Lesson #3: The Classroom Environment

This post is less of a "lesson" and more of my own working thesis about how to organize my future classroom. Suggestions are greatly encouraged!

Vision:

This quote by Einstein is one of my absolute favorite of all time and will form the basis of my classroom vision. I plan on having it on the wall as a center piece in my classroom. The essence of this quote is the idea that all individuals are different and they have their own unique area of expertise. When someone is forced to travel outside that area, they become less proficient at what they are doing. This does not mean they are stupid or incompetent, just outside their comfort zone. I plan on instilling this idea in my students. What this means for me as the teacher is to adjust the curriculum and teaching style in a way that is relevant to each individual student. Hopefully, I will find a simple and relatively painless way to do this. Otherwise, I will have a lot of work on my hands. But even if that is the case, it will be worth it for both myself and the students.

                                                                                         Look & Feel:

To figure out what I want my classroom to be like, I must refer back to the classrooms I most enjoyed being a part of. The two that immediately come to mind were my high school comparative religions and drawing classes.

In comparative religions, there were tibetan flags, religious images, and star trek posters on the wall. The primary purpose for this was of course the theme of the class but the presence of the star trek posters obviously reflected the personality of my teacher. Though I might not be able to integrate quite as much cultural influence into an earth science classroom (unfortunately), I will definitely be able to display my personality. I am not quite sure what that means at this point but it will most likely involve the Peanuts gang or some sort of nerdy poster. However, it is not beneath me to plaster My Little Pony and Frozen posters all over the walls (just kidding...sort of).

In drawing class, what I remember most is being able to listen to music and work independently for the entire session. Music will not be a hard thing to integrate but I am still working on how to let my students work in a completely independent environment in an earth science classroom. The field of science inherently involves some degree of guidance, with lab exercises and some of the material, but I am hoping that I will be able to have a degree of round table discussion. This may include a literature review of current scientific papers. This could occurs often as every week or as little as a final project.