I am truly looking forward to one day having a classroom of my own. I would like my classroom to be a welcoming and exciting environment for the students. I want students to be able to learn to their fullest potential. I also would like the children in my classroom to be able to interact with one another along with their environment.
In my classroom, I would like to have a set of classroom rules and expectations to be established before the first day of school. I will display the rules and expectations for my classroom in order for each student to be able to see what kind of behavior is expected when they first walk in. Since I would like to be teaching students at the first, second, or third grade level the classroom rules will be simple, but meaningful.
I believe that the layout of the classroom is very important with each student’s learning and behavior. I would like to have a classroom in which a student can come in, be ready, and excited to learn. I would like the classroom arrangement to be based on the Responsive Classroom Approach. I like this approach to teaching and learning. The students feel comfortable entering their classrooms, because of the way each room is laid out. I also think that the students are better prepared to learn with the way the classroom is set up. The Responsive Classroom is an approach to elementary teaching that stresses social, emotional, and academic growth in a strong and safe school community. The goal of this approach is to enable optimal student learning.
According to the Responsive Classroom approach, setting up the physical layout of a classroom can encourage student’s independence, cooperation, and productivity based on educational theories regarding the importance of learning as a social activity. The way in which a classroom is set up helps with social learning; which is as important as academic learning. I would like my classroom to be arranged in accordance with this model.
As a future elementary teacher, the philosophy of education that I would like to show through in my teaching, as well as in my classroom is for the students to feel that they are a part of a learning community. I think that when students feel that they belong to something special, they are better able to learn. I have seen this philosophy in practice, and the students truly enjoy it. It allows them to feel important.
In today’s society, all students are being expected to perform at a certain level academically. There are significant pressures being placed on students to do well daily in school, as well as to perform solidly on state assessment exams. A simple way to ease students into this academic pressure cooker is to make the classroom a welcoming and enriching environment.