(Re)imagined classroom
The following text is a description of my original imagined future classroom:
As my students enter for the day, they enter into a room that has become a safe haven of learning. The sign on the door, made by the students reminds them that they are a part of a learning family: I always try to help them to see their understand their importance in the classroom, even from their first step into the classroom.
(source: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/83/8c/07/838c0712bf01739bda13c4d614bdea24.jpg)
Their creativity is sparked as they are inspired by the colorful banners that promote positivism and potential. The paper clouds and birds remind them that they can 'fly'. The flower pom poms we made as an art project show them that we are proud of our work. A large rainbow rug displaying the letters of the alphabet is spread across the floor, where my students sit each morning as I read a poem to spark our learning for the day. We recite the alphabet to show our progress and use our display board to talk about what we will be doing for the day.
(source: http://jcrebollido.blogspot.com/2013_04_01_archive.html)
When they finish all of their work and still have time to spare, the students are rewarded with the opportunity to choose a book and sit in the reading nook. I have bookshelves full of children's literature to inspire and uplift them. I chose to make a small fireplace out of paper because my favorite reading place growing up was in front of the large fireplace in our family room. This comfortable environment is where my students read and I can see a light grow in their eyes as they find new favorite stories.
(source: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e1/41/8a/e1418ad0b6ff57b9ce3c6a12652cdb21.jpg)
We are able to have such a safe environment of learning because the students understand their expectations. A display on the wall, carefully explained and reviewed often shows what we stand for together.
(source: https://i2.wp.com/ideas.tpet.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-17-at-17.07.36.png?fit=493%2C750)
The students' desks are supplied with all the books, stationary and support they will need for the day. They know they are important and are here to learn because we always proudly display our organised desks. They even have a place to store their homework: in a folder with their name displayed.
(source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Jf7ALnXXBpcYXnCsnNkoyZEdHnrTdmyn52-hMkvItAJ_iEB32nY8IGc7L1L3jz9hQIEl1jSAo579idNB9IfEZGb776GrnuRo8vQkvV53vwaMnKgrJpI8awgYeDrPlbNgVhALr9eeaAw/s1600/IMG_9954.JPG)
My first grade classroom is colorful and bright, filled with resources such as picture books to read, textbooks to study from, counters and other small things to use in math and science lessons as well as many displays for inspiration. We proudly display our best work and always know that trying our best is better than not trying at all. I make sure that my students get the best education they can and try to use my resources as much as possible to make lessons interactive and easily memorable so that the children can excel in their education.
For example, we are having a math lesson all about subtraction and will be using a box full of small plastic bears to practice.
Describe the students in your classroom. What are their backgrounds? What are their interests? What are they doing during the lesson?
My students are mostly from middle-class families that originate from all over the world. The children tell me stories of their family traditions, some of which include religious holidays such as Ramadan. For show and tell I invite my students to share their experiences and be proud of their heritage. They are all beautiful and unique children. My showing equality and respect at all times, an atmosphere of learning both from my lessons and from each other is created. The students are interested in learning about the world in which they live. They love when we go outside and discover what is in the playground. During the lessons they listen attentively, sometimes they can be a little fidgety but they try their best. We talk about showing respect by listening to others and saying kind words.
(source: http://aplacetothrive.blogspot.com/2012/09/one-class-many-cultures-freebie.html)
My class rules include:
- we always show respect in actions and word
(we never say things that would hurt others and we always listen, raising our hand if we would like to speak. We encourage others to do the same)
- we are a friend to all
- we always get all of our work done before having free-time
- we are honest in all we say and do, choosing to be an example to others
My discipline plan is:
When we have problems that cause a disruption or other have been hurt, we always apologize and find a way to make it better. According to what they have done, consequences are given which include not being able to play outside during recess, missing out on story-time and other activities and potentially, having to speak with parents and the principal.
My homework policy is:
We have homework each week to assess our learning and remember what we learned in class. We can ask our parents or another adult to help us but we should always try our best. Homework that is turned in late or not at all results in having to spend some breaks in the class with the teacher instead of having fun with other students.
(source: http://mathequalslove.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/growth-mindset-mistakes-poster.html?m=1)
Describe a typical lesson you will teach in your classroom. What will you teach? What is the topic? Why did you choose this topic? How will you teach it? What is the main thing you want students to learn during this lesson?
