How can I create a learning environment in my 9th grade English class at Colegio Altamira?

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(1)Running head: CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. How can I create a learning environment in my 9th grade English class at Colegio Altamira?. By Pía Alejandra Montecinos Romero. This research was done to obtain a university degree as an English teacher. Tutor Teacher: Pablo Silva Santiago, Chile 2015.

(2) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 2. Index Abstract ................................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 4 Context................................................................................................................................... 5 Research question ................................................................................................................. 8 Rationale ................................................................................................................................ 8 Literary review ................................................................................................................... 10 Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 13 Data analysis ....................................................................................................................... 17 Reflection and analysis ....................................................................................................... 26 Conclusions and implications ............................................................................................ 28 References............................................................................................................................ 30 Appendices .......................................................................................................................... 31 Appendix 1: Checklists ............................................................................................. 31 Checklist N°1 ................................................................................................ 31 Checklist N°2 ................................................................................................ 31 Checklist N°3 ................................................................................................ 32 Checklist N°4 ................................................................................................ 32 Appendix 2: Survey .................................................................................................. 33 A) August-September’ answers .......................................................................... 33 B) October-November’ answers ................................................................... 41 Appendix 3: Audio-recording ................................................................................... 49 Audio-recording: September 9th, 2015.......................................................... 49 Audio-recording: October 21st, 2015 ............................................................ 50 Appendix 4: Journal .................................................................................................. 52.

(3) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 3. Abstract This action research looks into the importance creating a learning environment has as it was the main problem I found doing my practicum at Colegio Altamira. When there is not a learning environment students misbehave and do not pay attention to the classes. For this reason, they do not learn properly and it is exhausting when you teach. I found myself motivated to develop this research as I did not have the proper tools and strategies to deal with the situation. However, after my investigation and my interventions, I realize a learning environment can be built by changing my attitude towards my students and by building rapport with them. After the process of this investigation, I found myself with the appropriate tools and experience to deal with different situation in different learning environments. Keywords: learning environment, rapport, empowerment, attitude, action research.. Esta investigación acción indaga en la importancia que tiene crear un ambiente de aprendizaje ya que este fue el mayor problema que tuve durante mi práctica profesional en el Colegio Altamira. Cuando no existe un ambiente de aprendizaje los estudiantes no se comportan y no ponen atención a las clases. Por esta razón, ellos no aprenden apropiadamente y es agotador cuando uno enseña. Me encontré motivada a llevar a cabo esta investigación ya que vi que no poseía las herramientas y estrategias apropiadas para lidiar con esta situación. A pesar de eso, después de mi investigación y mis intervenciones, comprendo de que un ambiente de aprendizaje puede ser construido haciendo un cambio en mi actitud hacia mis estudiantes y construyendo rapport con ellos. Luego del proceso de.

(4) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 4. esta investigación, me encuentro con las herramientas y experiencia apropiada para lidiar con diferentes situaciones en distintos ambientes de aprendizaje. Palabras clave: ambiente de aprendizaje, rapport, empoderamiento, actitud, investigación acción.. Introduction. When teaching English as a foreign language it is important to know our students and get closer to them. However, teacher’s attitude towards students is not the only important element in the classroom. When students do not have the disposition to learn, they are disrespectful and use curse words in the classroom, it is necessary to modify aspects in the class and attitudes to create a better environment to learn. A learning environment results from the interaction of different elements in the classroom, such as the relationship between the teacher and the students, a positive attitude of the actors while learning, even the physical conditions of the classroom. If there is tension between the students and the teacher, or an environment with repetitive disrespectful attitudes, there is a negative impact on the learning process and the results of this process for a student. Nevertheless, there is not only a negative impact for the students. There is a negative impact for the teachers as they do not want to perform classes and teach in this environment. The following action research looks into the importance a good environment has while teaching and learning, the role of rapport while building the environment and the tools I have found to improve the atmosphere in my 9th grade. Moreover, it demonstrates.

(5) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 5. the impact this process has had in my career as a future teacher and what I learnt from this experience. The structure of this research consists of a description of my context to help the reader to understand the situation of the school and the class I am working with; a research question based on the problem I have identified in my class (described throughout this paper); a rationale where I explain the reasons why I decided to undertake this research and what are the effects of a lack of environment for my class; methodology instruments to collect data which are explained in detail and all the samples are incorporated into different appendices; the analysis of the different results based on the methodology resources, the answers students gave to me through the different resources and the solutions to the identified problem. Context. This research has been carried out at Colegio Altamira, which is located in Peñalolen, Santiago. The school is co-educational, secular, offers scientific and humanist education and it is a private school. Besides, the role of investors is considered, in the basis of the educational project (2003), quite important as “they provide the necessary material support” for the students and workers. In the school you can find special rooms where students practice theatre and dance. Moreover, they have a full-equipped classroom for music classes where there are trumpets, guitars, drums and a piano. The school has a big gym, a climbing wall and its own baby-football field which has been built by the contributions of the investors..

(6) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 6. In terms of the creation of the school, it was in order to find and alternative education for children, considering that the education in Chile in the 80’s responded to an authoritarian and rigid model instead of a participatory one (Equipo directivo Colegio Altamira, 2003). Furthermore, it was important to include students with special needs within this project by designing an educational project, mainly for students with Down’s syndrome. The Altamira School admits students throughout the entire year, and most of them have different syndromes, behaviour problems (many of the students have been expelled from other schools previously), and psychological affective disorders such as depression and bipolarity. In fact, it is common to see students with Down’s syndrome in a classroom or students with Asperger’s syndrome, who have low levels of tolerance towards frustration and tend to take things literally with a lack of comprehension about humour (Winter, 2008). Notwithstanding, Down’s syndrome and Asperger’s are not the only ones you can find in the classroom. ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), which is defined by Winter (2008), as “an inability to maintain concentration, even when trying his or her hardest”, it is very common at Altamira too. As well as you can see students with syndromes in the classroom, you can see students with depressive symptoms. For example, the students with depression get easily irritated and sometimes they do not want to work or they do not pay attention (or answer questions in the class), while they sit isolated and crestfallen. In terms of English classes, they are held in the classroom of the respective class and in the English laboratory. The last one is implemented with computers, headphones and sets of interactive CDs of English for each student. Moreover, the lab has a data projector and speakers to develop the activities. Regarding the activities developed in the laboratory,.

