Reimagined Classroom

  

What My Classroom Will Look Like:

My first picture is of a reading corner that I want in my classroom. There will be shelves full of books to encourage literacy and enjoyment of reading. There will be books with students of other cultures, ethnicities, from families that may not have one mom and one dad, biracial families, children with disabilities and learning differences, different traditions, etc. The books will reflect the lives of the students to the best of my ability so that students are exposed to a variety of differences and cultures at a young age so that it does not seem strange as they grow up and see these kinds of things in their community.
There will be a carpet for students to sit on for when I read out loud. There will also be pillows or beanbags for students to use for when there is free time or reading time and the student wants to read. There will also be space in the reading corner so that students who may have wheelchairs or crutches will also be able to access it and have a place to sit and can be a part of our out loud reading, or can also use the area when they are doing free reads. 
Photo by Khumantaris. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/33216422@N08
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My second picture is of a job chart. Students will have a daily/weekly job to help them learn responsibility. It will help them understand that gender expectations do not mean that boys can not do work that they think is for girls and vice versa. Students will also be responsible for helping to clean up the classroom, as they spend much of their time there and it should be a clean place where we can continue to learn, and where the Spirit can be present to help them learn (and to help me teach).

Photo by Jodi Durgin. Retrieved from http://frame.bloglovin.com/frame?post=1327624935&group=0&frame_type=a&blog=2679652&link=aHR0cDovL2NsdXR0ZXJmcmVlY2xhc3Nyb29tLmJsb2dzcG90LmNvbS8yMDEzLzA3L3RpcHMtZm9yLWNyZWF0aW5nLWFuZC1tYW5hZ2luZy5odG1s&frame=1&click=0&user=0

The third picture is the “Good Morning” Board. It is a welcome area, where, as students come in to the classroom, they can turn in homework, pick up the classwork that needs to be done that morning as they come in to the room, etc. There will also be a calendar with important dates. I might include religious holidays for various local denominations, or even some religions celebrated around the world, as well as some major national holidays and possibly even children's birthdays if everyone in the class celebrates birthdays. 

Photo by Ashley Hall. Retrieved from http://owlwaysgoodteaching.blogspot.com/2015/09/classroom-reveal.html

The fourth picture shows more or less how I want to arrange the desks in my classroom. I want students in groups of 4 or 5 with their desks put together so that when we do group work we do not have to use our class time moving desks and putting them back. These groups of students will be as diverse as possible so that students can learn from each other and begin to see different points of view based on different cultures and what their peers have to say. However, contrary to what is shown here, there will be more space in between the groups than they have showing in this picture so that students who may not have wheelchairs or other disabilities will be able to maneuver around all parts of the classroom without problems.

Photo by Caitlin Spencer. Retrieved from http://www.teachingforthethrill.com/category/teaching/

The last picture shows that I want my room to be colorful and full of life. I want it to feel warm and have boards on the walls to post students’ art or good writing or other work. I want them to be able to show their hard work to others and have them think about how much effort they are putting in to what they are doing because it might go on the wall where their parents, peers, and other teachers will also be able to view it. However, I also want it to be there classroom. Students will help decide what goes on the walls and what kinds of things we hang up so that it can be a safe space for them and that they can feel comfortable in the classroom environment. 
I will also have a "GLSEN Safe Space" poster hanging, probably near my desk, so that LGBT students can know that they are safe in this classroom and that they have an ally and I am willing to help them through their struggles.

No photographer listed. Retrieved from https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7e/21/4e/7e2

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What the Room Looks Like and Resources for Students:

My classroom will be a place where students will feel safe. It will have some of their best work posted on at least one of the walls. It will have a large bookshelf full of books of varying levels and genres to promote student literacy and enjoyment of reading. Like I said above, there will be various books that promote normalcy, so that things that students, especially in Utah, might not see growing up will not seem to strange to them later in life. There will be books with biracial families, families that have adopted children, families with single parents, families with divorced parents, families with two moms or two dads, etc. There will be books that are written by people in different cultures and see what other people in the world might be experiencing. There will be books written by authors of varying backgrounds. There will be books that talk about people with disabilities. There will be art supplies as well and pictures of students and interesting places-such as India, the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids in Egypt, Mount Rushmore, etc. to incite a desire to learn and discover new things and learn about new cultures. During lessons we will use art supplies, where applicable, to inspire creativity. We will talk about pictures and paintings and we will use books. I also think that we will use technology to our advantage. I will show videos to help students learn about things or places to which we do not have access within our classroom. The room will be vibrant and full of color and life, but it will also be a calm place. Things on the walls and boards will not be so distracting as to cause students to lose focus on the task at hand. I think we will also use word walls, where we can post sight words for students to see. This will be advantageous to all students, but especially to ELLs so that they have access to more resources and we can help them to learn words faster. We could even put the words in the native languages of students next to the word in English so that they can relate words and continue learning in both their first language and English. 

What the Students in My Classroom are Like:

The students in the classroom are engaged learners. They think critically and ask questions. They are a diverse group culturally and socioeconomically and are willing to share their differences with one another. They embrace difference and do not look at it negatively. They are interested and invested in their education because they think learning is fun. During the lesson, a few may be off task occasionally, but for the most part students are following directions and commenting and enhancing the lesson. All students participate in the lesson because it is enjoyable for them. 

