Re-Imagined Clasroom

I am going to have my additions in bolded red text. My deletions of what I wrote and don't want to include anymore will be in bolded blue text and will be in parentheses.


1. Five images (you can take them or they can come from the Internet [provide proper credit]). These images should reflect, in some way, what you imagine your classroom will look like once you are a teacher. Please annotate your images by providing a description of the image and how it relates to your future classroom.

I want my classroom to be engaging for the students. I want them involved in discussions and participate in the learning process. I think that teaching them as a group and having them come up close, sitting on a rug, is great for having students participate. If I want them to talk about a certain thing to their neighbor, they are sitting right there and can do it easily. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/School-education-learning-1750587-h.jpg

I want my classroom desks set up in small groups so they make different tables. This will create a good collaborative environment where they can learn and talk with their peers in group activities. 

http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/lt/lt_cache/thumbnail/960/img/photos/2012/04/28/95/fc/ddn072111gzschnell_982313a.jpg

I want my classroom to be a happy place where children can feel good about themselves, no matter what race, gender, or background they come from. I plan on teaching my students about how we can be a school family and have the focus on how we are all different and how that is a wonderful thing. We are unique and can help to serve each other with that uniqueness and with different talents. I don't want students to feel above or more special than someone else, though. We will be a caring and sharing classroom. 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsDr8scr8cl9YqFjgw1AyJpKD4_glM_mkg1lElVfmOT9Ads1XzSN1J0V0IZBu8VwWKC4RNfvuT-EsW-6b6fGTf8Rm2x9iDmoEPQ8RQ4lfpiTsm45RTHIi1KGQLY2B271MutiaNEJivXpE/s1600/holland+giess.jpg

I want my classroom to be colorful and bright and fun. 

http://www.tkcalifornia.org/assets/homepage-panels/teacher-reads-large-book.jpg

I want my classroom to have plenty of resources and ways my students can learn and be excited about learning. So by having arts and crafts, books, computers, and other materials, they can feel like they have what they need to be successful and learn. 

http://go-neighborhoods.org/northside/files/2013/03/LAImage-181SMALL.jpg

2. Imagine the surrounding in your classroom. What does the room look like? What resources are available for students? How are the resources used during the lesson?

The room is set up with desks pushed together to make several small tables so that students can interact with each other as they learn. This can help many students, including those who are ELLs because they can learn from and can be surrounded by English speaking students. They can have those by them to associate with and practice both BICS and CALP language.

I want to have posters in my room of children from all different races (not just all white kids) so that my students will feel represented in the classroom. I also want to include posters and things around my room that my students want. They get to put their input in how the class is decorated and how it looks. (There are lots of colorful posters and materials on the walls for the children to learn from and look at to be excited to learn.)

There will be sight words up on the board to remind the students of what they are learning about that week. They will mainly be in English, but I want to also include Spanish words around the classroom to help my ELL students who are mainly Spanish speaking. There will be lots of books that represent different ethnicity, genders, and cultures where students can learn from a variety of examples.

There will be lots of arts and crafts materials. There will be blocks to help with math problems. There will be a few computers (if they can fit) for times that children are in rotations and use the computers for assignments. There is a overhead projector and white board for me to do my main whole group teaching on. There will also be a colorful rug for my students to all sit on as I read them stories or as we have certain focus lessons where I want them to participate and discuss things with their neighbor. If students feel uncomfortable with talking to their neighbor, maybe because they are still learning English, I will arrange for someone they feel comfortable with to be their buddy. I plan on having class helpers to make students feel important by having a job to do. I will have all of their names on a popsicle stick in a jar and will draw out a few names each day and make sure everyone in the class gets a turn to participate and be a class helper.

3. Describe the students in your classroom. What are their backgrounds? What are their interests? What are they doing during the lesson?

My grade level is 5th grade. My students come from different cultural backgrounds. Some are Caucasian, some African American, some Hispanic, some Asian. Some of the Hispanic students mainly speak Spanish and so they are English Language Learners. Some also come from different households where there parents are divorced, they live with a grandparent, they live in poverty, or some live with really wealthy parents (and are spoiled). I plan on getting to know my students by having not only beginning of the year activities where they can write about their interests, their lives, and other info about themselves, but also will provide times throughout the school year to get to know my students. I want to really know how they feel about things and want to include their input in how I manage my classroom and what I teach them. I want to know their primary discourses and primary languages they speak and find ways to let them use that and value that in class.

