What Does Your Classroom Say?

Classrooms, like people, are all different. From bulletin boards, to carpets, to desks, to activity center, each classroom has its own identify. William Ayers says in his book To Teach, "Even though we long for community - for places of common vision, shared purpose, cooperative effort, and personal fulfillment within collective commitment - we most often settle for institutions" (75) I think as educators we know that the bare minimum is never something we aim to provide for our students. This being said, I think it is important to take a moment to think about what you want your current or future classroom to say.

Does it invite adventure? Does it incite challenge? Does it comfort the student? Does it scream CREATE? Does it peak curiosity?

In To Teach, Ayers has a chapter dedicated to creating environments for learning. He expands on the importance of creating environments and says “people learn best when they are nurtured and challenged” (73). He goes on to explain his classroom. He describes a huge closet filled with materials, centers for discovery with computers, a big window to watch and observe the owl outside and so on. From that, I have grown to believe that a classroom should cater to the needs of the students. For instance, if there is a class who often finds themselves worked up, stressed or angry, perhaps the classroom will have a station dedicated to relaxation, meditation and coping, it might be filled with comfy pillows and stress balls. If a class if chalk full of ideas and insight, allow them to flourish with an imagination station filled with papers and supplies and books of all sorts. Let your students have to know that you care for them and that you are invested in their education!

Now, I'm sure I'm not the first to realize that these examples might be slightly unreasonable for our standard classroom and budget, but it doesn't mean you can't alter some of his ideas to fit your own classroom. Here are a few simple ideas:

- When I was working at a daycare, I noticed a growing desire in my kids to play dress up. We had started by watching dance videos which then turned into them wanting to perform! That night, I went home and pulled out a big chest I had saved from my grandma's house, and I began to fill it with my old dance costumes, costume jewelry, funky clothing I had as well as old Halloween costumes. The next day they were ELATED to see that I had paid attention to what they were playing. We went on to make many skits about school, their families and the things they were seeing around them. (May I also add that the trunk the costumes were in created for easy clean up and easy portability!)

- Consider letting the students set up the layout of the class. This was a concept that was brought up in one of our class discussions when we were reading this chapter. Imagine walking in to class on the first day and seeing desks and tables and chairs and supplies in the center of the room. Spend the day with the class creating their environment by their standards, and their desires. This can help create ownership among the students as well!

- Ask the students to build a library, invite them to bring all sorts of books that interest them. From there, see if they'd want to create a book club, facilitated and created by them! Set up a cozy section of the class for them!

- For younger students who might be starting school invite them to bring something to class that reminds them of "home" and work these items into their school "home".

There are many different ways you can incorporate Ayers's methods on creating a learning environment in your classrooms, big budget or not! So to conclude I’ll leave you with a question. Ayers says "Students see themselves reflected in my classroom” and so I ask you: do your students see themselves in your classroom?

#classroom #Ayers #Brielle #environment