Did you ever think that you would be able to add “Crisis Coordinator” to your resume?! After Spring 2020, every teacher and administrator should add that line to their list of accomplishments. No one would have guessed that we would be in the situation that we find ourselves in our country, communities, schools, and classrooms. But here we are, no matter the years of teaching experience, grades we teach, or where we teach.
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When I returned to teach in a secondary ELA classroom after taking my four year sabbatical to pursue my PhD in English Education, I knew that I wanted my classroom to belong to my students. I wanted to be culturally responsive to their backgrounds and literacy needs. I needed to know who they were as writers, readers, researchers, and critical thinkers so that I could plan instruction, activities, and curriculum that would help them grow throughout the school year. As I brainstormed how to do this in literature and composition classes, I decided that I needed to find ways to give students agency over their learning. By making space for their voices, ideas, and reflections, I learned from them who I needed to be as their ELA teacher. I write about this in my blog article, “Embracing Student Voice and Agency in a Composition Classroom,” which was featured earlier this month on the peer reviewed blog Teachers, Profs, Parents: Writers Who Care. I have followed this blog for years, cited authors for my own research, used ideas for my own ELA classroom, and continue to ask my preservice teachers to review this blog as they learn how to be literacy educators. It’s an honor to be a contributing author.
One year ago, I brainstormed the creation of this blog with colleagues, I spent time working on my blog platform as my Composition students worked on their blogs, and I wrote the first blog post that introduced readers to my classroom. Soon after that post, I welcomed a student teacher into my classroom and my time was consumed with mentoring, teaching, professional writing, and well, life.
It seems only fitting for my first blog post that I show you my classroom if I'm going to be talking about my teaching and students, as well as giving you advice on how to navigate your own classrooms, curricula, and schools. Here are a few things I really like about my classroom: Pods, pods, and more pods. My students never sit in rows, except to take a quiz/test. I love how pods make it easy for me to incorporate small group discussions and cooperative learning activities. Student work adorns my walls and cabinets to celebrate the work they do in my classroom and to make it feel like the space belongs to my students. Behind my desk are the mind maps my students completed the first day of school on a text that impacted their life. The mind maps are a daily reminder of how stories, characters, and authors can influence our lives. I also love how I found room to set-up my student teacher's desk right next to mine so that we can collaborate, reflect, and plan throughout the school day. The Book Poster Wall (between the windows) is from my 1st semester Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) project--students read a book of choice, created a book recommendation poster, and then performed a Book Talk once they finished reading it. My reading nook and classroom library are frequently used by my students. This school year, I am deliberate about giving Book Talks on the books on my shelf, handing books to students as personal recommendations, and giving students time to read silently during class. My classroom library has developed over the years--I especially love going to garage sales and used books stores to buy books for under $1. The Smartboard is used daily in my one-on-one classroom. This is our school's first year being one-to-one, and I was terrified of what that meant for my teaching. But I love it! Back in the day (5 years ago), I had to run down to the library on the 1st of the month to beat out my colleagues to sign out a computer lab for the days I wanted my students to research/type. Now, my classroom can be a computer lab any day I wish. I'm working really hard to incorporate purposeful learning activities and assessments that use the technology we have available. You get a whiteboard, you get a whiteboard, and you get 4 whiteboards! My 4 whiteboards get used all the time, especially by my students when we share ideas, quotes, discussion questions, etc. I feel lucky for the writing space and that I don't have to go home with chalk all over me like I did my first 2 years teaching. Windows!!! Many classrooms in our school do not have windows, so I'm grateful that mine does. My first classroom at my school was tiny and located in the very center of the school. Some days I walked into work when it was dark and then I left school when it was dark. It's nice to see daylight throughout the day, even if on these winter days I look at snow. What do you love about your classroom? Show me in the comments! Thanks for visiting mine. |
AuthorI'm a teacher educator, secondary ELA teacher, reader, writer, scholar, mom, and wife. Come learn with me! Archives
July 2020
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