A typical lesson has been carefully planned out using a variety of resources so that multiple senses can be involved in the learning process. I will teach a science lesson based on the book 'we are going on a bear hunt' by Michael Rosen. We are going to explore the different parts of earth that the family encounter during their trip (including mud, grass, fields, water etc.). I chose this topic because I love helping my students discover the world around them through familiar things such as a book we read as a class. I will teach it by reading the book, page by page and using visual items such as a bowl of mud, grass etc to show the students the differences (as a sensory activity). We will then talk about why they are different and they will draw a picture and describe the differences on a worksheet. I want the children to observe the differences and be able to apply them to changes in environment. If the weather is good and we have completed our work, we will even go outside and reenact the story with our new understandings.
During the lesson as a teacher, I am explaining, describing and showing my love for teaching as I teach. I make sure to ask questions, check for understanding and give an opportunity to my students to share their knowledge with the class. As I divide my class into small groups to complete the worksheet, I observe, interact with the students and positively support their learning. I make sure to praise them for their work and occasionally stop the class to show a student's work to the rest of his/her peers.
My students excitedly listen as we discuss as a class, interact with me when I invite them to and never stop to think and find more things to learn. We begin the lesson by sitting on the rug as talking together about the different environments. To end the lesson, we work in small groups at our desks to color and describe our new learning. The students work together, asking questions and are not afraid to make mistakes.
At the end of the lesson, as the students work together independently from my help to fill in their worksheet and remember their learning, I will see their understanding and check for their progress by observing what they write and draw. Further, as we go over the story once again, I will invite students to lead the class and show their understanding.
The following text is a description of my re-imagined future classroom (All text in green has been added, the red text explains why I made the changes):
My main focus in reimagining my classroom was to make sure that everythig was not just orienated towards the typical white, midle-class students. I thought about ways in which I can incorperte other cultures and make sure that all students, regardless of where they come from or who they are, know that they are important and repected. By making my classroom something that is decided as much as possible by students (such as the decoration), I know that will make it seem like a safe haven to them. Sending a letter out at the beginning of the year to tell the parents the same thing is also powerful because I will gain the respect and suport of the parents. Overall, the chagnes were small but powerful and I hope to portray that throughout my re-imagined classroom.
As my students enter for the day, they enter into a room that has become a safe haven of learning. The sign on the door, made by the students reminds them that they are a part of a learning family: I always try to help them to see their understand their importance in the classroom, even from their first step into the classroom. The students have helped me to decorate every part of the classroom so that they know that their voices matter. We even had a voting system at the beginning of the year to decide on how we wanted our space of learning to look.
I want my students to know that my classroom is also their classroom.
They know that the classroom is a safe place because I proudly have a GSA sign hanging close to the door where all can see. To most students, it looks like a decorative flag, but for those who understand what it means as they may have members of their family or be a part of the LGBTQ community.
This allows me to show my support to the LGBTQ community without having to make a big scene out of it (I am planning to teach Kindergarten).
(source: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/6f/f5/c0/6ff5c0e0a413f82b26a552b2274ef5f7--lgbt-community-equal-rights.jpg)
Their creativity is sparked as they are inspired by the colorful banners that promote positivism and potential. The paper clouds and birds remind them that they can 'fly'. The flower pom poms we made as an art project show them that we are proud of our work. The colors used in the classroom do not promote gender stereotyping. We have all colors and shades in the class, rather than having 'girly colors' such as pink or 'boy colors' such as blue for the students, depending on their gender. A large rainbow rug displaying the letters of the alphabet is spread across the floor, where my students sit each morning as I read a poem to spark our learning for the day. We read poems from all around the world and from all communities and then discuss their work. Doing this makes my teaching approach one of inclusive multicultural education. We recite the alphabet to show our progress and use our display board to talk about what we will be doing for the day. There are a few children in my class who speak another language such as Spanish and Polish. In order for the class as a whole to understand what it means to be bilingual or ELL, I invite these students to share a word or a phrase in their native tongue and teach their peers how to pronounce it. Additionally, we record these phrases on a separate whiteboard that is never erased. y the end of the school year, I hope that my students will feel comfortable speaking their new vocabulary words that they have learned and that my ELL students will feel comfortable being ELL students.
