Classroom Design: Motivational Chic

One of the requirements during my observations was to observe the classroom environment which included bulletin boards, posters, desk arrangements, and any other materials that made the classroom warm and inviting or dull and humdrum. Elementary classrooms are known for their abundance of vivid posters depicting a child reading, glorious exhibitions of students' art work or writing, and colorful "Word Walls." When I go to my son's elementary school I love looking at the students' art work displayed in the hallways throughout the school. I think for many students seeing their work on the wall boosts their self-esteem and motivates them to continue working hard.

However, high school walls differ significantly. Most of the images displayed throughout the school are either sports related, extracurricular clubs related, or amazing student works of art. There may be displays of university posters with smiling faces set against a gorgeous campus backdrop and a motivational quote to get students focused on going to college. Once you enter a high school classroom the decor is what I like to call "Academic Minimalist" or nonexistent. The English classrooms I observed all displayed 3-4 posters with famous authors smirking, replicas of famous book covers, and bulletin boards that contained school and classroom procedures. Each classroom did try to spice it up by displaying student's writing on magnetic whiteboard, by creating a huge bulletin board full of college pennants, and another created a "Dead Word Wall" where overused words in writing were displayed and students were restricted from using them in their assignments. These was really interesting additions but still lacked any enthusiasm or excitement.

Then, I walked into an English classroom that took my breathe away. Initially, it was because I felt the walls close in as I noticed that almost every inch of the wall was covered with a poster, a blown-up newspaper article, or literary quote. It's what I would call "Academic Eclectic." It was all too much to take in at once, but as I sat their while the students were taking a quiz I started looking around and reading the various posters and realized this was the point! When students got distracted or simply refused to pay attention their wandering eyes would ALWAYS have something English or academically related to land on. Every poster or article was motivational, emphasized reading, and related famous musicians like John Lennon to writing. Underneath the clock the teacher posted a motivational quote about not wasting time and succeeding in whatever one decided to accomplish. The teacher even brought in some floor lamps from home to use which gave the room a warmer feel and allowed enough light while he used the projector during his lesson.

This is what I want my classroom to resemble. I want it to reflect the importance of literature, reading, and writing. I want it to be warm and inviting and, most of all, motivational. Teachers are the ultimate motivators and mentors but a fabulous classroom doesn't hurt either.

Collaboration

Over the course of my four observations, I noticed that teachers who worked in schools with minimal parental involvement and higher rates of behavior problems tended to be more collaborative and creative with their colleagues. The other teachers who instructed classes that were in academically driven schools and had minimal behavior issues seemed to be more independent and had minimal interaction and collaboration with their colleagues. Now, these are completely unscientific observations and perhaps they are swayed by my own bias' of what I think a teaching work environment should look like, but they made me realize the innate desire I have for positive and creative collaboration. It appeared to me that the more supportive relationships the teacher had with their colleagues the less the students' behavior issues drained the teacher. Over the course of one day at a lower-socioeconomic school, which is known for student behavior issues, I observed my teacher and her colleagues continuously develop lessons, assignments, and activities for the upcoming week. These "planning sessions" were impromptu and snowballed from a simple question about a particular topic one teacher was planning on teaching the following week. Not only were these planning sessions informative, they were fun! Who knew planning could be fun? I guess these teachers take teaching and learning full-circle by making both the planning process and the learning process fun and interesting. Perhaps it is a utopian idea that I will find a school with this type of creative collaboration or maybe not, but like everything else in life, I will search until I find a school where this type of collaboration exists or cultivate it at the school I call home. Either way, the most important take-away from this school observation experience is to find fun in the planning process, seek positive relationships with colleagues, and that anything is possible when you have a fabulous support network.

Teaching with Technology

I recently completed a WebQuest for my technology class and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the assignment. I didn't even know what a WebQuest was before our class discussion. I was quite skeptical of the value it held, especially for high school students. Most students are pretty tech savvy and have already learned to scour the internet to find information, products, and anything else they have a remote interest in understanding more fully. However, I realized there is an additional amount of knowledge and skills my students will acquire and use to complete the WebQuest.

High school lays the foundation for academic research. Native technology users (our students) know how to use Google and Wikipedia to search for everything they want but what they lack is the ability to acutely evaluate the information provided to build more knowledge and create new opinions, ideas, or products. Since these websites are the "go-to" resources, most students forget there is a sea of resources that offer incredible depths of information. The WebQuest provides students the opportunity to access information beyond Google and Wikipedia and explore the sea of research and informational resources that exist on the internet. Students use specific content websites, literary journal articles, audio recordings, videos, online library databases, and several other types of sources to compile their research for the WebQuest. The variety of resources provided builds students' research toolbox and allows them to consider numerous options when looking for more information about a particular topic.

Most students dread research papers and presentations but completing the WebQuest in a group allows students the ability to interact with their classmates, build autonomy (they choose their "role" within the group), and cultivates creativity. These are the main elements that take a research project from boring to enjoyable. Like any assignment, some students will continue to dread the work but with assistance from you (the teacher) and encouragement from their teammates they will come around and enjoy learning. After all, learning should be fun!