Classroom Policies:

The most important classroom rule I will have is respect for others and yourself. Listen to the teacher and follow her directions. I will use the “Class”, “yes” method to get students on task and use tallies to show how well/poorly students are behaving that day. Other than that I will let students decide on their own rules and consequences.

My discipline plan will be to first use teacher proximity, and get closer to the student or group that is causing problems. If they continue to act out, I will issue a quiet warning as the other students are busy working on something else. The third step, if the problem continues will be a first timeout. Students will sit in a designated area in the classroom (probably a corner further away from the activities and other students) until they feel they are ready to come back, in which case they come talk to me, and then they return to class. The fourth step will be a second timeout in which the student will go to the principal’s office (unless they are trying to get themselves there, in which case it will be the corner again), and they will be talked to about behavior. A message will be sent to parents as well, or an at home visit will be made. The fifth step would be a behavior-intervention contract in which students, their parents, and the teacher meet to discuss the student’s behavior and possible solutions to the problem. This would be if it all happened in the same day. However, if a student has several repeated warnings or timeouts, I would involve the parents.

My homework policy would be that turned in on time you can get up to full credit. If it is late it will be docked 10-25% depending on how late it is. No late work for units after the term has ended.
However, because of a strict homework policy, I believe that it is important that I make time available to students to do their work because, depending on home conditions, some may not have the ability to do homework at home. I will make myself available before and after school so students can receive help on homework they may not understand. If those hours do not work and a student still needs help with homework, I will make arrangements to meet them somewhere at a time that works for them or I will make home visits so that we can work together so the child can be successful. I will also be very careful to make sure that our homework will not require the use of technology if a student does not have access to such technology at home, or easy access in the community. I will provide an environment in which all students can be successful on their homework, so that they continue to see it as a relevant and important aspect of their learning.

Typical Lesson:

I chose a lesson designed for third or fourth grade, as that is the grade level that I hope to teach. I decided to teach about literacy. The goal of this lesson would be for students to learn to use alliteration in their writing. Students would listen to, read and identify alliteration in writing and then practice using it on their own. We would read on the reading carpet A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara and identify patterns in the writing. I had originally planned to use Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book, however I realized that this was just one more book written by a white middle-class man. Using Nagara's book is a great way to teach students about differences  without having to directly address the topic, and allows students to explore it and ask questions if they want to. Then we would have a small lesson on alliteration, using various visual aids, like the Ice cream scoops page (see image at right). Students will then create their own ice cream alliteration and write their examples on the board and share with the class. Then students will apply alliteration to their writing piece from the previous lesson. I want students to begin to identify and apply different writing techniques. I chose alliteration because it is an easier technique to identify and learn to use and can be used across most grades as an introduction into writing strategies. I also want students to learn that their writing is unique and that it can be fun to do.

My Work as a Teacher During this Lesson:

During this lesson, I will begin by reading the story. Then I will monitor as children work on creating alliterations in groups, walking between the different groups. I will help students as they write their examples, and provide additional support to students who may have IEPs or be in Tier 2 or 3 in a multi-tiered setting. I would offer support to those students who have differences and may need more instruction than their peers. I would also walk between the desks as students work on their own writing and give them positive praise and feedback, as well as help those who may need further explanation or aren’t understanding what to do or are stuck on how to start.

What Students are Doing During the Lesson:

During the lesson, students are actively listening to the book reading, participating in discussion with the class, and working together with their group to come up with alliteration examples. They will work on their own writing skills and will be seated in their desks, focused on the task at hand. Students who may need additional support will be seated next to students who will be able to help them if I cannot get there quickly enough or if I cannot pause the lesson to help. These students will have permission to discuss the lesson and help each other understand, as long as they are on task while they are talking. 


Assessing Students' Learning and Achievement:

To assess my students’ learning I might create a worksheet where they can identify alliteration by circling the group of words that forms an alliteration in a poem. I will also see if they are able to incorporate alliteration into their own writing.  If they can do both of these things, and explain to a neighbor what alliteration is, then they probably understand it fairly well.



What I Changed From My Original Imagined Classroom:

As we talked in class and I would glance at my Imagined Classroom, I realized that a lot of what I had described initially was extremely vague. I was trying to cater to a lot of needs, but I was unsure how to go about it, so I kept everything very general. Looking further into the imagined classroom, I realized that I had accidentally ignored several groups of people. One of these groups was those who were disabled. In creating my classroom, I did not think about how they might have a hard time getting around in the way that I had set things up. I fixed that. I thought about the specific kind of literature that would be in the classroom and that we would use in lessons a lot because I believe that literature can shape children-who they are and what they believe. A lot of what I changed was in an effort to help students who might be different from myself or their peers feel more comfortable in their learning environment and provide them additional support. I worked hard to make sure that all groups were included and that any student who might feel different in the slightest way would receive the attention that they required to be successful in the classroom. I added a lot of specifics to my imagined classroom about what I could do to help students with disabilities or families that might be different, etc. and I tried to make sure that I would be available to families, even if it was beyond classroom hours and I might have to make home visits because a family did not have the means to come to the school to visit. I tried to make my classroom a truly inclusive room where all would be and feel welcome and differences will be accepted and used to help us increase our knowledge and strengthen each other.