Physical Classroom Environment

When walking into the classroom for the first time, there was not much that caught my eye.  It appeared to be a "normal" math classroom.  The kids sit at tables that are in rows all facing the front of the room.  There is a teachers desk in the back corner and in the front of the room.  The front wall of the room is covered in marker boards and a large flatscreen TV.  One side wall of the room has cabinets and the other has a pasteboard and windows.  The back of the room has two desks with room around them.  Upon further inspection there was some aspects of the room that caused me to think a little bit more.  

The students are seated at tables.  There are two students at each table and four tables in each row.  My cooperating teacher (CT) said she would like them to be in clusters of two or three tables but the students said they would rather not do that.  Their reasoning was that not all of them would be facing the front of the room which makes it harder to see the instruction.  That is one thing that I did not think much about before starting my practicum; instead of thinking so much about what would be best for the students just ask them what they prefer.  My CT said that because all of the children face the front of the room she finds it easier to use the desk that she made in the front under the TV that displays the lessons.  The other option is her other desk that is behind the students.  But she finds that students listen to her more when they can see her during the lesson.  

One of the first things I noticed in the room was the large bulletin in the room that had pictures on it.  Along with each picture there was also a short paragraph explaining who the person was and what they did.  After reading a couple of the descriptions I realized that all of the people posted on the board were leaders in some sort of STEM associated field.  But upon further inspection I noticed that all of the pictures were either women, people of color. or both.  The school that I am currently in is roughly 75% free or reduced lunch, and very diverse.  So knowing that I thought this wall was great.  What better way to motivate kids to achieving at high levels that showing them examples of people who have the same heritage or maybe even look similar to them.  The way I see it you can tell kids all you want that they can achieve their dreams but if they see that one example of someone that did achieve what the kid may aspire to do it becomes so much more real.  

My CT said that her main goal in decorating the room was trying to make it feel cozy instead of like a classroom.  So she hung colorful colorful decor, such as signs and paintings.  Not much stuff on the walls other than the STEM leaders board even pertains to math.  But according to her that was the goal.  Creating a space where when the students walk in they feel comfortable.  Then after they are comfortable we can dive into the world of mathematics.  One thing I have experienced in coaching (which we get into more another day I am sure) is that kids always want to know more about me and my personal life.  My CT says the same thing, so in an attempt to allow the students to be more comfortable, trust her, and get to know her more she hung a bulletin board all about her.  It has pictures of her, her family, some of her friends, among others.  After thinking about it the board really conveys that she is a normal person.  The thing she emphasized about that the most was trust though once the students see she does have a family and friends, and she does normal things like they do she becomes a lot easier to trust.  That trust is essential in order to even begin learning.  

There are a couple of things in the room that are not centered around the room being cozy though.  Two of which are the tornado and fire emergency plans.  These are maps laying out where they should go in the case of each emergency.  The other thing is the mission statement of the school. These three things are required to be on the walls.  

I wound say the very first thing I noticed when I walked the large flatscreen TV in the front of the room.  The entire class is run through that TV all of the powerpoints that are used for lessons are displayed on it.  When they have scheduled review days either practice problems or games are displayed on the TV.  My CT likes being able to use the TV to display the lesson each day.  One of the big reasons was because the 8th grade math teachers all take turns making power points for the lessons.  Since all of the teachers are able to display the same powerpoint everyday it lends to more consistency in between the classes taught by different teachers.  That would be harder to obtain if the TV were not accessible of the teachers.  But they also come with a little bit of a downfall.  Every so ofter the school wifi will crash and because the computers and TV connect to each other through the wifi it throws off the whole lesson.  

All in all I like the way the room is set up.  There are a couple of things that I don't like as much right now (having little actual experience with teaching).  One of them is that I don't like using the TV so much.  I realize that it is probably better to do it that way but I am so used to righting everything out and showing the steps rather than displaying them.  But the more and more I write stuff on the board I realize how less organized it is than the slides.  Right now I'm not sure if that affects the students, but I feel like it might.  That is something I will have to pay close attention to so that maybe I will have a better idea when I get my own classroom.