(7) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 7. they are all included in a special blog designed for the school, which contains links to different websites with interactive exercises, videos about the contents and instructions for students if they have to develop different tasks. About the hours of English, from playground to tenth grade, students have five hours of English per week (three hours in the classroom and two hours in the English laboratory). In eleventh grade, the hours of English are reduced to three as a total and in twelfth grade the hours of English are only two per week. In these two last cases, the classes are only held in the classroom. Regarding to class size, the classes are composed, in most of the cases, by no more than twenty-two students. However, in the specific case of the class I am working with (ninth grade ‘A’), it is composed by twenty-eight students. Nevertheless, only seventeen students are in the classroom during English lessons due to the students with special needs work in a different class. When the students with special needs have English classes they work in the ‘aula’, which is a specific classroom where the students work with specialists, such as educational psychologist, in different activities that range from the lesson in the classroom. In the specific case of the ninth grade ‘A’, most of the students complete the activities given by me easily. However, they do not work in a committed way. The students are quite talkative and disrupt the class, and if I ask for silence they continue talking, they walk around the classroom and do not care if I am giving instructions or explaining a content. In the laboratory, the students talk to each other, do not paying attention to the class or instructions and using curse words in some cases. As a consequence, there is not a.

(8) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 8. proper environment to teach as the students do not allow it and as I consider I do not have all the tools and knowledge to deal with those situations.. Research question When I started my interventions in the ninth grade ‘A’, it was very difficult. On one hand I did not have chance to have a deep conversation and know better my students (even their names) until the third week of September. On the other hand, the difficulties in the classroom such as the lack of attention from the students to me while I was explaining a content or giving instructions, the excess of loudly conversations during classes, the distant relationship I had with the students during the classes and the lack of tools I had while teaching to deal with this problem, generated a hostile environment so it was difficult to teach and learn. Due to the difficulties and the tension between the students and me, I felt forced to perform my classes bounded to the content as the environment was not the proper one. Following this, I considered highly necessary to formulate this research question: How can I create a learning environment in my 9th grade English class at Colegio Altamira?. Rationale This action research is developed due to the importance it has for me as a teacher to build a proper environment to work in, where there is respect and you can teach your students without being only concentrated on make them to pay attention, asking for silence during the entire lesson or promoting respect but forcibly. In addition, I considered.

(9) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 9. necessary to look into the benefits a proper environment provides to the students while learning due to when there is not a proper one, students do not feel confident with the teacher and do not trust in them resulting in a lack of communication that can affect directly the students and their learning. Moreover, students in a poor environment inside the classroom are not learning and practicing contents as they are not participating actively during the lessons. Besides, the class is not being well-developed as the teacher must be aware of different facts such as silence, respect, the order in the classroom and get students attention permanently instead of the contents and activities to develop it. When teaching English in a classroom, where there is not a proper environment created, it is difficult to perform classes and to learn. In my particular case I did not feel comfortable in the classroom while teaching by cause of the distant relationship with my students and the lack of interest and respect from them towards me. There was always a tense atmosphere which, from my point of view, was affecting students’ learning as they were not really involved during the classes and it was affecting myself as I did not want to teach in this grade. By developing this research I want to contribute to my teaching as I would find the necessary tools to teach my students according to their needs in order to build a better relationship with them, increase respect and interest in the classroom. Creating a learning environment, where “there is a trusting, positive, supportive rapport amongst the learners” (Scrivener, 2011, p. 60) and me, would be fruitful and the students would learn by taking advantage of the conditions in the classroom, even the resources the school offers. Moreover, this research can help to future teachers to adapt themselves in this school in a short period of time. Besides, it can offer new solutions and tools to teach.

(10) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 10. English as a foreign language in the classroom where there is not an environment for learning. Literary review In order to go on with this research, it is necessary to define what an environment that allows teaching and learning is, in the context of this school and grade. The resources I have found relevant and important for this research are from Brown, who develops the idea of what is rapport, which I believe is the key to create a learning environment, and how to build it in the classroom; ideas from Chaparro, who has PhD in education and educational instruction, and points out the importance of the environment, considered as more than the physical space where you teach; ideas from Scrivener who indicates the role of the teacher while creating a learning environment and the difficulties while teaching teenagers; In addition, Darling-Hammond is mentioned to express the importance meaningful tasks have in the classroom and Carl Rodgers to point out what does a teacher need in order to create a positive environment. All the authors mentioned above contributed to develop this research as they provide the evidence of previous researches about the creation of a learning environment and how to develop it. From the point of view of Chaparro (as cited in Duarte, 2003), the environment not only involves the material conditions in the classroom or the relationships between students and teacher. You need to consider, as part of the environment, the different processes of the class members. The processes involve life experiences, actions, attitudes and the relationship with the environment itself. Following this, creating an environment that allows learning and teaching not only requires the resources the school has or the classroom.