They are all interested in having fun and playing with their friends. They like playing sports and dancing and watching movies and TV. (They are sometimes talking to their neighbors when they shouldn't during the lesson. But they know they will get called out for it, so they sometimes whisper. They try to pay attention though,) They like speaking to those sitting by them and love sharing their own ideas and opinions when we have group discussions. During this particular lesson, they have their writing notebooks out and are sitting in their chairs looking up front at me for instruction.

4. Describe you classroom policies. What are you classroom rules? What is your discipline plan? What are your homework policies?

(Students have to raise their hand if they want to speak when I am up front talking to them as a class.) In my classroom, I don't want to be too up-tight about rules, but I do plan on having a main rule of respecting others. This means that we don't judge others by being different. That means that there is no name calling or bullying or physical violence allowed. If they do something to hurt someone's feelings, they will have a talk with me outside of the classroom. I plan on disciplining privately, not publicly because it doesn't do any good to shame a child in front of the whole class. I don't want students labeling that child as "the bad kid" and then treating him/her differently. Instead of giving students a punishment, I want to give them different options/consequences that they can choose from. If they keep misbehaving (doing it), I will call their parents. Also, if they do something to disrupt the class and the lesson, I will talk to them privately and if needs be have them (do the same discipline plan. If I have to I will have students) trade seats with someone else.

I plan on giving homework that won't be a burden for parents to have to teach to their children at home. I know that some parents have to work a lot or may speak in another language than what the homework is in and so that will not be effective to assign long/hard assignments for kids to do at home, because they may not have the help they need. So, the main homework my students will have will be assignments that we worked on in class that they weren't able to finish there at school. My homework policy is that if they turn it in late, they have to have their parents/guardians sign their paper and have them write down why it is late. If more than 4 homework assignments are late, they will start losing points.

5. 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?

I'll teach a writing lesson on poetry and skills to use as students write poems. I specifically want them to learn to write poems that focus on having dreams and wanting to make a difference in the world. This will let students express their ideas of things in their own lives that they wish were different and want to change or some sort of dream they have. I really want my students to know that no matter who they are or what background they come from, they can make a difference. They can have a dream and can fight for it. I am going to ask the class what their dreams are and what differences they would like to see in the world. We can discuss what kinds of things may be hard in our world like oppression against gender, race, classes, etc. Then, I will share the poem "I Dream A World" by Langston Hughes:
"I dream a world where man 
No other man will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom's way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day.
A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And every man is free,
Where wretchedness will hang its head
And joy, like a pearl,
Attends the needs of all mankind- Of such I dream, my world!"

I am going to talk about how Langston Hughes is part African American, part Native American, and part White American. He is multiracial and I want to bring up how racial oppression might have been an issue of social justice that he had to go through in life. His poem shows that aspect of his life and his dream of wanting a free and fair world for everyone.

Then, I will share a few other poems written by diverse authors - female and male, white and black, immigrant and American born. I want my students to see a variety of people with things that are important to them and changes they want to see in the world. I want to also include a poem written in both Spanish and English, and give students, especially those who are Spanish speaking, an opportunity to use this as an example and inspiration for their poems they will write.

(use descriptive imagery because I think it is important that they can explain themselves clearly and poetically. They can create images using new and interesting words to them. I will show them different examples of poems using descriptive imagery. Then I will ask the students to help me point out what some of the descriptive words were and why they made the poem more interesting.)

I will have students help me write a short poem as a class and then have them write their own individual poems about having dreams and making changes. (using descriptive words.) The main thing I want my students to learn is to understand why their dreams and what they want to change in the world (descriptive imagery) in poems is important and how they can use it in their own writing to make a topic more interesting and meaningful.

6. Imagine your work as a teacher during this lesson. What are you doing during the lesson?

I am showing examples of poems and reading to the class. I am asking the class questions and trying to get a discussion going about the topic. I am getting their input and brainstorming with them as I teach and write a poem with them as a class. I am letting them write on their own and then getting different students to share what they wrote. I am always being positive about what they say and write.

