Aaron Bennett
Dec. 18, ‘00
My Classroom
I want in
my classroom the best environment I can possibly make that is conducive to
learning. I want my students to come
away from my class with a love for learning and more specifically, reading. I would like the learning process to be
engaging to the students rather just regurgitation of facts. I would like to open up the world of reading
to my students. Many kids do not like
reading merely because they don’t think it interests them. Opening up the wide variety of genres might
yield a topic or type of literature that will turn an uninterested student into
an avid reader. There will always be
the students who love to learn and are always in the top of the class. At the same time there are ones to whom
things come slower, or are just uninterested.
Finding things to interest the students and make it more accessible will
aide in everyone’s learning process.
Individual projects might be one way to implement this. Having each student pick a book to write a
report on would put the choice of genres in their hands, this can make a big
difference to some. With inclusion I
know that I will have to tailor my assignments to meet the needs of a wider
variety of students. I look forward to
learning new ways to deal with that will help when I make the journey into a
full-time teaching position. My
ultimate aim is to help my students become lifetime learners. There is a world of reading, learning, and
expressing that goes on all around. If
I can give them the tools to analyze and express their ideas, the pursuit of
knowledge will be much more enjoyable and not just something they will do in a
classroom. I will attempt to foster the
love of learning that will get them far in life. Some people are good in school but leave learning in the
classroom. I person who is in love with
learning will get their education from the world at large. They will attend plays, watch movies, go to
libraries, and look at life with curiosity.
That curiosity toward life is part of the learning process that seems to
get dropped somewhere in education today.
Kids are pushed to succeed so that they can earn money but there can be
more important things. I would rather
that my students are happy in their chosen life than miserable in one that does
not suit them.
I will try different strategies that will aide in my students learning the material. I will chunk material as much as possible instead of cramming as we discussed in class on October 28th. I will encourage metacognition as much as possible. I will present facts with explanations and example to provide many different routes to get to that information at a later date. I will encourage distributed practice of vocabulary words and other facts. I will encourage students who cannot seem to concentrate for long periods of time to carry their books with them all the time. If they read for a few minutes whenever they are waiting for something, they can have a novel read in no time. I will teach a lot using the transfer method. The writing of essay papers will build from the beginning to the end of the year. There are certain things you have to learn first before the next step can be done. By taking it step by step, I will not overload them at once, and by the end they will be writing much better papers.
I think gender inequality in the classroom can be a big problem as it can silence half the class. After watching that video in class, I am much more aware of the disparity between the sexes in the way many teachers treat their students. We talked a lot about the research of Keder and Voivodas (1983) in relation to teacher attitudes toward the students regarding gender. We also talked about the Bossert study of 1982 that dealt with equality in actual participation between the genders. I think that teachers must be more aware of the way they treat different students. I think if the teacher has an impartial observer come into the classroom and note the interaction, that will be a good starting off point. There may not be any gender differences, there may be huge unnoticed ones. One way to reduce the gender bias in the calling on children situation is to call on children randomly from the class list. That way every student has an equal chance on being called on. Another is to call on a girl and then a boy, repeating that pattern. I don’t really like that way though. I think if there is a set way to get the teacher’s attention that would not be gender biased, that would not eliminate anyone. I don’t think that the boys waving their hands around will do that much more to attract me. I normally will try to bring out the shy kids, regardless of gender. After getting to know the kids, the teacher will know if a student probably has the answer but is too shy to say it. Some kids do not like talking for one reason or another. I had a speech impediment and did not like being teased. The teacher must realize that there may be other reason for the silence besides gender. A teacher can see all the hands that are held up in a classroom and make sure to let people who don’t often talk get a chance. If two students are holding up their hands, one is waving it around but he always talks, the other is holding her hand quietly but never contributes to class discussion, I will probably call on the girl. I think teachers can keep in their head the amount different people talk. In grading the teacher can grade the papers having only the students number on it, or cover the name until the end.
The pacing that works for one group of students will not necessarily work with another. I saw this in my observation. I observed two freshman English classes. Because of defacto tracking caused by the different level math classes, the higher achievers were generally in on class. That other class tended to be more rowdy and vocal. We did more hands-on activities like plays and illustrating texts. The students learned a great deal and had more fun doing it. The curriculum was still kept as close as possible though. The level of instruction must fit the students. If it is too hard, they will feel overwhelmed and give up. If it is too easy, they will get bored. I will attempt to not teach my students at a level above their comprehension. I will attempt to use their developmental status to gauge how and what I instruct them so that learning will be most beneficial to all. I will have goals for my classroom and work as hard as possible to achieve them. I will have students assess their own goals and I will help them achieve them. I will try to be open to new and innovative ideas. I will allow creative students to explore their talents and grow as students and people whenever possible. I will always try to get my students to pursue learning on their own. I will try to incorporate students’ ideas and comments in the classroom. I want to encourage my students to question the learning process. I will try to bring everyone into classroom discussions and activities. I will work to get even the shy and troubled kids involved as much as possible. I will try to be cognizant of language barriers to my students. After my guest lecturer, Bob Bain, in my Education in a Multicultural Society class I am much more aware of the complexities involved in teaching a deaf student.