(11) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 11. itself. It is important to take into account all the interactions between the agents that are part of the class and considerate the different beliefs, ideas and points of view students have. In order to promote this, it is necessary to create a positive atmosphere in the classroom. The best way to achieve this goal is, from my perspective, to build rapport. In words of Brown (2000), rapport “is the relationship or connection you establish with your students, a relationship built on trust and respect that lead to students’ feeling capable, competent and creative” (p. 202). Regarding to this, Brown (2000) suggests that giving feedback to the students, listen to them actively, working with the students and showing interest in each of them, can contribute to build rapport in the classroom (p. 203). If we consider that building rapport requires giving support, feedback and positive reinforcement towards the students, it seems that the role of the teacher is crucial in the classroom. From the point of view of Carl Rogers (as cited in Scrivener, 2011): There are three core teacher characteristics that help to create an effective learning environment. These are respect (a positive and non-judgmental regard for another person), empathy (being able to see things from the other person’s perspective, as if looking through their eyes) and authenticity (being oneself without hiding behind job titles, roles or masks). When a teacher has these three qualities, the relationships within the classroom are likely to be stronger and deeper, and communication between people much more open and honest. The educational climate becomes positive, forward-looking and supportive. (p. 16-17). As it has been said before, the teacher is in charge of taking the lead to improve the learning environment. For this reason, an active teacher that promotes respect, learn her.

(12) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 12. students’ name, give them support and uses positive reinforcement while teaching, is contributing to build rapport and, consequently, it is creating a positive learning environment. In words of Scrivener (2011), the most important job a teacher has while teaching is to create the different conditions in which learning happens. Regarding to this, the attitude the teacher must have in the classroom is to be positive, it must allow the discussion and promote respect among the students and between them and the teacher, and help the students to improve the environment itself. However, sometimes it seems difficult to create a positive environment while teaching teenagers. It is necessary to consider that teenagers are in a difficult age, in a period of transition. Scrivener (2011), mentions that teenagers have strong emotions that rise and fall quickly, they change their interests easily and can get bored as soon as they want. When you try activities, they do not want to complete them or they do not want to perform a presentation due to, for example, self-esteem problems. Motivation seems to be very low and discipline can be a serious problem as they do not like imposed staff (p. 325). There is a difficult mission by creating an environment, with positive elements and participation. Even though the teacher wants to create it, there is a hard work that must be done in terms of the relationship with the class to achieve this. One step is to create an environment by building rapport, working on the different relationships in the classroom and by having disposition to work hard on incorporating the different points of view of students. Nevertheless, from the role of the teacher, it is necessary to use, while teaching, “tasks that are developmentally appropriate and intellectually meaningful” (DarlingHammond, 2005, p. 332). In addition, this process must be gradual, by going deeper in the.

(13) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 13. relationships, raising trust in the classroom, promoting respect, taking care of the environment itself and integrating each participant into the class.. Methodology To check if my actions in the classroom are promoting a positive environment, I have decided to use four instruments in order to collect data and analyze the results. The first instrument I decided to use is a checklist (see Appendix 1), which allows me to do a systematic summary of my lesson after it has been done. The checklist incorporates statements about what I have observed from the students in terms of behavior during the class, how I have felt performing the lesson and general aspects about the classroom. All the categories mentioned above are checked following a rating-scale model which allows me to express how frequently were the different statements observed. The model of the checklist is the following: DATE: ALWAYS Students listen while I give instructions Students use curse words in the classroom while communicating with their classmates Students participate actively during the lesson Students pay attention during the class Students do different staff while they have to do something for/in the class Students talk loudly while I give instructions Students talk loudly while I explain a content I feel comfortable while performing my class I feel closer to the students I call the students by their names/nicknames The classroom is clean and ordered while teaching The classroom has the necessary elements for a class (good lighting, size, etc.). FREQUENTLY. SOMETIMES. SELDOM. NEVER.

(14) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 14. The second instrument I decided to use, in order to provide a better description of the environment in the classroom and the point of view of the students is an open-item survey (see Appendix 2). With this tool “the participant is completely free to provide a personal, free-raging kind of response” (Burns, 2010, p. 86). Due to the checklist is based on my perception, I considered fundamental to know from my students what are their perceptions of the classes, of the environment in the classroom and give them the chance of suggest any idea they have. For this reason, a survey with open items give the students the opportunity to express their opinion without being forced to choose a given option. The survey will be applied twice. The first one will be applied at the beginning of the classes (September) to know about the students’ perception of the class itself and the environment and conditions in the classroom. The second time will be after my interventions, two months after I have started my practicum (November). The survey structure is the following:. Encuesta a Estudiantes: La siguiente encuesta tiene como objetivo recopilar información respecto a tu opinión y percepción sobre las clases de inglés. Para esto sólo debe contestar las siguientes preguntas, de manera anónima (SIN escribir su nombre). Los resultados de esta encuesta serán utilizados con fines investigativos y para obtener el título de Profesor de Inglés de Enseñanza Básica y Media. En ningún caso la información será utilizada como medio para juzgar personalmente a algún estudiante, simplemente como instrumento de investigación y recolección de evidencia investigativa. Pía Montecinos Romero Profesor en práctica de Ped. En Inglés.

(15) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 15. 1. ¿Cómo consideras que fueron las clases de inglés? ____________________________________________________________________ 2. ¿Cómo consideras que era el ambiente durante la clase en términos de: a) Respeto (hacia el docente, entre alumnos, del docente hacia los alumnos): ____________________________________________________________________ b) Orden (arreglo de la sala, posición de los asientos, limpieza, etc.): ____________________________________________________________________ 3. ¿Cómo consideras que era el empoderamiento de la clase por parte del docente?. _______________________________________________________________ 4. Sugerencias: ____________________________________________________. The third instrument I decided to use is an audio recording (see Appendix 3). The idea is to pick two students randomly and ask them two questions on September: 1) ¿Cómo consideras que son las clases que comencé a hacer? 2) ¿Cómo consideras que es el ambiente de aprendizaje en el aula? After a considerable period of time the idea is to repeat the questions and do a contrast between the beginning of my classes and the results after my interventions. The last instrument I decided to use is a journal which allows me to portrait general observations I had during the classes I performed. The journal provides examples of situations in the classroom and perceptions/reflections I had about them. This action research is going to be held from September to November of 2015. The different phases of this process are expressed in the following Gantt chart:.

