Community
I strongly believe in having a classroom that has a strong community, focused on building positive relationships and an environment where all students feel safe and accepted. This goes for the teacher too. The teacher should open up to let her students get to know her. Students should be able to build positive social relationships in the classroom where they show respect for others and take responsibility for their actions. I want to give my students the tools for future relationships and emotional health. Having positive relationships is also important in the classroom in order for students to respect the teacher, have effective classroom management, participate more thoroughly in class activities, and for an all around enjoyable atmosphere.
Collaboration
When students have a positive classroom community, they can work together in an enjoyable and effective way. Furthermore, collaborating assists students into thinking deeper about their ideas, brainstorming effectively with others, and allows them to get to know a variety of opinions. When students get together to talk about ideas, they think more critically and thoroughly about the topic. Classroom collaboration may include think-pair-share activities, group activities, or whole class discussions.
Explore Curiosities
Additionally, students should have the opportunity to explore their own interests and develop a love for learning in the classroom and all throughout their life. Learning should be memorable and meaningful. When they are exploring their own interests, they can form curiosities, develop questions and think in a meaningful way about their learning. These students are empowered by their learning, and take pride in their abilities/interests, and go on to be lifelong learners. Inquiry based learning also improves students critical thinking skills and gives them a sense of autonomy, which are both important life skills.
Active Learning
I also think that active learning is important to keep students engaged and motivated. Students don’t find a lot of excitement in worksheets, but when active learning is used students are much more intrigued and will probably end up remembering more about the lesson when compared to have completed a worksheet. Active learning is also more accessible to the many levels of learning abilities a class holds. Active learning may take the form of using manipulatives, learning games, experiments, and class discussions.
Formative Assessment
Formative assessment is an essential to keeping on track with how much your students are learning. Checking in with students learning regularly helps the teacher get an idea of exactly how much students are getting from the lessons, and if necessary what needs to be looked over again. This is also essential for students because information that students don’t understand will only keep accumulating if the teacher moves too quickly through a unit. Teachers need to be working at a pace where students have a good understanding before moving forward.