Journal 1 - Classroom Culture

Before entering ________ 7th grade literature classroom, I had high expectations. I had heard from several faculty members that she was one of the greatest teachers in the district. As I entered her room, the cleanliness and organization of everything was astonishing. Later, I heard her tell another teacher that a student joked with her that she should win “cleanest room” award. Every book and material has its place and was neatly put away. Her room is visually stimulating. On the walls, there are inspirational posters, assignment reminders, and past assignments.
In each period, there was always at least one student who would acknowledge me and say hello. Many asked the teacher, “Who is she?” However, all of the students were very welcoming and acted how they would without me in the room.
The teacher and her students seem to have a great relationship. She jokes around with them, but they still know and understand when it is time to be serious. One very admirable trait of her is how encouraging she is. Although there may be a wide range of how each child learns in her classroom, she is very inclusive and catering too all children. In one of her class periods, she has four children who are disabled. However, because of how she runs her classroom, you would never know.The Middle School I am at is an inclusive school.
There are five different class periods that she teaches. Each of them are the same lesson. However, the students are different. While all five are a diverse group of children, their personalities are different. The last class period of the day is 8th period. The students in 8th period react very strongly through their emotions. She explained to me that it is the end of the day and they are restless. However, each of them has a very emotional ways of handling things. With this group, I was able to see a bit more of a community formation. The students reacted to each other and displayed that they cared for one another’s well being. I overheard a few girls say to another girl, “Are you okay? You look very sad.” This displayed that the students cared for one another and that they knew each other very well. Overall, all of the class periods acted typical; picking on each other and teasing.
One very fortunate thing about this School is the teachers get a team plan period everyday. This is where all of the teachers in that grades team, for example she is on the 7th grade red team, meet for a class period everyday. This gives the teachers time to discuss the curriculum, what is going on in the school, and the students they have. By law, teachers are required to have one period for planning and one for lunch. Fortunately, this School was able to incorporate a team plan period.
Unfortunately, family involvement is not as successful. When I asked her about family involvement, she took a deep breath. Apparently, it is very tough to get parents to be involved in their child’s school lives. Many parents think their children are old enough to deal with school issues by themselves. She has even tried putting together positive activities to involve the parents. For example, she put together a snowflake making day. This was a day when parents were invited to come to their child’s class period and make snowflakes with them. To avoid time confliction, she ran the activity all day. Out of seventy five students, only three parents showed. While job obligations may be the reason for most of the parent’s absences, the majority of parents just have no interest.
Next I asked her about community involvement. She claimed that there was still not a great amount of involvement with the community, but more than with the parents. However, the bulk of the involvement consisted of fundraisers. She did mention to me that through the community there was a mentor program at Viking. Yet, she was not sure how it worked and how children were selected for it because she has never had a student involved in it.
As a child, I would greatly enjoy being in her class. She makes the reading interesting and has a good time with the students. She recently started using Podcast to record herself reading the chapters of the book they were reading. While the students followed along, she would play them. This tactic was extremely helpful for some of the students in the classroom who learn better through audio. It also eliminated students from the pressure of reading out loud. She understands children very well and strives to provide the best learning environment. Therefore, as a parent I would love for my child to be one of her students. I would feel at ease and know that my child was involved in a successful classroom.