(16) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 16. Gantt chart PERIOD OF TIME AUGUST ACTIVITY. SEPTEMBER. OCTOBER. NOVEMBER. W1 W2 W3 W4 W1 W2 W3 W4 W1 W2 W3 W4 W1 W2 W3 W4. Observation of classes. Interventions. Planning classes. Holidays Finding a research question Submissions Designing data collection tools Applying data collection tools Data analysis. As the Gantt chart shows, I will observe classes during the last week of August and the first week of September. The purpose is to start doing my interventions from the second week of September until the last week of November. While doing my interventions it is necessary to plan my activities. For this reason, my plannings are contemplated to be done from the first week of September until the third week of November. About the Action Research itself, the formulation of the question must be done during the last week of august and the first week of September, as it is the period of observation I have and I have the chance to identify the problem..

(17) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 17. In terms of the data collection tools, they will be designed during the second week of September and the last week of October in order to be applied twice as it is necessary to have previous evidence of the problem and evidence after my intervention to check if there have been solutions or not. The final analysis will be done during the last weeks of October to submit the final version of this research in the respective deadline.. Data Analysis As I mentioned during this research, when I started my practicum I found very difficult to perform classes as the environment was not the proper one due to different factors such as the lack of respect from the students towards me, the excess of noise while I was explaining contents and the distant relationship with the class group. For these reasons, I decided that the best way to create a learning environment, appropriate for learning, was by building rapport. When building rapport, it was necessary to do different interventions throughout time in order to achieve a real change in the classroom. I knew I could create a change in the classroom but this change was not fast as it involved a hard work lesson after lesson. Additionally, it comprised a work outside the classroom. Following this, I decided to do little actions, gradually, so as to create a better relationship with my students, promote respect in the classroom and, consequently, improve the environment in it. I started my interventions by asking students’ names as I did not have the opportunity previously. This was essential because teachers work with people in the.

(18) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 18. classroom and they need to feel they are considered into the class and are important for you. For this reason, on September 21st “I asked to the students to write a paper with their nicknames to call them properly and not by ‘you’” (see Appendix 4). Hence, I started to call them by their nicknames or last-names and they looked at me when I called them, and I felt more comfortable while teaching. Besides, I usually talked to them outside the classroom but in different places inside the school to build a relationship beyond the class itself. After my first interventions I did a survey to my students asking about general aspects of the classes. From their perspective (see Appendix 2), I realized I needed to project my voice more and be empowered of the class. For example, one student answered the following:. In this answer the student mentioned my low voice and noticed I did not feel comfortable while teaching. This opinion supported my perception after one of the first classes that I summarized with the following checklist:.

(19) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 19. DATE: September 7th, 2015.. CRITERIA. ALWAYS. FREQUENTLY. SOMETIMES. NEVER. . Students listen while I give instructions Students use curse words in the classroom while communicating with their classmates. SELDOM.  . Students participate actively during the lesson. . Students pay attention during the class. . Students do different staff while they have to do something for/in the class Students talk loudly while I give instructions. . Students talk loudly while I explain a content. . I feel comfortable while performing my class. . I feel closer to the students. . I call the students by their names/nicknames. . The classroom is clean and ordered while teaching. . The classroom has the necessary elements for a class (good lighting, size, etc.). . This checklist was done after the class of September 7th. I did not feel comfortable while teaching and I did not feel closer to the students. The students rarely were paying attention while I was giving instructions or explaining, and they used to do different staff in the classroom. This is confirmed by students’ opinion, for example:.

(20) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 20. The opinions of these two students supported my observations about the respect in the classroom. In addition, the following question (Question 3) answered by three students, supports the lack of empowerment I had during the classes:. In general, students’ answers were similar to my observations I did in the checklists. I asked them for suggestions to improve my classes besides my own tools, and they suggested me the following (Question 4):.

(21) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 21. Based on the suggestions of my students, and from what I reflected, I supported my statement that it was necessary to build rapport with them and empower myself. As a consequence I decided to improve my interventions by:. -Asking students’ names. -Preparing different materials according to their levels. -Increasing my voice projection. -Taking a more active role in the classroom. -Giving enough time to students to know me better and vice versa.. When I mention that I decided to take a more active role in the classroom I mean to be more restrictive, taking decisions in the moment by myself in order to solve situations, and, consequently, letting my students notice I had a less passive role in the classroom. After the first interventions I decided to develop materials for different levels of English due to students that have a higher and lower language proficiency level than the lesson’s level, tended to do not pay attention and do different staff during the classes. Therefore, I performed a class on October 19th (see Appendix 4) where “I prepared different materials and for different levels”. Thus, there was no room for students to do different staff as they were working in the class. With the creation of materials adapted to different levels, the most advanced students were not interrupting the development of the.

(22) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 22. class as they continued working while I was helping the other students. Consequently, the students did not interrupted the continuity of the class. After two months that I worked on the points afore mentioned, I repeated the survey to my students. When I asked them about their perception of the classes, they answered:. Based on these opinions, I realized the students felt closer to me and the different activities I designed worked properly for them. In terms of respect, the students felt that:.

