By creating opportunities for self-expression, focusing on learning for life rather than grades, and encouraging students to engage in projects, the teacher aimed to make the classroom a happier, more active learning environment. Specific strategies included reflection journals, discussing life goals rather than marks, research projects, and activities to improve soft skills. The teacher concluded it is important to give students space to freely express themselves, help them set their own aims beyond teachers' expectations, and find creative ways to think outside the box in teaching practices.

1. HOW DO I CREATE A HAPPY AND
ACTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
IN MY CLASSROOM?
D Yvonne S Samarawickrama
Sri Parakrama National School
Kobeigane
Sri Lanka

2. Project Objectives:
To better assist my 8th-grade students in English
class, I wanted to enhance my practice by achieving
the following areas:
• Obtain an understanding about the students’ way of
thinking about learning, classrooms, and school.
• Determine teaching approaches to help students enjoy
learning.
• Adjust my teaching practice to help students enjoy
learning.
• Motivate students to discover their skills, creativity, and
talents they have.
• Help students become active learners towards a goal.

3. How?
By creating space for better communication between
the teacher and the students - Opportunity for self-
expression
- “Happiness” poster
- Reflective journals
By helping students to learn not for grades, but for life
aims
- “Why do I learn?” poster
- Repeated question to observe changes, if any
By encourage them to engage in “looking for”
something always
- Research-based projects
(continued)

4. How? (continued)
Direct support for content learning
Making learning practical
Improving soft skills
- Shouting day, writers’ workshop
Positive parent-teacher relationship
- Letters to parents, reading circle for parents

5. Space for self-expression

6. Learning not for marks, but for life aims
- Not above 40, but their own targets gradually

7. Learning not for marks, but for life aims
- “Why do I learn?”
Setting goals by themselves

8. Learning not for marks, but for life aims (cont.)
- “An ideal character in my life…”

9. Learning not for marks, but for life aims (cont.)
- Self motivation
Tweet board

10. Improving soft skills
- Shouting day, writers’ workshop, leadership programs

11. Conclusions
1. As much as we find ways to open space for
the students to express their ideas freely,
we can help students develop well. It is a
path to prevent and solve many issues.
2. Having aims is necessary, but not teachers’
aims. More than asking “why do we
learn?,” it may be better to help students
think “why not ?”
3. Improving soft skills is sometimes
challenging; it requires extra efforts.

12. Conclusions
(cont.)
4. Positive parent-teacher relationship is
important, but it does not mean you should
know each and everything about parents.
5. Let them shout - yes, sometimes we have to
make ourselves “think out of the box.”
6. Through the process I experienced how my
very objective of developing a happy and
active classroom could be created with my
developed professional capacity.
1. ~q