7. Imagine your students again, what are they doing during the lesson?

My students are sitting in their desks, listening to the examples. They are discovering certain words and sharing their answers about what made the poems meaningful (descriptive) and interesting. They are helping me brainstorm and think of ideas for our own class poem as I write it on the board. They are using what they just learned and are creating their own poem by writing it in their writing notebooks. They can either write it in English or in their native language, like the Spanish poem. They then are sharing their poems with the class if they feel comfortable doing that and are proud of themselves that they accomplished something new.

8. Imagine how you will assess your students' learning and achievement. How will you know they have learned?

I will know that my students have learned by hearing their answers and ideas as they brainstormed with me. This will be a sort of formative assessment. I will also know if they understood what I was teaching by letting them all create their own poems and hearing several in front of the whole class. I will also have them all turn in their poems so I can read them on my own and assess them. If they made a poem that is about something important to them and expresses in a meaningful way how they want something to change or how they view the world in relation to their dreams, then I will know they grasped the concept of what I have taught and how things are important to them in their life.

Community Experience

I was able to go to the Food and Care Coalition in Provo and got to volunteer there. I brought about 100 brownies to serve and got to help with the lunch rotation for an hour and a half. It was such an awesome experience and very rewarding to serve the homeless and the needy there. I thought my experience would be sort of sad and I thought I would see all of these desperate and downtrodden people, but that wasn't what I saw at all. I think it had a lot to do with the way things were run there and the friendly hardworking people who made it a good experience not only for me but for the people who come and eat there every day. There were some workers in the kitchen that seemed like they worked there at the coalition, but some were regular volunteers and they all knew each other. I talked to one lady about how often she goes, and she does it once every week. She made it seem like it wasn't a big deal or very much, but I thought that was amazing! All the workers talked to me and made me feel really good about being there and joining their group. They were such happy and kind people. There was a young man in a wheelchair there who had some physical and mental disabilities, named Sam, and I'm not sure if he was related to anyone there or how he knew the workers, but he joined us in the kitchen and everyone made him feel so important and talked to him and teased him throughout the time I was there. It was so sweet.

I noticed that the homeless people were all very different in many ways. There were men and women. There were people of different races including Caucasian, Hispanic, African American, and probably more. There were people of all different ages: the elderly, children, and mostly middle aged people. Some looked like they had been through rougher times than others. Some looked like they had disabilities. Some were in families and some came all by themselves. They all looked like they hadn't showered or had clean clothes to wear, though. This was hard for me. I wondered whether they were able to stay sometimes at the coalition or if they had to live on the streets. I wondered where all their family members were and if they ever had help from them or from friends around them. Did they have any social capital? When they became homeless, were they cut off from their ties to people they knew? Did those people care about or want to help them? How did they become homeless? I also wondered what they did during the day, especially the children, who I thought should be in school but weren't. All these questions were running through my head the whole time, but I felt too bad to ask them. Was I thinking about these people as a deficit? I didn't mean to, but I think I was. I naturally feel bad for them and that they don't have enough to eat and live on their own. I want them to have what I have and have a warm house and food and clean clothes. So maybe it isn't always bad to think of people as having a problem or deficit? Maybe it's okay to feel sorry for someone and want to wish them the best?

I was surprised how many seemed like they knew each other, though. Although there were many loners, they sat down with people and usually smiled and looked like they had a good time. I was really happy to see this. I also was pleasantly surprised that many of them would come up to me and the other workers, thanking us for what we made them. Some of the workers seemed to know certain people really well and even knew what food preferences or allergies they had and were always trying to be accommodating and giving to them.

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience volunteering at the food and care coalition. I was so glad that there's people like the workers I worked with that care so much about the homeless and give of their time so often to help feed them. When I originally called the coalition to ask about volunteer opportunities they told me that their normal food serving jobs have to be booked months in advance because it fills up so fast with volunteers. This is amazing. Everything the workers do to prepare for and serve the people there is so efficient and seems so professionally done. It was a great place to work at, and you can see how happy it makes the people who come there. I'm so glad Provo has a place provided for the homeless to get a really great meal 3 times a day. I wish there were more of these places around. But I definitely know that it is helping our world and the problem of poverty, even just a little bit, by having a place like this and having such wonderful people serving there all the time.