(23) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 23. As well as in the question of the students’ perception about the classes, their opinions about respect changed from the first survey since they felt they respected me more during the classes. In terms of the empowerment, the students also noticed a change (see question 3):. As the students answered some questions shortly when I applied the survey firstly, I decided to do an audio-recording of a conversation I had with two students I chose randomly. I asked both students: what were their perception about the classes? And, what do they think about the environment in the classroom? (See full transcription in Appendix 3). The students answered that at the beginning I needed to empower myself more because if there were students back to me I must be harder with them and ask them to be in silence and sit properly. In terms of the environment, the two students answered that as they knew.

(24) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 24. me a few they were not paying attention, there was a lack of interest from them towards me. Here is an extract o the transcription: S1: (^) yo creo que igual te falta como, a ver la palabra podría ser empoderarse un poco más de la clase, de que si los alumnos, no sé, están parados dándote la espalda y conversando, tu deberíai ser más firme y decirles como ¡siéntate! Y que cuando hacis la clase te pasis por la sala así como explicando las cosas, con la voz más fuerte, ¿cachai? Es como sentirte la profe, eso.. T: ya. Pregunta número dos, como consideran que es el ambiente de, de aprendizaje, así como el clima en la sala. S1: (^) yo encuentro que igual como algunos te conocemos poco (^) como que le falta interés o encuentro que algunos son igual como muy (…) T: cerrados (…) S1: (^) no se la palabra porque tampoco es como egocéntrico ni egoísta, ¿cachai? Pero como no, no te conocen, y no te tienen como un tipo de afecto (…)es como (…) no quiero hacer, no quiero escuchar, ¿cachai? Entonces filo.. Two months later, I asked the same questions to the same students again and the answers changed considerably as well as in the survey. The students expressed that I built a closer relationship with them in the classroom and as they knew me better, they understood that I used to speak lower in the classroom. Moreover, they noticed I was aware of them by creating material for different levels and they appreciated I used to sit with them to explain the content when they had doubts. An extract of the transcription is here: S1: (^) encuentro que igual como ha pasado el tiempo y hai tenido una relación súper cercana con los alumnos, de alguna forma, cuando estai haciendo la clase, a pesar de que hablís como más bajito, nos sentamos y te escuchamos. Obviamente, somos desordenados cachai? Entonces al momento nos distraímos, hasta cuando pasa una mosquita… […] S2: Es que te diste el tiempo ponte tú de hacer como ejercicios diferentes cachai que como que no se hacen porque se van a otras partes los profes (…)Igual te tomaste el tiempo en hacer eso po..

(25) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 25. One of the last tools I used was the checklist to check one of my last interventions. In this checklist, and in contrast to the first one, many criteria changed: DATE: October 19th, 2015 ALWAYS Students listen while I give instructions. FREQUENTLY. SOMETIMES. SELDOM. NEVER.  . Students use curse words in the classroom while communicating with their classmates Students participate actively during the lesson. . Students pay attention during the class. . Students do different staff while they have to do something for/in the class. . Students talk loudly while I give instructions.  . Students talk loudly while I explain a content I feel comfortable while performing my class. . I feel closer to the students. . I call the students by their names/nicknames.  . The classroom is clean and ordered while teaching The classroom has the necessary elements for a class (good lighting, size, etc.). . During the last classes, I realized students were always paying attention while I was explaining a content or giving instructions, and the interruptions or the realization of different staff instead of English tasks were rarely observed. Moreover, I actually felt comfortable (Actually, this was the lesson I felt more comfortable), and I felt closer to the students. I performed my class faster. I did not deliver spaces to do different staff, I was stricter and I projected my voice more. I paid more attention to the time distribution, so I left less minutes at the end (see Appendix 4)..

(26) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 26. Reflection and Analysis of Intervention The intervention I did in my ninth grade took different classes while I was teaching at Altamira school, due to building rapport requires more than one specific intervention. As I pointed out, I decided to work on the relationship with my students by calling them by their names, taking a more active role in the classroom, by projecting my voice and be authoritative without being authoritarian and distant. When I started to perform classes in my ninth grade I was shy and I did not build a good relationship with my students. Besides the strategies I used in my different interventions, there is an important role of time here as it allows students to adapt themselves to a new teacher with his/her methodologies and vice versa. Scrivener (2011) points out that: […] this is a part of the natural process of your own learning and development. As your awareness and confidence grow, you’ll find that you not only become more able to recognize such problems in your own teaching, but that you can also start to find effective alternative options that enable rather than hinder learning. At the beginning it was difficult to improve all the situations I found while teaching, and once my confidence increased I started to develop new ideas. From my point of view, confidence increases with time and disposition, and if you introduce new tools to improve a situation, then you can contribute to create a good learning environment. As it has been presented above, during the first classes I did not feel comfortable while teaching and the students were not paying attention during them. With my checklists, my journal, the audio-recording and the survey, I realized there was not a good relationship.

(27) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 27. in the classroom and students needed a more active role from me during classes. However, after I made a change by starting with my attitude in the classroom and “working with them as a team, and not against them” (Brown, 2000, p. 203), I started to notice different changes in the classroom. By asking my students their names, showing respect towards them, they started to respect me more. While I was teaching, providing different levels of worksheets helped me to avoid disruptive behavior in my classes. By increasing my voice and showing with body language an image of authority, students started to understand they were learning in a classroom and avoided doing different staff. With my interventions I started to feel more comfortable, capable and confident with my students. This was supported with the evidence I collected, which showed that students perceived the change, and felt closer to me. Moreover, they started to pay more attention during the classes and avoiding disruptive behavior. The relationship with my students improved fabulously and once I finished my practicum they did not want me to leave the school neither did I..