This makes my class inclusive and allows all students to feel comfortable wherever they are.
(source: http://jcrebollido.blogspot.com/2013_04_01_archive.html)
When they finish all of their work and still have time to spare, the students are rewarded with the opportunity to choose a book and sit in the reading nook. I have bookshelves full of children's literature to inspire and uplift them. I chose to make a small fireplace out of paper because my favorite reading place growing up was in front of the large fireplace in our family room. This comfortable environment is where my students read and I can see a light grow in their eyes as they find new favorite stories.
(source: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e1/41/8a/e1418ad0b6ff57b9ce3c6a12652cdb21.jpg)
Here is a list of some books found in my classroom:
All of these books promote social justice, such as LGBTQ families, feminism, black history, and disability. My classroom is an inclusive pedagogy classroom.
We are able to have such a safe environment of learning because the students understand their expectations. A display on the wall, carefully explained and reviewed often shows what we stand for together.
(source: https://i2.wp.com/ideas.tpet.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-17-at-17.07.36.png?fit=493%2C750)
During our first week of the school year together, we carefully discussed these expectations and how they apply to all of us, no matter gender, skin color, heritage, race or ability. A letter was also addressed to the caregiver(s) of each student explaining these expectations and stating that each child, no matter their gender, race, skin color, family background or ability will be included in my class and that they are welcome and invited to talk to me openly when they desire.
The students' desks are supplied with all the books, stationary and support they will need for the day. They know they are important and are here to learn because we always proudly display our organised desks. They even have a place to store their homework: in a folder with their name displayed.
On the first day of school, I let them choose their own seating arrangements (according to behavior these are sometimes re-arranged) and let them design their own nametags, choosing the nickname or spelling as they desire to be called by.
After this is completed, we take time to go around the classroom, introducing ourselves and explaining why we are called what we are and the origin of our name if desired. This way the children all understand and know how to pronounce each other's names and have gotten to know them on a deeper level. They discover that we all have individual stories and are all important (we all have been given our name for a reason). This can help them learn how they can increase their social capital.
(source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Jf7ALnXXBpcYXnCsnNkoyZEdHnrTdmyn52-hMkvItAJ_iEB32nY8IGc7L1L3jz9hQIEl1jSAo579idNB9IfEZGb776GrnuRo8vQkvV53vwaMnKgrJpI8awgYeDrPlbNgVhALr9eeaAw/s1600/IMG_9954.JPG)
My first grade classroom is colorful and bright, filled with resources such as picture books to read (see the list above), textbooks to study from, counters (such as dry beans, beads and rainbow colored grains of rice) and other small things to use in math and science lessons as well as many displays for inspiration. We proudly display our best work and always know that trying our best is better than not trying at all (This is a notion I often repeat in class by sharing examples of famous historians, such as Oprah Winfrey, Trischa Zorn, Ryan Murphy etc.) . I make sure that my students get the best education they can and try to use my resources as much as possible to make lessons interactive and easily memorable so that the children can excel in their education. By teaching my lessons in ways that different senses are used in the learning process, I can cater to the needs of all my students inter variably, as they all have different methods in which they learn best. For example, one of my students has dyslexia and struggles with reading and writing. I make sure that she has dyslexia friendly fonts on all of her worksheets.
For example, we are having a math lesson all about subtraction and will be using a box full of small plastic beads to practice. These beads are from all around the world and from many nations and are made of different materials such as glass, plastic and wood. I have collected them from friends who have traveled around the world as well as by previous students.
Describe the students in your classroom. What are their backgrounds? What are their interests? What are they doing during the lesson?
My students are mostly from middle-class families that originate from all over the world. The children tell me stories of their family traditions, some of which include religious holidays such as Ramadan. For show and tell I invite my students to share their experiences and be proud of their heritage. They are all beautiful and unique children. My showing equality, equity and respect at all times, an atmosphere of learning both from my lessons and from each other is created. The students are interested in learning about the world in which they live. They love when we go outside and discover what is in the playground. During the lessons they listen attentively, sometimes they can be a little fidgety but they try their best. We talk about showing respect by listening to others and saying kind words.
