Addressing the Learning Standards

In creating this environment, classroom management extends from greeting adult learners when they enter the room; to selecting instructional resources; to implementing the instructional plan; to organizing the room in a comfortable, non-threatening arrangement; to encouraging self-monitoring of behavior in the classroom; to settling disputes and managing differences in a respectful way. Many of these management activities provide opportunities for addressing the learning standards.

Perhaps the greatest opportunities for addressing the learning standards lie with the diversity of adult learners. As cited in a learning standard for languages other than English:

Students will develop cross-cultural skills and understanding.

Using learners from different cultures to decorate the building or room or center can be part of a series of activities that familiarize a whole group with other cultures. The classroom then not only reflects the diversity of the current learners and prospective ones, but also communicates the valuing of diversity. Activities incorporating food, dance, art, literature, and families emerge as but a few ways to facilitate cross-cultural understanding.

Another example of a learning standard -- this one for health, physical education, and family and consumer sciences -- that can, in part, be addressed through effective classroom management is:

Acquire the knowledge and ability necessary to create and maintain a safe and healthy environment.

Creating and maintaining a safe and healthy environment encompasses such practices as fire drills and safety, respectful interaction and group behavior, peaceful dispute resolution, and enforcement of public health and safety laws, e.g., smoking, trash disposal. Such common classroom practices can provide a springboard for learning about broader issues of maintaining a safe and healthy environment.

The two examples above maximize the impact of common practices in classroom management. Other opportunities for addressing the learning standards abound. A working knowledge of the resource guide including the learning standards and the goals and objectives will enable adult educators to seize the opportunities.

Assessment

The skillful use of assessment makes the educational process complete and measures the achievement of the learning standards, benchmarking the skills learners already possess. Once benchmarks are pinpointed, realistic goals can be set and progress measured. This entire process must be approached in a sensitive manner.