(28) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 28. Conclusions and Implication After doing this research, I feel fulfilled as the tools and strategies I decided to use, in order to create a learning environment, had a positive impact on my students and me. This research was a hard process that helped me to grow up as a professional and future teacher due to all the measures and decisions I had to make that directly impacted in my nature. As a final conclusion, it is quite important to state that when you start teaching a new class you need to meet your students, show respect towards them and do not be afraid of being a figure of authority in the classroom. Students need to know you are the teacher and that you are confident with them. Additionally, voice projection and body language are essential to get students’ attention while teaching. Nevertheless, what is more important is your attitude in front of the class. When dealing with difficulties in the classroom, it is necessary to “find the source of the problem rather than treating the symptoms” (Brown, 2000, p. 199). In my particular case, I started by asking the students for silence and stopping my classes, having a passive role in the classroom when I was ignored by the students. At the beginning, I did not change my attitude towards them and I continued performing classes without showing my role in the classroom until I decided to change my attitude. Once I studied and analyzed why students were behaving as they did, I realized I needed to put into practice different tools in order to create an appropriate learning environment..

(29) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 29. The different tools and strategies I decided to use were: asking my students their names instead of continuing with my classes without knowing them, in order to show respect to them and as a way to demonstrate I considered them as important people to me. Besides, I decided to empower myself in order to show my students I was the teacher in the classroom by increasing my voice and be more confident with them. I started to design different levels of materials to provide students appropriate tasks according to their knowledge and this strategy helped me to avoid students’ misbehavior. Additionally, I created a relationship with my students outside the classroom in the same school showing them I was interested on them and not against them. All the tools and strategies aforementioned above contributed to create a learning environment in my ninth grade A, as they worked harmoniously during the whole process, which involved time and disposition from me as I had to change my attitude and incorporate new tools in the classroom. One of the limitations I had during this action research was the lack of time to identify and investigate in the school since I started my practicum lately and there were different holidays during it. However, if I could do it again I will do it as I believe it is totally rewarding for me as a person and as a teacher, but also because it aims to reach students’ comfort and welfare As a future research I would like to look into new strategies to promote positive environments in the classroom and how to deal with multiple levels in the same classroom in my ninth grade A at Colegio Altamira..

(30) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 30. References Bases para un proyecto Educativo, Colegio Altamira (pp. 5-9). (2003). Santiago. Brown, H. (2000). Chapter 13: Classroom management. In Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (2nd ed., pp. 202-205). Longman. Burns, A. (2000). Collaborative Action Research for English Language Teachers (pp. 78151). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Burns, A. (2010). Act- putting the plan into action. In Doing action research in English language teaching: A guide for practitioners. New York: Routledge. Duarte, J. (2003). Ambientes de aprendizaje. Una aproximación conceptual. Estudios Pedagógicos, 29(1), 97-113. Retrieved on September 12th, 2015 from: http://mingaonline.uach.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0718-07052003000100007&script=sci_arttext Hammond, L. (2005). Classroom management. In Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Programa Departamento de Inglés Playgroup a 4to medio Colegio Altamira. (2015). Santiago. Scrivener, J. (2011). Chapter 3: Classroom management. In Learning teaching. The essential guide to English language teaching (3rd ed.). Oxford: Macmillan. Winter, M. (2008). What is asperger's syndrome? In Asperger syndrome what teachers need to know. London: Jessica Kingsley..

(31) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 31. APPENDIX 1 DATE: September 7th, 2015. ALWAYS. FREQUENTLY. SOMETIMES. Students listen while I give instructions Students use curse words in the classroom while communicating with their classmates. SELDOM . NEVER.  . Students participate actively during the lesson . Students pay attention during the class . Students do different staff while they have to do something for/in the class Students talk loudly while I give instructions. . Students talk loudly while I explain a content. . I feel comfortable while performing my class. . I feel closer to the students. . I call the students by their names/nicknames. . The classroom is clean and ordered while teaching The classroom has the necessary elements for a class (good lighting, size, etc.).  . Checklist N°1 DATE: September 21st, 2015. ALWAYS Students listen while I give instructions. FREQUENTLY . SOMETIMES. . Students use curse words in the classroom while communicating with their classmates. . Students participate actively during the lesson Students pay attention during the class. . Students do different staff while they have to do something for/in the class. . Students talk loudly while I give instructions. . Students talk loudly while I explain a content. . I feel comfortable while performing my class. . I feel closer to the students. . I call the students by their names/nicknames. . The classroom is clean and ordered while teaching The classroom has the necessary elements for a class (good lighting, size, etc.). Checklist Nº2. SELDOM.  . NEVER.

(32) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 32. DATE: September 28th, 2015. ALWAYS Students listen while I give instructions. FREQUENTLY . SOMETIMES. . Students participate actively during the lesson . Students do different staff while they have to do something for/in the class. . Students talk loudly while I give instructions.  . Students talk loudly while I explain a content I feel comfortable while performing my class. . I feel closer to the students. . I call the students by their names/nicknames. . The classroom is clean and ordered while teaching The classroom has the necessary elements for a class (good lighting, size, etc.). NEVER. . Students use curse words in the classroom while communicating with their classmates. Students pay attention during the class. SELDOM. . . Checklist Nº 3. DATE: October 19th, 2015. Students listen while I give instructions. ALWAYS . FREQUENTLY. SOMETIMES. SELDOM. NEVER. . Students use curse words in the classroom while communicating with their classmates Students participate actively during the lesson. . Students pay attention during the class. . Students do different staff while they have to do something for/in the class. . Students talk loudly while I give instructions.  . Students talk loudly while I explain a content I feel comfortable while performing my class. . I feel closer to the students. . I call the students by their names/nicknames. . The classroom is clean and ordered while teaching The classroom has the necessary elements for a class (good lighting, size, etc.). Checklist N°4. . .

