining innovation in teaching and teacher education practice.

Showtime: the biopolitical performance of ‘effective beginning science teacher’

Over the past decade, neoliberal practices for ensuring teacher effectiveness have shaped the landscape of education. In the midst of policy mandates for highly effective teachers, a biopolitical movement also undergirds the desire for a particular kind of ideal classroom. Grounded in traditions of scientism, beginning science teachers and their practices are implicitly and explicitly subjected to biopolitical control. The central question of this research includes: How does the desire to standardized science teacher practice through regular government-mandated evaluation of science teacher teachers produce biopolitical subjects? Using post-qualitative inquiry, this study examines ethnographic moments with one beginning science teacher alongside one teacher evaluation rubric used for formal teacher evaluation to explore ontological considerations for the implicated subjects. By illuminating the intra-active relationship between micro- and macro-discourses within one high school science classroom, the depths to which biopower functions is made visible. The paper concludes by calling science teacher educators and those responsible for their induction to examine the multifaceted ethical dilemmas inherently shaping their work with beginning science teachers.