1. Mrs. Scotts 1st grade classroom design
Lynley Price
Classroom Design
03/02/2016

2. Steele’s six functions of the classroom setting
Security and Shelter
Social Contact
Symbolic Identification
Task Instrumentality
Pleasure
Growth

3. Security and shelter
The classroom setting should provide physical and psychological security and comfort. Physical security, the condition of having a physically safe, functional classroom, is the most basic functional criterion that must be met in order for students to learn. Psychological security is the feeling that the classroom is a secure, comfortable place to be. Establishing a warm psychological climate is a prerequisite for a focused learning environment . Although the picture to the left is not of Mrs. Scott’s actual room, Mrs. Scott does have a few bean bag chairs in her classroom library that the students can get comfortable on while reading and completing their classwork.

4. Social Contact
The classroom setting is arranged to suit the amount of student interaction desired. Every room send a message to students about whether or not its okay for them to communicate with one another. Its important to make sure that the message sent by your room matches your desired level of student-to-student interactions. You can avoid many classroom management struggles when the physical environment you’ve created is congruent with your goals for social contact.
Mrs. Scott has her desks arranged in pods
of fours, like you see to the right.
she does this so the students can work
together and talk, but only when asked to.

5. Symbolic Identification
The classroom setting should reflect the teacher’s and students’ backgrounds, activities, accomplishments and preferences. Displaying students’ work and items they find meaningful communicates to them that they are important and special. Students are more likely to take care of a classroom that they think of as theirs. Personalizing the classroom with information about yourself communicates to your students that in addition to being a teacher, you are a real person.
Mrs. Scott loves to display her students
art work all around the room. She also
loves to keep pictures of her family on
her desk for the students to look at!

6. Task instrumentality
The classroom setting should support the specific learning tasks to be carried out there. You can avoid many management problems by setting up the classroom appropriately for the specific tasks students and teachers need to accomplish.
Mrs. Scott has 5 computers
set up in the back of the classroom
that students use during reading
workshop. They use this program
called “I-Station” that sends her
reports on the students’ progress
each night.

7. Pleasure
The classroom setting should be attractive and aesthetically pleasing. Aesthetically pleasing classrooms have been shown to positively influence students’ behavior, including improving attendance and feelings of group cohesion as well as increasing persistence on tasks and class participation.
Mrs. Scott has a Bluetooth radio on
her “teacher cart” that she turns on
only when students are quietly working
on classwork. She also plays one song
each morning as the students arrive
in an attempt to calm them down,
and mentally ready for the day.

8. growth
A learning-enriched environment, is one that is equipped with materials and resources, and encourages intellectual growth and development. Students are more likely to be engaged if they find the classroom stimulating and interesting. When engaged, they are learning rather than disrupting.
Mrs. Scott has a classroom library that
is jam packed with tons of books. All of
her students love going to the library and
grabbing a book to read after finishing
their assigned class work, even the
students who are struggling to read!

9. citations
Bean Bag Chairs: Peace, Love, and First Grade. (n.d.). Retrieved March 01, 2016, from Desk Arrangement: Environment (DM4). (2008). Retrieved March 01, 2016, from Student Artwork: Facility. (n.d.). Retrieved March 01, 2016, from Family Pictures: Obama family photos are displayed at the Oval Office at the White House in Washington - Black Enterprise. (n.d.). Retrieved March 01, 2016, from -interview-with-president-barack-obama/attachment/obama-family-photos-are-displayed-at-the-oval-office-at-the-white-house-in-washington/

10. citations
Computers:
Clutter-Free Classroom: Computers - Setting Up the Classroom Series. (n.d.). Retrieved March 01, 2016, from
Bluetooth Radio:
Robot Check. (n.d.). Retrieved March 01, 2016, from
iHeartRadio/dp/B006RG23JC
Classroom Library:
A Balanced Classroom Library | Scholastic.com. (n.d.). Retrieved March 01, 2016, from
Information:
Weinstein, C. S. (2015). Elementary Classroom Management: Lessons from Research and Practice by Weinstein (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.