My Ideal Classroom
My ideal classroom is full of students reading, writing, listening, and talking. The students are engaged in the stories and people of history and literature. They are reading primary sources and making sense of them against the basic context I've provided. They're collaborating on projects designed to help them live the history they are studying and to find empathy with the people of other times. There is student work on the walls, along with a timeline that helps them connect the events of the past with other events and with the present. There are maps so they can visualize and dream about other places and other people. There is a vocabulary wall to encourage retention of the academic language they are learning. And, like the rest of my life, the room is cluttered with books: fiction, non-fiction, classic literature, and pop culture, anything that can pull a student into the world of words and ideas that books open up. My students are comfortable interacting with each other and with me. We have a culture of inquiry and respect. We have reached agreement on the idea that it is learning that matters, not having the "right" answer or simply echoing another's thoughts. Rather, our most important goal is using the opportunity school gives us to explore opposing ideas, build our own system of thinking, and come to reasoned opinions we can articulate to others. This is a safe and comfortable place to learn. Students know they will not be subjected to ridicule for their statements or actions. I expect their best efforts and push them gently to keep moving forward. But, I also respect the fact that they may have challenges I do not know about or cannot understand, that their priorities may be different than mine, that they are pulled in many directions and must answer to many people. Above all, my classroom is a place in which my students and I are all working together to make sure the students will leave my classroom with the tools they need to succeed in their other classes and in the world outside of school. |