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I know my ideas have many kinks that need to be worked out, but I feel I am taking a step in the right direction by brainstorming. My last post was about students eating lunch in classrooms rather than a cafeteria, which probably can't possibly happen for a long time for a vast variety of reasons. I am still going to work on making the idea more realistic and I still firmly believe that all hallway traffic needs to be synchronized, meaning that there is never a time during the day when some students are changing locations while others are sitting in a classroom, involved in an academic period.
Another idea I came up with, which is much easier to integrate into the school system as we know it today, has to do with the decoration of the actual classroom. In my experience, I have always observed that each classroom is decorated according to the lead teacher's preferences. This sets the stage right away that the room belongs to the teacher and it allows the students to separate themselves and be alienated from their surroundings.
Here is what I propose:
Each classroom should have a homeroom. At the beginning of the year, that homeroom should be given the task to come up with a plan on how to aesthetically decorate the room. The teacher will have to mediate to make sure that all students are allowed to be involved in decisions and that the decisions made are school-appropriate. This will allow the students to practice teamwork, which is a job-skill/life-skill that they definitely will need to utilize in their future. This will also make them feel more connected to the classroom.
I think one of the main problems with school is that there is a disconnect. If the students are made more a part of things, they will come to take more pride in the school and will come to think that their contributions are valuable. I know the teachers are there to help students grow and intervene when necessary, but I don't think they need to 100% run the show. I know teachers find it refreshing to paste up those finely-crated posters, but give it a break and let the student's come up with something that reflects their own originality.
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Good concept bad idea... The school board requires that the rooms be decorated prior to the start of the year,(so when parents show up to meet the teacher at the start of the year meet and great the room looks like a well established learning environment) and most of those decorations come from the teachers personal money so they go to great lengths to keep items in good condition so they can reuse them again the following year because to change the theme from year to year would require new decorations .In addition our teachers are hard pressed to fit in all of the required lessons in the time allotted per semester so even using one day on design and one day on decorating would cause the teacher to stuff more instruction into less time. I completely agree that there should be a way to make students feel more involved/connected to their education I just disagree with the method you have suggested.I do want to say that I appreciate that you set up this blog because I feel that it is important to discuss the issues facing our school system
ReplyDeleteThese are some excellent points. Unfortunately, I'm sure my idea would not be allowed under current county guidelines. I'm trying to come up with a proposition of the best possible learning environment for today's urban youth.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this idea would require more funds because each year would require new materials. I think the money spent would be worth it because it would provide more stimulation to the students. It would also require that each classroom always has a modern look. I was recently in a history classroom in Baltimore County and there were pictures of all of the presidents on the wall that looked like they had been there for at least 10 years. Many students are visual learners and I think it is important that their surroundings do not look boring or old-fashioned.
As far as not having time to spend on this project, I do believe that this is the argument school systems would currently give. They would say that each day of curriculum is already mapped out and that they could not delete even one day. I think the curriculum as it stands is faulty. Tons and tons of kids are getting out of school without obtaining a satisfactory reading, writing, and mathematics level. It we could spend a day decorating classrooms, we may be able to establish a connection with the students: a form of motivation. It seems like a small thing to do, but I think it is a huge step in the right direction. I really don't believe that one less day of academic instruction is going to have any negative effect on the students.