13.2

Consider a student who is disruptively talking to a neighbor while you are teaching.  Develop and list a full continuum of responses for dealing with the unproductive learning behavior. 

- My first response to this student would be to politely ask, or remind him/her to stop talking and pay attention the lecture.

- I would then separate him/her from the student he/she is talking to.

- If that does not solve the problem, and the behavior continues, I would ask him/her again to stop talking, then I would speak to him/her alone at an appropriate time to further address the issue, and provide him/her with strategies he/she can use to prevent him/herself from talking to other students while I am teaching. 

- If the problem continued after our one-on-one discussion, I would try an alternative approach wherein I call on him/her to answer questions during the lecture, hoping that this would help to engage him/her in the lesson, and possibly satisfy his/her need to talk during class. 

- If time allows, and he/she mostly only talks during longer lectures, I could give a one or two minute break during the lesson to allow the class to talk to their neighbors. Hopefully this will eliminate his/her desire to talk to friends while I am teaching. 

- If none of these strategies do the trick, I will confer with parents to see if they have any ideas on how to better address the issue. 

13.1

List five areas you will attend to as you create a learning environment that is conducive to learning.

It was difficult to select only 5 areas for this questions because I feel that all of the areas listed in the book are crucial to creating the most effective learning environment. So, I decided to choose the 5 that I feel are the most important. 
- Establishing and Maintaining Productive Teacher-Student Relationships:
            Before productive learning can take place, I feel that students must have a positive relationship with one another. In addition it is important for students to maintain positive relationships with each other. Creating a caring and respectful environment will be my first goal as a teacher. I will work to show my students that I sincerely care about them, and they they are equal members of our classroom. I want students to feel that they can comfortably approach me if they are having any kind of issue, be it school related or otherwise. 
- Creating an Effective Psychological Climate:
            I feel that once productive teacher-student relationships are established, an effective psychological climate will be easier to obtain. It is important to establish a structured, but comfortable atmosphere in the classroom. I will help my students to understand that what they are learning and the activities that they are doing are important and should be taken seriously, but at the same time, create a fun learning environment. I will help students to feel that they have a say in what they are learning by giving them options in subject-matter and activities when possible. This will help them to feel that they really are part of the classroom, and that they have some control over how they learn. This will encourage them to work harder in their academics.
-Planning Activities That Keep Students on Task:
            I think that the biggest responsibility that teachers have to their students is to provide them will all of the tools necessary to succeed academically. I feel that the best way to accomplish this is by creating lesson plans and activities that actively engage students, and activities that are fun so that students want to learn. It is our responsibility to make the most of our students' time while they are in our classrooms. This means that we must create lessons that are developmentally appropriate for all students in our classroom, and that we have something productive for students to do even during breaks and downtime. This can be something as simple as a short class discussion about what students did over the weekend, what their favorite food, animal, book etc. is. Even simple conversations such as this can help students to work on listening skills, make connections to their own experiences, and give feedback to others. 
- Taking Developmental Differences into Account:
           Although each child's developmental journey is unique, it is important to take into consideration the anxieties and developmental abilities that are typical of the age level we are teaching. In doing so, we can create an appropriate classroom/learning environment that is geared towards the specific abilities and needs of our students.
- Taking Individual and Group Differences into Account:
            As I mentioned before, it is a teacher's responsibility to develop lesson plans and activities that are developmentally appropriate for all of the students in the classroom. As teachers, we do not know all of our students' previous experiences when they come to our classrooms. This is especially true of Kindergarteners coming to school for the first time, or students who have transferred from another school. Some students may be less mature socially, or academically, so it is our job to do everything we can to accommodate all different types of students in a way that is helpful to them, and productive for the class as a whole, as well. Depending on the child, and what sort of differences they may have, we may have to spend extra time, one-on-one with them, to help them feel comfortable, and get caught up with the rest of the class.