Jessica's Ingredients

Here's the top 5 for today...

1. Community -- This encompasses a lot of aspects I value about a classroom. I want the environment to be a safe place to learn about anything and everything, a place where questions and creative thinking are the norm. I hope that the parents/guardians of the students will work with me, and that above all they will support their students.

2. A well-organized room -- This also involves many ingredients of my classroom. I think my own personal organization is incredibly important in being a good teacher. The way I display artwork, posters, and bulletin boards should also be thoughtfully organized, and I think that the article titled "Getting Your Room Together" in The New Teacher Book said it best: "students need to see themselves on the walls" of the classroom. (Everyone should read this book, by the way - it's inspiring, comforting, and very practical.) I would also like a fair amount of space in my room (who doesn't?) where students can sit in a circle or play games. A pretty rug might be nice. My mentor teacher's kindergarten room has a giant colorful rug with squares that act as assigned seats, and I really like that concept.

3. Music -- I want music to be a daily occurrence in my classroom, not something that is only a special occasion. (Although, I believe that having a separate music class is wonderful, and I wouldn't try to be a substitue for that). Adding music here and there throughout the day can be calming and engaging and fun and practical. In one book I read (I think it was the Music As A Way of Knowing book), a teacher sung to her class, "Line up, class" to which they sung a response while they lined up, which I thought was such a great idea. Having students share music they are interested in would be a great aid in getting to know them. There are so many ways to integrate music into the classroom, and it would be fun to have the kids' input about music's role in the classroom.

4. Resources/Odds'n'Ends -- This includes a large collection of books, lots of random arts and crafts supplies, an odd assortment of musical instruments, and fun posters and artwork. I want to be the teacher who collects things over the years (keeping them organized, mind you) that would benefit my students. The classroom should be full of limitless opportunities for creativity.

5. Rules that the class decides upon together -- The concept of having "class rules" up on the board when kids come in the first day of school just seems wrong to me. Part of creating a friendly and safe environment is letting the kids decide what is or is not okay in their shared space (with some teacher direction if necessary, but most of the time kids think of way more rules than I would). Some steps to conflict resolution for issues that do come up and a system of "conflict managers" can also be decided by the students.

I believe children need to play as well as learn - and most of the time you can do both at once!
I believe teachers should be a constant source of enthusiasm, a trusted adult, and a resource with tools to finding out anything and everything.
I believe schools should do everything they can to foster a healthy, safe, and tight-knit school community that is then able to reach out to the wider community.