Article Reflection: Overturning Rules and Classroom Environment

This essay provides a reflection on three articles related to classroom environments and their impact on student learning. The first article, "From policing to participation: overturning the rules and creating amicable classrooms," discusses how a shift from strict rules to a more participatory approach can foster a better learning environment. The second article, "The Environment Is a Teacher," emphasizes the crucial role of the environment in shaping children's learning experiences and identities. The third article, "What's wrong with coloring books?", explores the value of coloring books in child development, questioning whether they are effective tools for fostering creativity and critical thinking in children. The essay synthesizes the key arguments presented in these articles, highlighting the importance of creating supportive, engaging, and stimulating classroom environments that encourage student participation, and the role of various activities and resources, such as coloring books, in promoting children's development.

Running head: ARTICLE REFLECTION
Article Reflection
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Authors Note:

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Contents
Overturning the rules to create amicable classrooms: A method to initiate participation from
policing:...........................................................................................................................................2
Environment is a teacher:................................................................................................................2
Coloring books- What’s wrong in it:...............................................................................................3
References:......................................................................................................................................5

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Overturning the rules to create amicable classrooms: A method to initiate participation
from policing:
Creating amicable classrooms is an extremely effective way of teaching children different
curriculums and lesions. Children have impressionable minds and the classrooms play crucial
role in developing long lasting impressions in the minds and soul of the children. It is crucial to
ensure that the classrooms are encouraging children to learn new things and the method of
participation is the most effective and suitable method to encourage and motivate children.
Instead of policing approach, the approach of participation yields better result in ensuring
children are learning and taking interests in their curriculums and education in general. Often too
much rules end up becoming barriers to the children and create number of issues as the children
starts to lose interests in education. Ensuring that the rules are not too strict neither too loose is
extremely crucial in creating an environment of participation in the classrooms. Participation of
students is only possible when they are allowed to express themselves freely without the burden
of any rules and regulations. Thus, it is important to move from policing approach to
participation approach in classrooms to encourage students to express themselves freely.
Overturning the rules to create amicable classrooms will be extremely helpful in achieving the
objective of the developing and nurturing creative thinking amongst the children to encourage
innovation and progress (Anne Wien, 2017).
Environment is a teacher:
Children learn from everything they see and experience more than the adults. It is because the
mind and souls of children are like blank canvas and the things they see and experience in their

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day to day lives add color to the canvas. Thus, it would not be incorrect to state that environment
is one of the biggest teachers of for the children. Everything that the environment offers to a
children makes deep impression in the minds of the children. It is aptly put that the children are
like laboratory of senses and each sense activities the other sense. Thus, environment not only
teaches children about life but it shapes their identity in the future. Thus, the huge role that the
environment plays in shaping the character and identity of children cannot be undermined.
Hence, the importance of environment in shaping the character and identity of children cannot be
undermined. Environment is full of diversity and thus, it is important to understand that there are
certain aspects to environment which may have negative impact on the children thus, it is
important to take safety measures while depending on the environment to shape the character of
the children. Keeping the negative aspects of environment out from the reach of the children is
almost impossible but by using safety measures an effort can be made to ensure that the character
of the children shaped in proper way (Callaghan, 2017).
Coloring books- What’s wrong in it:
The parents are the ones who are most concerned about the children and what they are learning.
One of many questions which parents have during the early stage of children learning is what’s
wrong in coloring books? As already mentioned earlier that the children have impressionable
mind and it is like a blank canvas. Thus, more color are there in the lives of the children the
better would be the experience. In fact the fondest memories of the children often include
opening a brand new package of crayons and using these to color different things. So, is there
anything wrong in coloring books as often the parents find themselves asking the question. The
answer to the question is not that simple as there is a grey area in there. According to many
coloring of books is not wrong as it is not wrong to spend an entire Saturday watching cartoons,

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buying a whole bag of chips and eating the entire bag of chips with a bottle of Pepsi
occasionally. So, in the short, coloring of books is like occasional enjoyment for the children it
does not add value to the learning of the children in the long run. Thus, there is nothing wrong in
coloring books per se but also there is no good in it especially after a certain stage. With ever
growing number of tools to develop creativity and critical thinking amongst children the
educators now find coloring of books not effective enough to develop creativity and critical
thinking in children (McLean, 2018).

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References:
Anne Wien, C. (2017). From policing to participation: overturning the rules and creating
amicable classrooms. Education, 42(165), 219. doi: 10.2307/2007572
Callaghan, K. (2017). Environment is a teacher. The Science Teacher, 02(02), 01-03. doi:
10.2505/4/tst14_081_07_30
McLean, C. (2018). What's wrong with coloring books?. BMJ, 325(Suppl S1), 0207255. doi:
10.1136/sbmj.0207255

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