Blog#5 What to Look for in a Classroom

 

What to Look for in a Classroom

By Alfie Kohn

While reading the article “What to Look for in a Classroom,”  I was able to make a connection. Last semester I was in an internship with two different teachers at a high school. I realized as I kept reading the signs that one of the classrooms looked more like the “Good Signs” and the other classroom looked more like the “Possible reasons to Worry”. In the class that looked more like the “Good Signs” column, the ambient was a beautiful learning environment in which students liked being in. I remember students telling me that was their favorite class and that was their favorite teacher. In that class, the teacher was never at her desk. The teacher was always on the front board or helping students with their classwork. I remember on the wall she had her students’ birthdays, and she would bring a small gift for them on their birthday, she would put her students' work on her wall and on the hallways as well. In that class, we also had fun activities like bingo, watching a movie, and listening to music while students did their work. The students felt comfortable asking questions,  participating, and engaging. The teacher's attitude was always cheerful and positive, and always looked out for what was best for the students learning. The students spoke little to no English, and she spoke no Spanish. Even with that language barrier between them, she could teach them and make them feel comfortable in her classroom. She made her classroom a fun learning environment. In the other classroom, the teacher was always sitting on her desk, teaching the lesson from her desk. The only time she would get up was to write on the board or if a student needed her help. I remember that class feeling a little boring. There were no fun learning activities involved in that classroom, only assignments from a textbook and a package. The walls were blank beside commercial posters from different countries. The atmosphere in that class was not exciting at all. The teacher was not a mean teacher; she was actually nice and calm, and I think she needed to add some enthusiasm and spice to her classroom to make it a fun learning environment.

Blog #3

 Ashley De La Roca

Christine E Sleeter, The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies

As I was reading the article “The Academic and Social Value Ethnic Studies” by Christine E Sleeter, I made some connections and realizations. Firstly, the reading took me back to when I was in middle school when I learned about slavery. Then, I realized that what I was reading connected to my experience in school. For example, in middle and high school, there was not much content about black history besides slavery. Most of the content was mainly about the conquest, after the conquest, and briefly about slavery.

I took an African studies class in college for one of my general education classes. I was not expecting much from this class, but the content was very strong. I learned so much in the African studies class that I was shocked. So, reading this article made me think, why? Why is it that the schools in the United States don't teach about the African history of this country? I think the answer is right in the article where it states, “She found that White parents, like their children,

‘thought only of Europeans and white Americans as nation builders’..”. Through this sentence, we can see some sort of ignorance. This nation was built not by European conquerors or white Americans but by a black hard-working hand who endured so much, and I think that is very important to remember and teach to the young kids in school. Black history is a big part of how this country was built.

Another connection I made while reading the article was teachers. I worked with a young lady who taught for ten years, and I remember one of the conversations I had with her about the curriculum of the school she was in. She was a history teacher and told me that she always made sure to add as much as possible to the content. For example, slavery. Most teachers just follow the book or curriculum. Still, this lady made sure to extend the topic of slavery to her students, was able to grasp the idea of what slavery is, and made sure that her students knew the history of African Americans and not just that slavery was a thing and moved on.

It is important that we teach about the diversity of this country.