We celebrate the different cultures in our classroom and around the world with projects based on specific cultures. For example, we learned about native american history. We also made a map and created small lollipop figures wearing the traditional clothing from cultures we have learned or read about in class. I sometimes start an English class by showing a short video about another culture or have parental guardians or other family members come in and tell my students about their family history.
(source: http://aplacetothrive.blogspot.com/2012/09/one-class-many-cultures-freebie.html)
My class rules include:
- we always show respect in actions and word
(we never say things that would hurt others and we always listen, raising our hand if we would like to speak. We encourage others to do the same)
- we are a friend to all
- we always get all of our work done before having free-time
- we are honest in all we say and do, choosing to be an example to others
- we are an eye and ear to all, reporting of problems in a calm matter to our teacher so things can be resolves
- we make change happen for social justice
My discipline plan is:
When we have problems that cause a disruption or other have been hurt, we always apologize and find a way to make it better. According to what they have done, consequences are given which include not being able to play outside during recess, missing out on story-time and other activities and potentially, having to speak with parents guardians and the principal. I do all I can to make sure they can stay in the classroom and are not expelled or sent home for long periods of time as that simply encourages social reproduction. Extra care is given to students who I recognize could be exposed to a home life or other problems that can cause behavior issues or social reproduction. I never blame my students for the problems cause but try to look at the bigger picture and see how social justice can be incorporated. I never refer to deficit thinking.
My homework policy is:
We have homework each week to assess our learning and remember what we learned in class. We can ask our parents or another adult to help us but we should always try our best. Homework that is turned in late or not at all results in having to spend some breaks in the class with the teacher instead of having fun with other students.
(source: http://mathequalslove.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/growth-mindset-mistakes-poster.html?m=1)
Describe a typical lesson you will teach in your classroom. What will you teach? What is the topic? Why did you choose this topic? How will you teach it? What is the main thing you want students to learn during this lesson?
A typical lesson has been carefully planned out using a variety of resources so that multiple senses can be involved in the learning process. I will teach a science/ geography / english lesson based on the book 'We are going on a bear hunt' by Michael Rosen. We are going to explore the different parts of earth that the family encounter during their trip (including mud, grass, fields, water etc.). I chose this topic because I love helping my students discover the world around them through familiar things such as a book we read as a class. I will teach it by reading the book, page by page and using visual items such as a bowl of mud, grass etc to show the students the differences (as a sensory activity). We will then talk about why they are different and they will draw a picture and describe the differences on a worksheet. I want the children to observe the differences and be able to apply them to changes in environment.
Additionally, we will read a different story about refugees and their journey to freedom. The Book is called Steeping Stones: A Refugee Family's Journey . We will discuss who a refugee is and why they flee from their home country to a safer place. We will also talk about the fact that many of us come from families who were once immigrants. In order to apply this to our lesson on geography and environments, we will discuss the geographical conditions of countries that refugees can come from. I will show example images of countries such as Syria and we will compare and contrast them with the conditions from our home. E.g. Syria is a warm, dry, sandy, dusty place whereas we live in a place with a lot of water sources and safety.
(source: https://socialjusticebooks.org/stepping-stones-a-refugee-familys-journey/)
During the lesson as a teacher, I am explaining, describing and showing my love for teaching as I teach. I make sure to ask questions, check for understanding and give an opportunity to my students to share their knowledge with the class. As I divide my class into small groups (they will be divided according to the month they were born in, e.g. children born in Jan & July will work together etc. instead of by their gender) to complete the worksheet, I observe, interact with the students and positively support their learning. I make sure to praise them for their work and occasionally stop the class to show a student's work to the rest of his/her peers.
My students excitedly listen as we discuss as a class, interact with me when I invite them to and never stop to think and find more things to learn. We begin the lesson by sitting on the rug as talking together about the different environments. To end the lesson, we work in small groups at our desks to color and describe our new learning. The students work together, asking questions and are not afraid to make mistakes. I will prompt them with questions to inspire their work, such as:
- What types of land did we explore today?
- What are some areas you enjoy? Why?
At the end of the lesson, as the students work together independently from my help to fill in their worksheet and remember their learning, I will see their understanding and check for their progress by observing what they write and draw. Further, as we go over the stories once again, I will invite students to lead the class and show their understanding.
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