Perspectives on Creative Environments

Perspectives on Creative Environments

Chapter Quiz 9:

Click here to gauge your understanding of the concepts in this chapter.

Discuss: Perspectives on Creative Environments

1. Visualize your ideal classroom, both indoors and outdoors. Select an age range. How will you arrange desks or tables? Are there centers available? What else do you see in your “minds-eye”? Describe your rationale for your environment. Then create a digital representation of it. Use a word processing program, presentation software, or a concept map for this. You may also want to download classroom architect, a tool to outline your environment, from the website classroom4teachers.

2. Some teachers admit that they never think much about the outdoor environment and treat it only as a way to have children expend energy. What do you think of this practice? Why?

3. In your creative environment, what would you say to a parent or a colleague who said, “But they are just playing or drawing or making music! When will they learn something?”

4. Locate a teacher’s blog discussing one of the important features of creative environments. How do the blog entries compare to what you have just read in this chapter?

Assess: Using Published Rating Scales to Assess Classroom Environments

1. Published rating scales and accreditation procedures provide guidelines and indicators for assessing creative environments for children of all ages. These scales provide the salient items and criteria needed to evaluate high-quality classroom environments. From your library, select one of the following eight scales to evaluate a virtual classroom environment or your classroom’s indoor or outdoor environment.

§ DeViney, Duncan, Harris, Rody, & Rosenberry (2010). Rating Observation Scale for Inspiring Environments (ROSIE). Lewinsville, NC: Gryphon House.

Focuses on evaluating what is aesthetically beautiful and inspiring in the classroom environment through different lenses of color, light, furnishings, displays, textures, and focal points.

§ Frost, J. L. (1997). Playground Rating System (revised). In Frost, Wortham, & Reifel (2012). Play and Development (appendix). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill-Prentice Hall.

This appendix, which may be downloaded as a pdf, serves as a planning and evaluation tool for playgrounds. It contains 51 items to evaluate three different areas of playground quality. These areas are playground contents, playground safety, and the role of the adult on the playground. Each item is rated on a scale from 0 (“nonexistent”) to 5 (“All elements exist: Excellent function).

Perspectives on Creative Environments

§ Harms, T., & Jacobs, E. V. & White, D. R. (2013). School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale: Updated Edition. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Contains 47 items organized within seven categories that include Space and Furnishings, Health and Safety, Activities, Interactions, Program Structure, Staff Development, and Special Needs.

§ Harms, T., Cryer, D., & Clifford, R. M. (2007). Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale (rev. ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Provides ratings for space, materials, and learning activities among the six categories addressed to ensure that the environment is developmentally appropriate for young children. Each item is rated “Inadequate” (does not meet custodial needs) to “Excellent” (high-quality care).

§ Harms, T., Cryer, D. & Clifford, R. M. (2004). Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (rev. ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Provides guidelines for assessing the quality of the physical and social environments for young children in seven areas, such as room arrangement, furnishings, displays, and creative activities.

§ Harms, T., Cryer, D., & Clifford, R. M. (2006). Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Contains criteria for furnishings and displays for children, space, learning activities, and program structure rated from “Inadequate” (not meeting custodial care needs) to “Excellent” (describing high-quality care).

§ Jones, E. (1977). Dimensions of teaching-learning environments.Pasadena, CA: Pacific Oaks. Describes the physical setting and the teacher’s behavior along four dimensions: soft/hard, simple/complex, intrusion/seclusion, and high mobility/low mobility.

§ National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2005). NAEYC early childhood program standards and accreditation criteria: The mark of quality in early childh

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Hide Rubrics

Rubric Name: Assignment 8 Rubric

This table lists criteria and criteria group name in the first column. The first row lists level names and includes scores if the rubric uses a numeric scoring method.Criteria

Exemplary

Satisfactory

Unsatisfactory

Unacceptable

Part 1: Art-Based Centers Nurture Creative Expression

20 points

The student provides a clear explanation of how art-based centers nurture creative expression.

15 points

The student provides a mostly clear explanation of how art-based centers nurture creative expression.

10 points

The student provides a weak or unclear explanation of how art-based centers nurture creative expression.

0 points

The student does not provide an explanation of how art-based centers nurture creative expression.

/ 20

Perspectives on Creative Environments

Part 2: Adapting Art-Based Centers

30 points

The student provides a clear description of how teachers must adapt art-based centers for toddlers through fourth grade.

20 points

The student provides a mostly clear description of how teachers must adapt art-based centers for toddlers through fourth grade.

10 points

The student provides a weak or unclear description of how teachers must adapt art-based centers for toddlers through fourth grade.

0 points

The student does not provide a description of how teachers must adapt art-based centers for toddlers through fourth grade.

/ 30

Part 3: Managing a Center- Based Environment

30 points

The student provides a clear discussion of techniques teachers can use to manage a center-based environment in the creative classroom.

20 points

The student provides a mostly clear discussion of techniques teachers can use to manage a center-based environment in the creative classroom.

10 points

The student provides a weak or unclear discussion of techniques teachers can use to manage a center-based environment in the creative classroom.

0 points

The student does not provide a discussion of techniques teachers can use to manage a center-based environment in the creative classroom.

/ 30

Mechanics – Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling

5 points

Student makes no errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling that distract the reader from the content.

4 points

Student makes 1-2 errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling that distract the reader from the content.

2 points

Student makes 3-4 errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling that distract the reader from the content.

0 points

Student makes more than 4 errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling that distract the reader from the content.

/ 5

Writing Style – Organization, Transitions, Tone

5 points

The assignment is written with excellent organization, thoughtful transitions, and the appropriate tone.

4 points

This writing assignment is adequately organized, but has some errors in the transitions or the tone.

2 points

This writing assignment is poorly organized, or it contains ineffective transitions and/or inappropriate tone.

0 points

This writing assignment displays little to no organization or transitions, and/or does not use the appropriate tone.

/ 5

APA Format – Margins, Font, Spacing, Headings and cover page.

5 points

The margins, font, spacing, headings, and cover page are all formatted properly.

4 points

There are 1-2 errors in the formatting of the margins, font, spacing, headings, or cover page.

2 points

There are 3-4 errors in the formatting of the margins, font, spacing, headings, or cover page.

0 points

There are more than 4 errors in the formatting of the margins, font, spacing, headings, or cover page.

/ 5

Perspectives on Creative Environments

APA Format – Citations and References

5 points

All sources used for quotes and facts are credible and cited, and the references and in-text citations are all properly formatted. Each reference has an in-text citation and in-text citation has a reference.

4 points

All sources used for quotes and facts are credible and cited, but slight errors are present in the format of the in-text citations or references. Or there may be one in-text citation or reference missing.

2 points

Some sources used for quotes and facts are either not credible or there are significant errors in the in-text citations and/or references. Or there are multiple missing in-text citations or references.

0 points

The sources used for quotes and facts are not credible and/or not cited. The in-text citations and/or references are not present.

/ 5

Total

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.