(Re)Imagined Classroom

I am teaching in an alternative high school. There are twelve students in my class, one of the bigger classes I teach, each one being different from the other. It's hard to reach everyone in such a diverse group. Some act like the world is out to get them. Some participate, and some don't. Some of them have immigrant parents, and didn't start getting a real education until it was too late to catch up to their classmates. A few are just lazy. One of the girls in my classroom just broke up with her girlfriend. Two of my students are in a relationship with each other, which is hard for the newly single girl to watch. I have a special spot in my heart for the students who made bad choices, got into drugs and crime, and now have come here just praying for a second chance. I take great comfort in knowing that I can provide that. But regardless, we are learning science together, and teaching these students is my job.

The classroom is organized with six tables; two students sitting at each. The friendships in our classroom help the students group themselves, which they do as they enter the classroom. I don't like having a seating chart unless it's necessary. But I'm not a fan of student created groups for everything. We need to learn how to work with everyone regardless of if we want to or not. So today I group them according to a survey they took, after checking to make sure the groups were adequately mixed up and are going to function properly.

I know that they all like to laugh. Sometimes (a lot of the time) that laughter comes at my expense. They know the rules though, and it only take one reminder for them to remember that respect for everyone is the most important thing in the classroom. I designed the classroom as a safe space. With the help of another teacher in the school, I have a large mural on the wall surrounding the words "Coexist in Love." On the first few days of school, I took a picture of every student, and I gathered up pictures of various faculty, which I posted up in a circle around the words. For our first classroom project, we found scientists from various cultures and put their pictures up. Then I added pictures from many different cultures including cultures that many of the students have no experience with. There's a pink triangle in the mix, so that any LGBTQ students can know they're safe in my classroom.

I'm excited to see what new technology we can get with the funding we've received for this year. I'm hoping for some circuit building boards and wires so that I can finally teach that electricity unit I've always wanted to teach, but I'm satisfied with doing it electronically on the school's iPads if I can figure out a way to monitor it. Most of my students who have phones stay off of them. Because of the unique situations the students come from, a lot of them don't have phones. I allow them to use phones to look up answers and to contribute to class discussions, but when they're caught goofing off with them, they know the phone will be mine. There's a respect for the rules, luckily. I really am grateful for the administration and the high involvement in student council that helps students feel the love.

It's hard to know what the students here like to do in their free time, and I don't want to do a research project to figure it out. That's why I encourage choice in the classroom. As a school, we do things after hours together to help us understand each other. We have school clubs and go on field trips. I'm particularly excited about the play we're going to  I take great pride in the work of my students; I display projects and pictures on the walls for students to see and take pride in their own work. It's pretty easy for most of them to do the work, since they choose the subject of nearly everything they do. We're talking about Newton's laws and the students are analyzing a situation of their choice, showing us the various applications for a situation in their lives. Presentations are at the end of the week. Today I want to show them how the laws really work, so we're dropping things and video taping them on the class iPads to see if they hit at the same time. Math is really hard for these kids, but the math teachers here are awesome. I work with them to find out where the kids are at in math, and what kind of expectations I should have for them. The grading system is based on understanding of the concept. If you can explain it with words or with drawings or through math, I'll take it.

I make sure that my students who speak other languages know they can do their homework in their native language. Due to the high hispanic population, most materials are available in Spanish. For those that aren't, I do my best, working closely with other teachers who are fluent in Spanish. When homework is turned in in Spanish, we work together to translate it so that I can grade it to their understanding. I don't require classroom participation so that my shy and foreign language students don't feel anxiety in the classroom. I try more than anything to be patient and believe in them. I know that learning will come.

I keep myself businesslike, but I want my students to know first and foremost that I am human, that I love them, and that learning is fun. I try so hard to get into their heads, and for some of them, it works. Some are so shut off that I can't reach them today, and haven't been able to all year. We can only hope that a few more laughs and a whole lot of love will break those walls down enough that I can know how to reach them. They don't know how much I love them. I wish there was a better way to tell them. When the bell rings my students hurry out like the bell was the fire alarm. That rush would scare me into believing my students don't like me, but I know better. They all have smiled genuinely and some have even thanked me. Surprisingly, that is enough. And ultimately it doesn't matter. I want to be liked; I want to be loved; so does everyone. But we're there for learning and high expectations are necessary whether the students want them or not.


Response:

I made far too many assumptions in my original response. Since I'm teaching in a unique environment, I made a lot of assumptions that students would have things in common. Sure, they might have things in common, but they are all individuals, and have different backgrounds and different abilities that have to be accounted for.

I talk like I have high expectations, but my original imagined classroom had many instances where I assumed that my students were going to misbehave or quit trying, and I was okay with that. I think I my original classroom was more for a teacher/student friend zone rather than a high expectation learning environment. I realize now that the priority has to be helping my students and reaching out to them in love so they can learn.

My original classroom allowed my students to choose groups to work in. I know now that I want my classroom to encourage understanding and love for each other, and most students wont seek that out on their own. I am now going to arrange groups semi-randomly so that students are interacting with each other and getting to know their peers that they wouldn't have gotten to know otherwise.

Originally I had a very bare classroom, where minimalism was king. While I'm still in favor of order and simplicity, I found it very important to use classroom design to encourage diversity, tolerance, and love. The safe place of a classroom doesn't have to be outwardly stated, but I want it to be obvious. It's so important for students to know that there's certain behaviors that just aren't allowed in my classroom.

At first, my lesson was an afterthought. For some reason, I took the "alternative school" idea to mean that I don't have to teach a lesson, we just have to power through stuff. That's even more bogus than anything! Everyone can learn! The lesson needs to be driven by choice so the students will want to learn, and then the teacher needs to be excited about learning. I am honestly disgusted by how little I cared about the lesson in my original classroom.

I completely neglected my foreign language speaking students, so in my reimagined classroom, I made sure that I addressed them. My classroom isn't about learning English, it's about learning physics. I incorporated a lot of the things we talked about in class and I learned in the reading so that I can facilitate learning for all.