(Changes to Imagined Classroom piece have been iltalicized)
When you walk into my future classroom it will be covered in cool posters of DNA
codon charts, rare bacteria, labeled animal cells, the scientific method,
student projects on prominent scientist
of different races and ethnicities and a giant periodic table. There are
white boards covering the front wall and part of the sidewall nearest the door,
with class assignments and the class schedule written on it. The room is full
of two person blacktopped lab tables arranged in rows facing the front white
board. There is a desk in the back corner with a computer and a nameplate reading Mrs. Brady. The back wall is covered in windows and large
shelving units full of microscopes, textbooks and models
available to the students during exploratory
labs or class when appropriate. There is also a locked cabinet of chemicals
to which
only I hold the key, for the safety of
the students. There
are beakers and goggles hanging above a big sink used for in-class
experiments. Above the front white board
is a projector screen that pulls down and a digital clock hangs on the wall.
One of the posters on the wall has class rules determined by
the students and me that include: be on time, no cell phone use, respect your
classmates and teachers, no cussing (to create a
comfortable environment for everyone),
no eating during labs, be careful with chemicals and lab equipment. Respect was defined by the students in a
series of be kind, be quiet and be considerate statements. All of the
students’ names are signed in different colors at the bottom showing they agree to
the rules.
If they don’t follow these rules they have agreed on receiving a warning and
discussion of the problem the first time; the second time would be detention
with me which could mean cleaning the class, doing homework or other chores I
determine; the third offense will merit calling the parents and the fourth will
be a meeting with the principal. But the students are willing to agree to these
rules because of my mastery homework policy. This policy says that as long as
the students turn in their homework in on time they can redo the assignment for a higher
score. This will encourage them to try even if they
are wrong the first time. I will also encourage them to do their best and help
them if they need so they can reach the high expectations that have been set
for them. If they do turn in the homework in late, however, they will lose
10% of the grade for every day it is late. I will also allow students to make
up test questions that they miss for a quarter of the original points with the
focus of helping the students master the subjects of biology.
The students sitting at the desks around the room come from
many backgrounds and experiences
despite being about the same age. Some come from very fortunate homes and others
come from homes with only one parent or neither parents living with them but I work to show them that those things
don’t matter in the classroom. With hard work anyone, and I mean anyone, is
capable of anything. I teach that through student presentations about prominent
scientist from around the world who made a difference and by bringing in actual
examples from the community of people who work in the field of biology to act
as examples for my students. They will be a mixture of ethnicities and
cultures too but these will not determine
their success and I will not use them as a label for my students. Instead of letting negative labels of these
different ethnicities and cultures, I will work to establish a structural
ideology where I help students break down the barriers they find in their
pursuit of educational goals instead of creating the barriers. I will be their
advocate on the staff to help the school and district accommodate these
students better. Where they are in their adolescent development will also
be different, affecting their critical thinking skills and level of
responsibility but my classroom
expectations will encourage them to develop in these areas and always push them
to be better. These students will also have different interests – some will
be athletes, artists, actors or maybe scientists. Most will not be interested in biology and
it will be my job to engage them in class discussions and spark their love of
science. My main way of sparking their love of
biology will be training them to think critically about the world around them
and then allowing them to design their own experiments and learn through
exploration.
The lesson today for my standard biology class will start
with an exploratory activity. I will explain general lab safety rules again
before passing out three different mystery chemicals to my students for them to
determine the chemicals’ properties. I
will have them work in groups, or at least discuss their findings with their
groups as they work. I will give them wax paper and toothpicks to use. I
will then walk around the room giving student more toothpicks, water or wax
paper; then ask the students questions to further encourage their exploration.
After 10 minutes of exploration I will ask the students to list the properties
of the chemicals on the board, not guessing the chemical, before I reveal that
the chemicals were all water. The students will clean up the activity materials
while I pull the projector screen down then we will take notes on a short
lecture about the properties of water and their importance to biology. While the
students take notes and I lecture, I will walk around the classroom to help
keep all the students on task and encourage discussion from the students. I
recognize that taking notes in this way is not the most exciting learning style
but just a few notes will be necessary, after which the lesson will be mostly
discussion based. Specifically at the end of the lecture, I will ask
students to think about why this is important for biology and let them discuss their findings in groups
before sharing their ideas with the class. Any remaining time, I will then
give them the last 5-10 minutes of class for the students to complete homework
assignments or read their textbooks and I
will be available to assist any students who need extra help.
