InTASC Standard 3 Learning Environments

The teacher works with others to create environments that

support individual and collaborative learning, and that encourage
positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and
self-motivation.
Reflection:
An important aspect to this standard is that the teacher recognizes the
importance of peer relationships in establishing a climate of learning. The
artifacts demonstrate how I have aligned my assignment to support a
collaborative learning environment in which positive social interactions were
encouraged. The students were grouped together by threes. Each group
contained an above target, an on target, and below target student. This
promoted a challenging learning environment for all members. The above
target students were challenged to communicate and support the lower
achieving students and the middle students worked to buffer both the highs
and the lows. Each group was given a different image-based newsletter. Each
image was related to how society affects body image. The groups were asked
to analyze the image, identify a problem with the way society views body
image, and create a cartoon that critiques this system.
The assignment recognizes that teachers must collaborate with
learners and colleagues to develop shared values and expectations for
respectful interactions, rigorous and academic discussions, and individual
and group responsibility for quality work. In other words, this activity aligns
with the standard because the students had to respectfully communicate
their point of view and attitude toward the given subject. The discussions
that the students had were very heavy as it pertained to personal stances on
society and body image. Each individual was responsible for writing one of
the portions of the newsletter. Every student was accountable for
communicating and responding to the discussion.
Finally, this standard emphasizes that the teacher knows how to help
learners work productively and cooperatively with each other to achieve
learning goals. The students were given very detailed directions on how to
complete the newsletter. Each part of the activity had a detailed set of
directions to help guide students towards achieving the learning goals of the
days objective. The students spent half of the class developing their
newsletter as a group and the other half of the class period was dedicated
towards responding. Each group analyzed a different group newsletter and
had to write a written response connecting the two newsletter and
identifying a trend between the two. Having a detailed set of directions and a

lot of steps helped motivate classroom production. Students felt the need to
remain on task and work collaboratively to accomplish the activity. As a
result of deliberate and intentional grouping, along with a very detailed set of
directions, the students were surrounded in a positive encouraging learning
environment.

Artifact: Samples of student work, Body Image Newsletter