(33) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT APPENDIX 2 A) August-September’ answers. 33.

(34) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 34.







(41) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT B) October-November’s answers. 41.








(49) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 49. APPENDIX 3 AUDIO RECORDING: SEPTEMBER 9th, 2015. List of conventions: T: S1: S2: (??): (…): (^):. teacher student number 1 student number 2 inaudible words pause hesitation. T: Ya Mane, mi primera pregunta es ¿Cómo consideras que son las clases ahora, las que empecé a hacer? S1: (^) yo creo que igual te falta como, a ver la palabra podría ser empoderarse un poco más de la clase, de que si los alumnos, no sé, están parados dándote la espalda y conversando, tu deberíai ser más firme y decirles como ¡siéntate! Y que cuando hacis la clase te pasis por la sala así como explicando las cosas, con la voz más fuerte, ¿cachai? Es como sentirte la profe, eso. T: ya. Pregunta número dos, como consideran que es el ambiente de, de aprendizaje, así como el clima en la sala. S1: (^) yo encuentro que igual como algunos te conocemos poco (^) como que le falta interés o encuentro que algunos son igual como muy (…) T: cerrados (…) S1: (^) no se la palabra porque tampoco es como egocéntrico ni egoísta, ¿cachai? Pero como no, no te conocen, y no te tienen como un tipo de afecto (…)es como (…) no quiero hacer, no quiero escuchar, ¿cachai? Entonces filo. T: ¿Crees que eso se puede mejorar? S1: sipo, con lo que (…) S2: con el tiempo. S1: Sí. T: ¿Con trabajo? S1: Más que con él, con el tiempo, tiene que ver con la actitud tuya..

(50) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 50. T: ¿Disposición? S1: es que no sé si es disposición. Es lo que te decía de la, del empoderamiento de la clase, que tiene que ver con eso, que tiene que ver con marcar que tu eri’ la profe. T: Muchas gracias.. AUDIO RECORDING: OCTOBER 21ST, 2015 List of conventions: T: S1: S2: (??): (…): (^):. teacher student number 1 student number 2 inaudible words pause hesitation. T: Archivo de grabación de Octubre, ya. Chicas, ¿Cómo encuentran que son las clases ahora? Ya han pasado casi dos meses, más o menos. S1: (^) encuentro que igual como ha pasado el tiempo y hai tenido una relación súper cercana con los alumnos, de alguna forma, cuando estai haciendo la clase, a pesar de que hablís como más bajito, nos sentamos y te escuchamos. Obviamente, somos desordenados cachai? Entonces al momento nos distraímos, hasta cuando pasa una mosquita… T: A mí también me pasa… S1: pero, pero es distinto ahora (…)es como que tenemos más respeto de alguna forma. T: Gracias. S2: es que (^) igual te integraste súper rápido. S1: si T: ha sido un trabajo que me ha llevado llanto en mi casa, cachai(…) me la he llorado, me la he sufrido porque es como…es que tengo tan poco tiempo y tengo que trabajar y no sé cómo (…) S2: Pero es que igual ponte tu otra profe no hubiera hecho guías diferentes para nosotros. Sobretodo en inglés, es que (…).

(51) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 51. T: ¿Ah? S1: es que igual como eris más joven es distinto. S2: Es que te diste el tiempo ponte tú de hacer como ejercicios diferentes cachai que como que no se hacen porque se van a otras partes los profes (…)Igual te tomaste el tiempo en hacer eso po. Espérate, ¿Estai grabando? T: si, se está grabando. S2: chooaa T: pero no importa… es natural. S1: Yo encuentro que, que eso que hay hecho por ejemplo con la Vale cuando no cachaba nada y llegaste y le hiciste una hojita (…) con explicaciones (…) S2: eso como sentarte (…) S1: Eso es súper bueno, porque de alguna forma ahí ya generai como una relación con el alumno. S2: De sentarte como a (…) que aprenda, es como importante, no es como (…)si eso es (…) S1: Mira esta es la materia cachai, apréndetela (…)Sino que no estai trabajando, no entendis, te explico. S2: Te sentai como hasta que entienda (…) S1: que asi vai generando (…).

(52) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 52. APPENDIX 4 JOURNAL COLEGIO ALTAMIRA. August, 2015 Thursday 27th I came to the school for the first time the previous week. For this reason, with the host teacher, we decided I will observe during two weeks the classes at the laboratory, and then I will start teaching the ninth grade ‘A’. September, 2015 Monday 7th Today I had to do my first intervention. My teacher at the school introduced me in the class but I didn’t have time to ask the students their names or have a conversation with them. The idea of the class was to show a PPT with vocabulary about shopping. Some students were sitting at the end of the classroom, there was an isolated boy in the second row and the first row was complete. I started the lesson by explaining what we were going to review during the class. Most of the students were talking loudly. I asked for silence several times and they looked that they did not care about it. In a moment I was explaining something and a student was standing in front of his classmates, back to me, and he did not care I was there. I was very uncomfortable. I printed a worksheet and I started a lesson even though students were talking. I gave to them the printed copy with different vocabulary words and I was showing and explaining some pictures in the PPT. We continued with the class. The students of the first row were very fast and finished the worksheet easily. The students of the other rows took almost the whole class to complete the worksheet. However, there was time left, so I realized the class was too short for the students, as they were some students that finished thirty minutes before..

