My ideal classroom is based on a 6th grade class. It is set up in such a way that it will support a positive classroom community as well a supporting the individualized needs of each student. Below you will find a detailed list of what would be available in the classroom:
The room is broken down in to a few different centers: Instructional, Technology, Group work, and Independent.
Within the Instructional center, there are four student desks surrounding a large classroom rug that are all facing the front board.
What is labeled as the projector is actually the SMARTBoard which is flanked on either side by two white boards. The SMARTBoard can be used for interactive lessons and activities to enhance their learning. The white boards on either side of the SMARTBoard are there in case of a technological breakdown, which is known to happen on occasion. As a teacher, I never want to be caught in a place where I cannot teach a lesson due to a malfunction in technology. I will have a back up plan for each lesson to make sure that no instruction time is lost. The SMARTBoard is also capable of projecting images from the ELMO, which can magnify a document on to the board to make sure all students can see.
The large rug on the floor will be utilized for daily morning meetings. I believe that morning meetings are a great tool to create a positive classroom community and meet essential needs for all students. The morning meeting acknowledges each student and makes them feel like their voices can be heard. It is also a great place to have a classroom meeting if there are certain issues that arise in class that need to be dealt with as a whole group. It is important to have the students feel that their views are just as important as the teachers when creating the community.
The classroom desks are grouped in to fours to make working as a group easy and accessible. The groups will be changed after a large group project is completed to give each student the chance to work with everyone else.
The Teachers Desk will not be used in the traditional sense as many teachers would use it. It will contain a place for student to drop off their work and pick up work they've turned it. There will be a filing system for the teacher to put important things to take home, as well as completed work to be handed back. It will also contain copies of things given out in class for the students who were absent. This system created independence within the classroom because the students are responsible for their own things, getting ready to move up to high school and beyond. While not anywhere in the curriculum, it is important for teachers to teach their students responsibility and independence, and I believe this is a way to accomplish that.
The Technology center is comprised of 6 individualized computers as well as an unseen iPad cart located at the back of the room. I am a firm believer that technology has many uses within the classroom and should be used whenever possible to bring a different dimension to lessons. Student should be well versed in technology due to it's many uses in the outside world. We live in a technologic age, and as we progress, it will only become more important to be fluent with technology. This center gives the students a chance to work with technology as often as possible.
Group work can be done at the students desks, or they can be done at the back two kidney tables. I have set the room up this way to give the students a chance to spread out within the room and not have to be stagnant in one spot for the whole day. This will improve the student's productivity if they have the choice to be comfortable in their classroom and not be surrounded by other people distracting them when they are getting their work done. The kidney tables can also be used by the teacher to have conferences with the students to gauge where they are with their learning separate from the rest of their peers.
The Independent section provides student a place to go where they can get away from the craziness of the room if they need to. It is blocked off to a certain degree to give the illusion of privacy for students who need to calm down from the stresses of school. There are beanbag chairs and pillows to provide a comfortable place for students to read or do other classwork away from their confining desks.
On The Walls
Around the room are different bulletin boards to accomplish a few things. First, they showcase student work. Students can pick their favorite piece and put it up on the wall so that others in the room can see their work. This board is not based on merit and can contain items that do not have to do with the curriculum, such as drawings or poems. This gives students a chance to feel that they have an impact on their environment.
The boards also contain our classroom commitments, such as the goals we are working towards and our classroom procedures. This gives the students a visual reminder of how we should conduct ourselves in out classroom, as well as things to work towards.
Storage
There are many places to store things around the room, such as textbooks, atlas, dictionaries, and other resources for the student to utilize in the classroom. Also within the storage containers are games to play during their free times, such as recess and breaks.
The room is broken down in to a few different centers: Instructional, Technology, Group work, and Independent.
Within the Instructional center, there are four student desks surrounding a large classroom rug that are all facing the front board.
What is labeled as the projector is actually the SMARTBoard which is flanked on either side by two white boards. The SMARTBoard can be used for interactive lessons and activities to enhance their learning. The white boards on either side of the SMARTBoard are there in case of a technological breakdown, which is known to happen on occasion. As a teacher, I never want to be caught in a place where I cannot teach a lesson due to a malfunction in technology. I will have a back up plan for each lesson to make sure that no instruction time is lost. The SMARTBoard is also capable of projecting images from the ELMO, which can magnify a document on to the board to make sure all students can see.
The large rug on the floor will be utilized for daily morning meetings. I believe that morning meetings are a great tool to create a positive classroom community and meet essential needs for all students. The morning meeting acknowledges each student and makes them feel like their voices can be heard. It is also a great place to have a classroom meeting if there are certain issues that arise in class that need to be dealt with as a whole group. It is important to have the students feel that their views are just as important as the teachers when creating the community.
The classroom desks are grouped in to fours to make working as a group easy and accessible. The groups will be changed after a large group project is completed to give each student the chance to work with everyone else.
The Teachers Desk will not be used in the traditional sense as many teachers would use it. It will contain a place for student to drop off their work and pick up work they've turned it. There will be a filing system for the teacher to put important things to take home, as well as completed work to be handed back. It will also contain copies of things given out in class for the students who were absent. This system created independence within the classroom because the students are responsible for their own things, getting ready to move up to high school and beyond. While not anywhere in the curriculum, it is important for teachers to teach their students responsibility and independence, and I believe this is a way to accomplish that.
The Technology center is comprised of 6 individualized computers as well as an unseen iPad cart located at the back of the room. I am a firm believer that technology has many uses within the classroom and should be used whenever possible to bring a different dimension to lessons. Student should be well versed in technology due to it's many uses in the outside world. We live in a technologic age, and as we progress, it will only become more important to be fluent with technology. This center gives the students a chance to work with technology as often as possible.
Group work can be done at the students desks, or they can be done at the back two kidney tables. I have set the room up this way to give the students a chance to spread out within the room and not have to be stagnant in one spot for the whole day. This will improve the student's productivity if they have the choice to be comfortable in their classroom and not be surrounded by other people distracting them when they are getting their work done. The kidney tables can also be used by the teacher to have conferences with the students to gauge where they are with their learning separate from the rest of their peers.
The Independent section provides student a place to go where they can get away from the craziness of the room if they need to. It is blocked off to a certain degree to give the illusion of privacy for students who need to calm down from the stresses of school. There are beanbag chairs and pillows to provide a comfortable place for students to read or do other classwork away from their confining desks.
On The Walls
Around the room are different bulletin boards to accomplish a few things. First, they showcase student work. Students can pick their favorite piece and put it up on the wall so that others in the room can see their work. This board is not based on merit and can contain items that do not have to do with the curriculum, such as drawings or poems. This gives students a chance to feel that they have an impact on their environment.
The boards also contain our classroom commitments, such as the goals we are working towards and our classroom procedures. This gives the students a visual reminder of how we should conduct ourselves in out classroom, as well as things to work towards.
Storage
There are many places to store things around the room, such as textbooks, atlas, dictionaries, and other resources for the student to utilize in the classroom. Also within the storage containers are games to play during their free times, such as recess and breaks.