STEELE’S SIX FUNCTIONS OF THE CLASSROOM SETTING IN MR. LENASSI’S 1 ST GRADE CLASS TEDU 410 Sara Messere9/24/14

SECURITY AND SHELTER  Security and shelter includes physical security (a safe building, safety from other students, accommodations for disabled students, etc.) and psychological security (the feeling that the classroom environment is a safe, comfortable place to be for students).

SECURITY AND SHELTER Soft Area for Reading and Plants  The “soft area” provided for reading and the stuffed animal in the classroom provide psychological security for students and allows them to feel more comfortable. The plants around the classroom also provide psychological security for students and give the classroom a homey feeling for weary students.

SECURITY AND SHELTER  The classroom rug serves as another soft area for students to relax and feel comfortable; while the rocking chair provides a place for the teacher to sit and read to the students, adding to the homey feeling of security in the classroom. Rocking Chair and Rug

SOCIAL CONTACT  Social contact includes the interaction that the classroom design allows among students and the interactions provided by the design for student-teacher interactions. Factors that can effect this function can be desk arrangement and where learning areas are placed around the room for group vs. individual work.

SOCIAL CONTACT Tables in Groups  The classroom also features two semi circle group work tables: one which is used for student-teacher interactions during stations with a teacher lead station in which the teacher sits in the middle and can give attention to all the students in the group and all the students can interact with one another, the other is used for only student- student interactions with group work or individual writing. Two Group work tables  The desk arrangement in the classroom has four groups of tables with four to five students at each. This allows for group work and individual work without much distraction- something that is appropriate for the grade level.

SOCIAL CONTACT Rug for Whole Class Lessons  Whole class lessons are taught at the white board with the teacher standing and the students in an assigned square on the rug. This allows for students to have an individual spot close to the teacher. It also allows for partner discussions during the lesson (partners are also pre-assigned by the teacher).

SYMBOLIC IDENTIFICATION  Symbolic identification refers to the information that a setting provides about the people who spend time there, in this case those people would be the students and their teacher. This helps to students to feel they have ownership in the classroom and as if they belong there.

SYMBOLIC IDENTIFICATION *contains pictures of students Outside the classroom door the teacher has a poster with pictures of each individual student with their name  This poster shows who is in the classroom, whose classroom it is and what they do while they are in class. This is a great example of symbolic identification because as Mr. Lenassi said it “makes them feel like the classroom is theirs”.

TASK INSTRUMENTALITY  Task instrumentality involves the many ways in which the environment helps the teacher and students carry out tasks throughout the day that need to be accomplished.

TASK INSTRUMENTALITY  All of these pictures show how storage is used around the classroom. The classroom has lots of shelving for teacher and student supply storage and a large sliding door closet, which takes up the back wall of the classroom, for the students’ backpacks with even more storage up top. The teacher also has covers with pockets on the backs of most of the chairs for the students’ notebooks to go while they do stations. This storage organization allows more classroom space for activities and learning. Storage Student Supplies Teacher Supplies Cubbies and Teacher supplies

TASK INSTRUMENTALITY Computer Area Information Table Numbers Numbers to 100 Calendar Station Schedule SOLs “I Can” Statements  The classroom also has information hung around the room for the students like the SOLs they are learning with “I Can” statements and the numbers up to 100. Students use the station schedule chart and table numbers to know where to go during stations. They use the classroom calendar to know what day it is and the computers on a table against the wall are out of the way, serving as another station. This teacher’s classroom is very task-driven.

PLEASURE  If a classroom had Steele’s function of pleasure, the students and teacher would find it visually attractive and pleasing. The teacher and students spend a lot of time in classroom, so it is important that it is a happy place that everyone wants to be.

PLEASURE  This classroom shows the pleasure aspect through its colorful nature which can be seen in the pictures. Colorful Classroom

GROWTH  The function of growth is particularly relevant to elementary classrooms because they are settings specifically intended to promote child development. Classrooms should show the students’ growth over time and have varying levels of information and activities.

GROWTH Words We Know Wall  Growth is shown in this classroom with the “words we know wall”. This is a chalkboard with letters as headings with words with that letter as the beginning sound which the students already know or have learned so far this year listed below them. They will add more words to these lists as they learn them.

WORKS CITED  Weinstein, Carol Simon., and Molly E. Romano. Elementary Classroom Management. Lessons from Research and Practice. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, Print.  Images taken by Sara Messere of Christopher Lenassi’s classroom at Ginter Park Elementary, Richmond VA