1) Week 2 Initial Discussion Post Prompt:

According to Fisher (1995), Community is built through the conditions of natural learning, as described by Cambourne (1988). The following elements exist and are nurtured within the classroom:

• Teacher and children are immersed in an atmosphere of caring
• Teacher models through authentic demonstrations
• Teacher expresses a positive attitude, while consistently conveying an expectation that all children can and will be successful learners
• Teacher communicates the expectation that children take responsibility to participate in learning and apply their new knowledge and skills
• Teacher designs opportunities for children to “approximate” the new skill/concept and take risks when learning, within a supportive and collaborative environment
• Teacher responds to individual children during “practice” time (low stress opportunities to try out the new skill and/or sort/classify new information

Do you agree/disagree with Fisher’s premises? How would you go about creating an atmosphere of “caring”? What are some ways teachers can nurture young children’s “approximations” and support children as they learn? What would be the value of “mistakes” in a classroom environment that also values approximations and caring?

Both Fisher (1995) and Bickart et al. (1999) value the use of Class Meetings as an important tool for building a sense of community. What are your thoughts about designing and implementing class meetings as a regular event in your future classroom? How often would you meet? What purposes would guide your class meetings?

2) Please read, reflect on/respond to the Week 2 Readings found in syllabus.

3) Please read and study the Week 2 PowerPoints. Then reflect on/respond to the PowerPoint content.

NOTE: For each of the above readings: What did you learn? How will you use this information to strengthen your teaching? How do the above readings/content connect to what you already know and/or have experienced through your Practicum experiences, experiences working as a teacher, or life experiences? Do you agree/disagree with the authors? Why/why not? What is one lingering question you still have after reading/studying all the content? (You must post a “lingering question”. You will not receive full points for this assignment unless you include a question.)

**Please post your initial response and then respond to two other course-mate’s postings. Make sure to vary your selection of course mates over the eight week period. Also, do not make all contributions in one or two days. You are encouraged to participate in the discussion at various times throughout the discussion week.