Revised Imagined Classroom

Revised Imagined Classroom

1. Five images that reflect, in some way, what you imagine your classroom will look like once you are a teacher. Please annotate your images by providing a description of the image and how it relates to your future classroom.  I found the first images at http://www.slj.com/2014/05/diversity/culturally-diverse-books-selected-by-sljs-review-editors/#_ and at http://yaloveblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/0041.jpg. I found the second images at  https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/is-there-a-future-for-e-textbooks-in-online-courses/ and http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eHvkUsgG1YA/Ugqseiud5XI/AAAAAAAABEg/Dd1ZOq-PIrA/s1600/CIMG1068.JPG, the third image at http://www.weareteachers.com/images/default-source/default-album/bgt45c4278481ca6f21a07aff0000a50561.tmb-blogs-3x25.jpg?sfvrsn=2, the fourth image at http://www.instructables.com/id/Cheap-DIY-100quot-Projector-Screen/, and the fifth image at https://sonatamathematique.wordpress.com/page/2/ .
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1. Here is an example of an in-class library bookshelf with example novels that could relate to the coursework or material being studied that year. The first image provides specific culturally diverse books, but they are for younger students. I believe that a in-class library with books that include strong female leads, LGBT issues, and non-western writers, I can provide new perspectives to my students and opportunities for them to feel validated in their own feelings and identities.
2.  Here are examples of how I might want my classroom to be set up. The important elements include a board, a teacher's desk, and individual students desks, but I want the desks organized into groups so to foster group discussion and learning. I also want the class to be neat and orderly in order to provide access to students with disabilities and limit distractions.
3. Here is an example of how to keep the students’ work organized; the first image represents being able to turn in work on line and the second image represents turning in hard copies of assignments according to student name, class, and section. There have been various studies on the use of technology improving student success, but I would want to provide alternative options to students who don't have access t a computer or printer at home or need to work with hard copies rather than on line.
4. This is an example of using the projector and screen for class lessons. The projector enables me to provide students with visual aides, assignment information, and video clips in order to provide for different means of interaction and engagement. If students don't understand English, seeing the words and corresponding pictures could help them to understand what is expected of them and what is going on better.
5. Here is an example of how to return work to students without losing it or allowing it to get disorganized. Each students has a folder where they can retrieve graded work. If students can find their names, they can find their work. However, if they have limited physical ability, retrieving their graded work could be difficult for them and I would need to hand it back to them directly, have another student help them, or provide them feedback and grading online.
2. Imagine the surrounding in your classroom. What does the room look like? What resources are available for students? How are the resources used during the lesson?
1.  I want a diverse library, and I want decorations and inspirational posters on the walls. I have an English classroom and I want creativity to flourish – I don’t care if the walls are “busy” or what other people might term “distracting.” I would rather make the classroom feel like a safe place where students can explore the interests they already have through reading, writing, and English. I could put up one of my own quotes and then have students create something to put up in my classroom. I would want the desks set up in a way that everyone could see the board, but where there is an obvious separation into groups so that group work is made easier (there would be a seating chart, of course). I would want the teacher's desk at the back of the classroom rather than the front, but I want to teach from the front and walking around the classroom. The classroom would have to be set up in a way that provided wheelchair access, as well as room next to desks for a teacher or aide to work with individual students without making them feel isolated or singled out. Students would have access to textbooks and my class library for class assignments and readings. Depending on the school, we could use chrome-books or tablets or laptops in order to research or type assignments during class. I would hopefully have access to a computer that I could use to display PowerPoints during my lessons.
3. Describe the students in your classroom. What are their backgrounds? What are their interests? What are they doing during the lesson?
1. The students in my classroom will have a variety of identities, values, and beliefs, all influenced by their various cultures, languages, races, religions, ability levels, genders, immigrant statuses, and sexual orientations. They could be interested in just about anything - sports, dance, theater, singing, comic books, technology, cooking, science, environment, exercise, health, relationships, beauty - the list goes on forever. In order to interest and engage every variety of students, I need to provide a safe and positive learning environment created through the inclusion and appreciation of their cultures. I want my students to feel comfortable discussing different issues and forming their own opinions and expressing them through writing after educating themselves through reading. This would require them all to be respectful of one another, which I know is a lot to ask of high schoolers, especially when each identity can be emotionally and politically charged. I would need to carefully evaluate how to separate students for group work and even just seating chart locations in order to help students feel comfortable, prevent bullying, and help students pay attention and learn.
4. Describe you classroom policies.
1. Classroom Rules:
1. Show Respect (self, classmates, teacher, materials)
2. Actively Participate
1. responses, discussions, reading, be there when you are there
3. Timeliness (Expected to be on time to class and handing in homework)
1.  come to class on time, turn in work on time, have your materials
4. Intellectual Integrity (I will hand in my best work, my own work - no plagiarism)
5. Have an Attitude of Exploration (Willingness to try new things, to challenge ideas)
1. be willing to see different perspectives and discuss different perspective
2. be willing to try new approaches to learning, reading, writing, and group work
3. take feedback and input in a positive way
2. Discipline Plan:
1.  Disrespectful or distracting students will first receive a verbal warning. If behavior escalates they will be asked to go to the hall, and teacher will discuss behavior with them. If further escalation student will be asked to go to office and will get a call home to their parents.