There is seems to be a line between how much a teacher can do in a class and how much the students themselves must be responsible for. Too often today teachers are more baby sitters and security officers rather than instructors of knowledge. The classroom environment greatly effects the learning the will get done there. It is the teacher’s job to try and maintain some semblance of order in this chaos called high school. I will post my rules on the opening day of class. I find that even high school students need them sometimes, if only to be reminded of. I will set and keep a set of rules for classroom management that we as a class can come up with. Sometimes there will already be rules set by the district that I will have to follow. I will try to work with the other teachers in my school so I am not going against everyone else’s rules. I will ask some of the elder teachers for help in what works with these specific kids. The basic rule that I would want will be that every student in the classroom has the right learn the material presented. I will also not tolerate slurs or harassment in my classroom. If you are disobeying these two rules, there will be some punishment that we as a class will come up with. I know that anything works better than punishment but in these two cases, I agree with it. In most other cases I will use some suitable device to strengthen the desired behavior. I will not flash the lights to quiet my students down, all that it tells the students is that “this teacher does not have control over us, we can push him around.” A firm and definite tone of voice and demeanor go along way toward having unruly students behave. If they perceive that you “mean business” they are more likely to play along. A pleading tone does not demand respect and puts the power in the students’ hands. We talked about the control issue a lot with our visitors that came to class on December 15th. I can amass all of this information but it ultimately comes down to a gut feeling. I guess this course’s purpose is to give your gut enough information to act a little smarter. I like detention for serious offenses. I do not want to use it a lot as when a student is out of the classroom, they cannot learn. If the student being in the classroom prohibits others from rightfully learning, they however have no right to be in my classroom. I might even institute a lunch-time detention like Mrs. Parker from our Management case study. I expect to have high school students who probably have after school activities that they cannot get out of. If all the student wants is attention, this method may have the opposite effect however. It is hard to know which to use. That is why a graduated scale of punishments is needed for different offenses and frequency of offenses.
My seating arrangement will depend on the
age and type of kids I have in my class.
I got this idea from my cooperating teacher this last semester, Mrs.
Burnstein. For an upper-level Senior
Literature class, I will probably arrange the desks into a circle so that
everyone can see everyone else. I think
that this is much more conducive for discussion. I also think that the older students have a tendency to fall
asleep if the teacher allows them to become uninvolved in class. If I have a younger class, or just one that
tends to be more rowdy. I will probably
sit them in rows and even have assigned seating if the situation calls for
it. This situation is good for students
who talk to those around them when they do not want to pay attention in
class. I will separate those students
who seem to talk to each other too much.
I would not want to start out doing this because I want students to feel
comfortable in our classroom. I truly
believe that it should be “our” classroom so that the students feel just as comfortable
in the learning environment as I do.
I will decorate my room with poems and
artwork by my students. I feel that
this will help give the students more ownership of the learning
environment. I will supplement these
with posters and other such illustrations for works which we will be studying
during that semester. I will have a
world map and a map of the United States so that I can point out places in the
books that we study. This will help the
visual learners place the story better and give a better view as to the where
the story takes place in relation to the rest of the world. I would like one of those roll-up type map
sets that also includes historical maps from past times that will help
illuminate stories from by-gone eras. I
plan on arranging my desk at the back of the room, but I will not teach from
it. I would like to have an artist’s
stool or a bar style stool that I can sit on in front of the classroom. This will allow my to be free and relaxed in
front of my students but also be at a position of power. I will be elevated but I will not have a
barrier such as a podium or a desk in between my students and myself. I will be able to get up easily to write on
the board or move about the classroom.
I like this setup as it allows me to connect with my students easily but
I still remain the teacher figure. I do
not want to be the buddy type of teacher.
I want my students to like me, but I will be hard and expect their
best. My students will call me Mr.
Bennett. It is a little weird hearing
that moniker referring to me, but I guess I will just have to get used to it.
Lastly I want to treat every one of my students as individuals. I will keep all of these psychological theories in the back of my head but every kid is different and so requires a little different approach. I will try to work with my students to achieve the best possible learning environment for all my students. I want my students to feel ownership of their education and control over their learning environment. I’m all that sure if I will be able to do it yet but I think I have a good grasp of the theory. I will attempt to put it into practice next semester in my student teaching. I have learned a lot this semester that I can add to the knowledge I gained from my own high school experience.
