Personal and

Professional
Competencies
of Teachers

Social
The
Regard for
Curriculum
Learning

National
Competency-
Based Teacher
Standards
The
Community (NCBTS)
Learning
Linkages
Environment

Diversity Planning,
Assessing,
of Learners Reporting
 FS 1

This learning episode provides you an opportunity to examine and reflect on

the school environment that promotes optimum learning and development.

At the end of this episode, you must be able to determine the

characteristics of a school as learning environment that is safe, secure, free
from hazards and supportive of teaching and learning.

Learning environment refers to the physical environment, context, culture,

and climate in which students learn. When we talk about physical environment, it is
a learning environment with constant practices on keeping the school safe, clean,
orderly, and free from distraction and hazards. It also maintains facilities that provide
challenging learning activities and address the physical, social, and psychological
needs of the students.
 The term also includes the culture of a school or class—its presiding ethos
and characteristics, including how individuals interact with and treat one another—
as well as the ways in which teachers may organize an educational setting to facilitate
learning.

Bulletin or display boards can be powerful in communicating information

about the learning environment. They help in building and establishing the school
culture. These can be tools for vision-mission, goals and school uphold values be
known to walk in clienteles. Further, bulletin boards, aside from being the school’s
visual environment, they have four general purposes:

1. They are decorative when they offer visual stimulation and appeal to
aesthetics. They set the social and psychological atmosphere of the school.
2. When they encourage students to perform better and develop greater
confidence, they serve as motivational. One example is the display of
student’s output. Do you have other examples in mind?
3. They are informational when they are used as the strategy of the school in
disseminating information.
4. Finally, bulletin boards are instructional when they move students to act or
to respond and participate through the displays.

The following are the criteria set to evaluate bulletin board displays: effective
communication, attractiveness, balance, unity, legibility, correctness, and durability.
How about you? Do you have something in mind?

Now, are you ready for your first learning activity? I bet you are, so let’s begin.

Your Activity 1.1

Observing the School Environment

To realize your learning objective, you will undergo the following steps:
1. Visit a school nearest to my neighborhood. Look into facilities and
support learning areas of the school—then in the classroom, if possible.
2. Observe and use the checklist as you move around the school premises.
3. Analyze the gathered data about the school environment.
4. Reflect on the characteristics of a school environment that promotes
learning.
5. Present your idea of a good school environment through any of the
following: descriptive paragraph, sketch or drawing, photo-essay,
poem, song or rap.
 Read the entire worksheet before you proceed to the observation site. A better
understanding of the activities and tasks to be accomplished will yield better learning
results. As you move around the campus, bring with you the observation checklist and
a camera to document your observations. Now, familiarize the different areas and
facilities of the school. Check the column to indicate their availability. On the next
column, write brief descriptions of those that are available and tell how each will
contribute to the students’ learning and development.

SCHOOL FACILITIES OBSERVATION CHECKLIST

Facilities / Description How will it contribute to
the student’s learning
and development? Why?
Principal’s Office

Library

Counselling Room

Canteen

Clinic

Audio Visual Room

Gymnasium

Auditorium

Outdoor/Garden

Home Economics
Room
Industrial
Workshop Area
PTA Office

Comfort Room/s

Add others--
 CAMPUS VISIT OBSERVATION GUIDE

After touring the campus, will read the statement carefully and write my
observation report on the space provided.

Guide Question Classroom Observation Report

1. Describe the community
or neighborhood that
surrounds the campus.
2. Describe the school
campus in terms of color,
conditions of buildings,
order, etc.
3. When you passed by the
offices, what impressions
they give you?
4. How about the people?
How are they interacting
with each other?
5. You may add other
observations---

Answer the following questions.

1. How do the school campus and classrooms impact the learning of the learners?
Give your conclusions.
2. Recall you Child and Adolescent Development and Facilitating Learning classes.
How does this observation relate to your knowledge to both professional courses?

1. Would you like to teach in the school community you just observed? Why
or why not?

2. For you, what learning environment is conducive for learning?

3. What is your ideal classroom?

 4. When you become a teacher, how will you achieve your answer in Item 3?

5. Write additional learnings or insights below.

Wow! Congratulations. You are done with the first activity for Learning Episode 1.
Now, let’s proceed to Activity No.2. Let’s do this while you are still in the observation site.
 Your Activity 1.2
Observing Bulletin Board Displays

To realize your learning objective, work your way through the following steps:

1. Examine bulletin board displays. Document samples of those found

everywhere in the campus
2. Pick one to evaluate the display.
3. Propose tips on how to make the display more effective.

As you were awed by the bulletin displays, use the observation guide form
below to document your observations.

OBSERVATION GUIDE FOR BOARD DISPLAYS

➢ Go around the school and examine board displays. Where are the display
boards found? Are they the appropriate places for the purpose of the display?

➢ What key messages do the display board conveys? What images and colors do
you see? How are they arranged to convey the message?

➢ Think about what got your attention. Why did it get your attention?
Paste the picture of the Bulletin Board here and write your observation report.

My Observation Report
 Answer the following questions.

1. What do you think was the purpose of the board display?

2. Did the board design catch the attention of the target audience? Why or why
not?

3. Was the language used clear and simple for the target audience to
understand? Why or why not?

4. Do you think the board display effective? Why or why not?

5. What suggestion can you make?

1. Name at least five skills that a teacher should have to come up with
effective board displays. Elaborate why those skills are needed.

2. Do you have those skills mentioned in question 1? Recall the time when
you did the bulletin board. How did you do it? Was the display attract
viewers?
 Show here your personal illustration of an Effective School Environment
through any of the following: descriptive paragraph, photo-essay, sketch or drawing,
a poem, a song, or rap.

To end your Learning Episode 1, go to your LMS and answer the Learning
Episode 1 Quiz