2.  Late assignments lose 5 percentage points per late day for the first 5 days.
3.  Late assignments turned in a week after the due date will be given an automatic 50%. 
4. Students who plagiarize an assignment receive an automatic zero on that assignment.
5. Utilize “intervention” time (extra time outside of class, still during the school day, allotted to students who need extra help) by making up/re-doing late/incomplete/not passing assignments
3. Positive Consequences:
1.  Giving “intervention time” back to students (if such a thing exists at the school) to catch up on/ to get ahead on homework or use as free time if student has a passing grade
2. If feedback is given upon initial grading of an assignment, students can make up missing points by incorporating the feedback into the assignment and re-submitting within a week
3.  Only students who have all work turned in can utilize extra credit opportunities.
4. Besides points lost for turning in late work, all work can be re-done to receive up to half credit on the missing points, and all late assignments will be accepted for partial credit for the entire semester
5. Describe a typical lesson you will teach in your classroom.
1. What will I teach: I will be teaching English (preferably 10^th or 11^th grade).
2. What is the topic: The topic of a typical lesson could be how to write a personal narrative. This would require various steps involving learning vocabulary, learning sentence structure, learning paragraph structure, organizing the entire paper/narrative, editing and revising, and formatting.
3. Why did you choose this topic: I chose this topic because writing personal narratives requires self-reflection and can be very interesting at the same time that required English skills are acquired and strengthened.
4.  How will you teach it: In order to teach this specific lesson, I would start by asking the students for examples of their favorite book, movie, or story (this could serve a wide variety of interests and personalities). I would provide a graphic organizer that visually separated terms such as personal narrative, setting, conflict, rising, action, climax, resolution, and themes. At the same time, I could have a PowerPoint or use the board to write down definitions while giving verbal explanations of the vocabulary and carrying a class discussion where students discuss examples from their own favorite movies/books/stories. After discussing the different elements of a personal narrative, I would give a writing prompt to help brainstorm ideas for writing their own personal narrative.
5. What is the main thing you want students to learn during this lesson: This lesson would be geared towards helping students gain the ability to engage and orient a reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation and create a smooth progression of events and experiences.
6. Imagine your work as a teacher during this lesson. What are you doing during the lesson? 
1. As the teacher in the lesson, I want to engage the students by tying the lesson back to what interests them or what they already know. I want to begin the lesson all together and then instruct how to work in groups discussing how the elements of personal narratives can be found in their own favorite movies/books/stories. I would facilitate group work while walking around and talking shortly with each group. I would then bring the class back together in order to explain the writing prompt and expectations and then provide time to work independently on the writing prompt.
7. Imagine your students again, what are they doing during the lesson?
1. I would hope that students would participate by raising their hands and contributing during the class discussions, and then also be willing to share their thoughts and collaborate with their classmates in order to find examples of the definitions. Because the students will have different backgrounds (cultural, racial, sexual, varied ability), there might be hesitation to working in groups with people outside of their immediate circles of comfort. There would also be difficulty for students who don’t speak English well or speak English as a second language because this class would involve a lot of speaking and then writing. I would hope that these students could get help from bi-lingual peers to understand the expectations, and I would also need to provide extra time or explanation to them. When the time came to write, I would want the students to take the prompt seriously and write about something important to them, but they would first have to feel comfortable and safe in order to do so.
8. Imagine how you will assess your students' learning and achievement. How will you know they have learned?
1. To evaluate students’ learning and achievement, I would require various forms of assessment. Because I’m teaching an English class, students would be required to read and write in various forms. The final assessment would be a 3-4 page paper, but leading up to that, evaluation would take place with different drafts of individual paragraphs, various rough drafts and revisions, and worksheets outlining a problem, situation, or observation and the contributing points. Students could submit these by hand or electronically, whichever worked for them best. For grading on neatness and requiring a typed paper, I could provide some class time to type up the assignment in the school computer lab or library. For students who speak English as a second language, I would allow them to first complete worksheets in their first language and respond to writing prompts in their first language, but the final paper needs to be either translated or written in as much English as they can. Grades will be evaluated on content knowledge (of material read or discussed) as well as structural elements (grammar, sentence structure, etc.). Students with limited ability or a disability would need various forms of adaptations, accommodations, and modifications depending on their specific disability and 504 plan. 
9. You will also include a reflective piece that describes why you made changes (or didn't) to your original classroom description.
1. Most of the changes that I made to my original imagined classroom involved providing much more specific information to each individual section. For the pictures, I made my classroom bookshelf culturally diverse rather than just saying that I would have a class library. I changed the structure of desks from rows to pods in order to provide for group work and discussion. I considered handicap access and how different cultures would respond and interact during group work. I evaluated how to further use the technology or organization techniques in order to address specific student needs. I decided that I no longer wanted to only teach honors students, but even with honors students I realized that there are a variety of cultures even among demographically similar or racially similar groups. Each student has an individual identity. I completely restructured both my classroom policies and the typical lesson that I would teach. A large part of this was due to my feeling better prepared to address both issues, but also just that I needed to be incredibly more specific. My previous answers were too vague and made many assumptions about education and my students. I kept some of my pictures because I felt like the ideas were still good, I just needed to be more specific in my reasoning for using them. I also severely altered the structural format of my original post in order to make it more neat and orderly and aesthetically pleasing.