Lastly, I will assess the students’ learning first during
class discussions but after class I will further assess the students through
homework assignments that they have the option to redo for full credit till
they master the material when turned in on time. I will also provide short weekly
quizzes over the material we cover each week,
allowing a few of the lowest scores to be dropped, and we will have tests
after few chapters. These tests will be the best indication of how much the
students have learned but I will also allow them to redo questions for a
quarter of the points to make sure they truly master the subjects. I will also
do a semester project, either a research type paper or creative group project
depending on what would work best for my students to assess their learning and
improvement of critical thinking skills.
Reflection:
It was an
interesting experience to go back through my imagined classroom and see so many
of the ways it was oppressing certain groups or allowing stereotypes to
prevail. I know it’s probably still not perfect because some things will change
when I actually have a class full of students but I did make a few important
changes starting with thinking about how we would establish classroom rules. I
would like to have my students work together to establish the rules and define
what respect means. I believe this will help the students feel comfortable in
my classroom and feel like they are part of the governing process in the
classroom. So every year the rules will look a little different but the main
concepts will be the same. I did keep a few of the original rules like not
cussing because I believe that is part of the process for making a safe and
comfortable environment in the classroom.
Another
thing I focused on when I re-imagined my classroom was how would I make
resources available to the students. Some of this will obviously depend on the
amounts of funding I have or can obtain through writing grants but if possible
I would love to have iPads because I think there are many useful programs we
could use and the kids could use Internet searches as part of their exploratory
experience. However, as a biology teacher in almost every school district I
will have a classroom set of textbooks, microscopes and hopefully models that
can be used to demonstrate many different things. I would make these readily
available to the students during the learning process and the microscopes
especially when doing exploratory labs. I think it is important to provide
these materials when the students may not have these kinds of resources at
home.
Something
else I thought a lot about as I re-worked my classroom was how I was going to
encourage my students to work hard and keep high expectations for all the
students. I think allowing exploration in the classroom will be very helpful in
allowing the students opportunities to take responsibility for their own
learning but how do I show my high expectations for the students? Probably through
personal conversations with the students throughout the year and how I treat
the students. Some of these expectations will also come through how I teach and
test the students. The biggest obstacle I will probably have to overcome is not
treating students as deficits, because some of those stereotypes have been
reinforced in my own educational experiences but I do realize that anyone can
do something if they put their mind to it! So I will have to work on my own
attitude and treating my students in a way so they know I believe they can
learn biology! Overtime and through experience I know I will get better at
treating all the students equal in their ability to do well in my class, but
right now I am just working on having that attitude now about everyone I meet
even when they aren’t my students.
Some other
things I don’t have answers for yet are what will I do about students who speak
other languages. I do not speak any other languages myself but when I get a
real teaching job and settle down, I plan to learn more about the area where I
am living and the immigrant populations so that I can begin learning other
languages to help close that communication gap between me and my students. I
will also have to work on my courage so that I can become a fearless advocate
for these future students of mine who will be disadvantaged by the system. I
need to help reform the processes and attitudes used by my own school and the
school district that may not be providing resources or opportunities to my
students. I know this will be hard but I know when I get to know my students
and grow in love for them, then it will be easier.
Lastly, I
did a bit of research on how to teach for social justice as a biology teacher and
how I could implement it into my own curriculum. The biggest thing the teachers
who were writing on this subject said was I needed to teach my students how to
think critically. I may not be able to directly incorporate topics regarding
social justice but I can teach my students to question their own world and what
they are told. I can also give them opportunities to learn through exploration
such as the science experiment I used in this lesson to teach the students
about the properties of water so that the students could be in more control of
their own learning. I also want to give the students an opportunity to choose
what they learn and develop their own voice through some project of the
students choosing. I also think it is very important to incorporate research
projects on important people in science who come from around the world – I
think it would be best to have the students do the research and present their
findings because it will help them find a personal role model for their own
scientific goals. It will also be my responsibility to bring in science
professionals either into the classroom or into a science club to help kids
find examples in their own communities and maybe even find opportunities for
jobs for students.
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