(53) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 53. During this class, the host teacher started to ask silently to each student which ‘empanada’ would they like to eat for the national holiday. She started to collect the money while I was explaining. The students got distracted and did not pay attention to me. I thought it was a little bit disrespectful because I don’t like to interrupt classes and while the host teacher was doing this ‘extra activity’ the students got distracted and it was much more difficult to continue with the lesson.. Tuesday 8th Students did not have classes as they had to rehearse for the national holiday’s ceremony. Wednesday 9th I couldn’t go to the school due to personal issues. I talked to my host teacher and I will recover this day. Nevertheless, the students did not have classes again as they had to rehearse again for the ceremony.. Monday 14th-Friday 18th National holidays-no classes again.. Monday 21st Today I started the class and I asked to the students to write a paper with their nicknames to call them properly and not by ‘you’. They wrote their names and then we started the class. I asked the students which words they remembered from the previous class and we did a brainstorming about online shopping and which were the most common websites to buy. Students did a reading comprehension about the advantages and disadvantages of online shopping. The students answered some questions about the reading and they shared their answers. We discuss the different opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of.

(54) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 54. online shopping. Some students liked online shopping, others still prefer going to shops. After the reading, I gave to the students different speaking cards to review the content in a more communicative way and apply the vocabulary learnt. In general they worked very well. However, I realized they always work with the same peers and there is always a classmate who works isolated. This classmate has a sort of syndrome and he has low tolerance towards frustration and has some problems with spoken language (from what I’ve observed). I tried to integrate him and join him to a group but he didn’t want to, and the classmates didn’t want to too. We closed the class by collecting ideas of shopping in general and we summed up the class. I answered some questions.. Tuesday 22nd Today the students had to rehearse again for the national holiday’s ceremony. Even though it was scheduled for Friday 11th, it rained a lot and it couldn’t be done. For this reason, the school decided to perform the ceremony on September 25th.. Wednesday 23rd I reviewed conditional exercises with the students. There is a blog where there are different interactive activities and I added more exercises. I designed a powtoon video explaining the use of the zero, first and second conditional. During the second module of the class the students had to create a personal blog explaining the different uses of the conditionals and providing examples. This class was a reinforcement for the next test.. Monday 28th The host teacher didn’t come. I was alone in the classroom with the students. I monitored during the activities. What we do was to review conditionals, check questions and doubts. We completed a worksheet. In general they worked well, they talked a lot but they worked. It took me some minutes to ask them for silence. We reviewed vocabulary as they will have a unit test..

(55) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 55. I tried to do a new seating arrangement after the quiz and we did the song. However, the students were not happy. They looked uncomfortable. Even though the song was cheerful the students were crestfallen. They paid attention and they followed my instructions but they were not comfortable.. Wednesday 30th In the laboratory, the students completed the different links they had pending about the conditionals. After that, they started to watch a chapter of a TV serie. The students completed a worksheet of Game of thrones and I monitored the activities.. October, 2015 Monday 5th Today the students had the test of the unit which was about shopping and zero, first and second conditional. It took the students the whole hour to complete the test. The test had a reading comprehension about shopping in London, a listening activity about shopping, a listening which included vocabulary words and exercises of the different types of conditionals. I monitored the test.. Tuesday 6th, Wednesday 7th Today I couldn’t go to the school. I had a medical certificate. However, the students reviewed the main vocabulary of the hospital. I designed a PPT for this class and the students reviewed it with my guide teacher.. Monday 12th Holiday, we didn’t have classes.. Tuesday 13th Today we had the quiz about hospital vocabulary. We did a song (Uptown funk). In general the class was very short and.

(56) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 56. the students are each time talking less and they are paying more attention to my instructions.. Wednesday 14th The students continued with a previous activity that was given by my guide teacher. The students worked properly in some minutes but they were very disruptive and the students that are not always in the classroom were not working at all. I didn’t prepare activities for them as I thought that they had their activities in the blog. At the end of the class, my teacher talked to me and told me I must be stronger and increase discipline in the classroom as the class in the laboratory looked as they do not have nothing important to do. I have to create more material and have extra plans in case students finish earlier.. Monday 19th Today we started the new unit more in detail. I started the class by remembering the words about hospital. With the students we reviewed the previous PPT which was shown by the teacher. Then, we did a reading comprehension about the stress and the symptoms that a person suffers. In general, students work very well. They talked in a few occasions and they paid attention to the instructions. After the reading comprehension we did a listening activity about a patient looking for an appointment. This was the lesson I felt more comfortable. I didn’t modify the seating arrangement but I performed my class faster. I didn’t leave spaces to do different staff, I was stricter and I projected my voice more. I paid more attention to the time distribution, so I left less minutes at the end. Another important situation during this class was that I designed two levels of the same worksheet. I have noticed during my practicum that some students are faster than others and when they finish the tasks they start to do disturbing staff in the classroom. For this reason, I decided to create a more complex worksheet for them because the rest of the class is slower and can be during the whole class working on the same activity..

(57) CREATING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. 57. When we reviewed the activities of the worksheets I checked the faster one first as the students had finished, and then, immediately I started to review the other worksheet. I think the class was good, I felt very comfortable. I think is the best lesson I have performed.. Tuesday 20th Today we started the class with a song of Iron Maiden. The students asked for the song, so they were very happy. After the song the students had a quiz about vocabulary of the hospital. For those students who have more difficulties while studying and performing the activities, I adapted one of the items of the test and the results were better.. Wednesday 21st Today we started to review passive voice. I designed two PPTs. One was more advanced and included passive voice in more tenses for fast learners. In addition, I added activities for the students that only work in the lab and work in the ‘adecuados’ section. I incorporated different activities for them so I had more control of the class. I was comfortable working. Now I feel much better as I feel closer to the students and by the creation of extra material I have the security I will not have many difficulties while teaching.. Monday 26th “Alianzas”. There aren’t classes..


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