What Does a Good Classroom Look & Feel Like? Perspectives from 2 nd Graders “A great classroom looks like a clean place with fun educational things that help you learn a lot.” –Claudia “A great classroom has great teachers that let you do super fun stuff while still learning about the subject.” - Ethan “A great classroom doesn’t have gunk or junk. It has teachers that help you learn and not yell when you are as correct as Dr. Seuss (who gets mixed up sometimes).” - Kyle “Great classrooms have great teachers that help you when you are stuck.” – Margaret “A great classroom looks like something that is as happy as a puppy.” - Margot

What learning really matters? What do students really need? Students need: support in academics, social/emotional growth, and citizenship opportunities to reflect on learning and progress to feel empowered, worthy, capable to see connections between classroom and real world authenticity in learning and product design opportunities to use technology opportunities for active, initiatory roles in learning “dive deep” to problem-solve, analyze, evaluate, gain understanding

Goals of Education 1)Raising academic achievement 2)Improving the social/moral fabric of school life

Creating Balance in Goals of Education? Be consistent display of strong social/ moral values Use management strategies that enforce positive behavior outcomes Establish a foundation of strong moral character Incorporate citizenship, empathy, and morality into content lessons Maintain core character values within academic endeavors by: - Creating a climate of trust - Showing students respect - Modeling positive, respectful interactions - Expect positive students to student interaction “It is by doing good that we become good” (Ellis, 2001, p. 51) Example of successful character design and focus: Ron Clark’s book, The Essential 55

Strategies for Creating Balance in Goals of Education Teach money concepts by collecting/donating to charities Create a graph of “Class Compliments” Read books with strong character/moral development themes Infuse real-world problems where students determine positive outcomes –Example: Change The World Project: Connect classroom to community projects: viewed in picture

Partners in Education: Shared Dreams Parent 1: “ At the end of a day or year of school the students should feel as is they have grown intellectually. This may feel/seem different for each individual student. but overall they should be able to reflect back on their year and realize that they are different.” Parent 2: "At the end of everything, the only thing that matters is that you live your day with a loving heart. You can try to have everything else, but when all is said and done, this is what matters most. Watching your students walk away self confident and eager to continue to learn is a measure of a successful year” Parent 3: “What really matters to me is that my children gained knowledge in a way that enriched their characters, strengthened their morals, and made them stronger students. That they made new friends and cherished old ones. I hope that they showed respect to their teachers and were respected in return.” Parent 4: –Mental Growth – Overcoming obstacles, Problem solving, technical growth such as reading –Growth in Self Esteem and other Social awareness issues –Sense of Accomplishment and empowerment –Preparation for the next year – But that is just a side benefit of all of the really important issues, the ones listed above.”

Reflective Practice Developing a Reflective Practice: Establish reflection techniques as part of the lesson: –“I learned”, “Search for meaning”, “Clear & Unclear” prompts –“Turn to a friend and share…” Develop rubrics enabling students to rate themselves Provide time for discussion –Must be a conscious, planned effort Reflection done by both teacher and student “You can have experience without reflection, but you can’t have reflection without experience.” - Maria Jacobson (Ellis, 2001, p.11).

Conclusion “I hope they love and see the good, the fascinating, the hope in people and situations. Because, at the end of the day, what really matters is a student’s ability to take what they have learned and use it in ways that push them to open their eyes to the world, their minds to all the world holds, and their hearts to those around them.” - A teacher striving to be great

Bibliography Canestrari, Alan & Marlowe, Bruce. (2010). Educational foundations: An anthology of critical readings. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications. Ellis, Arthur K. (2001). Teaching, learning, and assessment together: The reflective classroom. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education. Ellis, Arthur K. in EDU 6120 [PDF document]. (Spring, 2010). Retrieved from Lecture Notes: American Education: Past and Present. Seattle Pacific University.