Going into the field of US History, one topic that is imperative to the classroom is the topic of Antiracist Education. Especially when delving into history of all topics, it is important to understand these events, as well as those who were racist in these events. I want to include this in my classroom because of the importance this has within history. Our history has a racist past that needs to be taught, and understood for us to move forward and to create a brighter future for the next generation, and for the students in my class to create change using this. 

One aspect that I think is severely overlooked in the classroom environment is the mental health of students. Most of the time, teachers just teach their subject and pay no attention to the students and their tendencies or attitude whatsoever. I am still in classes today where the teachers don’t even remember my name.This article talks about the importance of teachers ensuring that there is a healthy environment and a sense of caring within the classroom. We discuss the importance of community a lot in our class, and ensuring the students' mental state is in a healthy place is so important to learning. One thing that is almost never talked about is a student’s mental health is much more important than one homework assignment. A lot goes on outside of the classroom, and for my students I want them to know that my classroom is a safespace for them to feel like they can relax from the stress that comes from outside of school, while not overwhelming them inside the classroom.

One thing that I am a really big believer in is the idea of student engagement in my classroom. I have had so many classes in the past where it is an interesting topic, but the teacher does not do a good job on getting the students to engage in the topic, leading the class to be a full hour of just the teacher lecturing. I believe it’s good for the teacher to lecture, of course; however, there needs to be a good balance between the two. In my classroom, I would want to have the students work with each other in problem solving occasionally, or finding new ways to teach by either playing some sort of educational game or even just having a class led discussion leads to very productive discussions.

Diversity in the classroom is such an important piece in creating a sense of community within the class. There are going to be so many students with so many different backgrounds who come from all different walks of life. It is extremely important to make them all feel welcome and included within the classroom community. I would like to create lessons in my classroom that incorporate teaching these different walks of lives and different races and cultures to make everyone feel important and show that history resides from all walks of life. There are so many different races and backgrounds that have played such a huge role in the creation and uprising of our culutre that we see here today in America. It is important that we celebrate those differences, while also trying to understand where they came from and how they came to be, and what exactly makes them so unique and important. 

In every single History class I have ever taken before, there has been a subject that has been left out of our curriculum, and that is the subject of LGBTQ+ history. California was the first state to introduce a law that made it a part of their school systems’ curriculum to teach about LGBTQ+ history, and I want to make that part of my lesson plan in my classroom. This is history, just as much as the civil rights movement, or the civil war. This has had an impact on this country too, and it deserves to be taught to our students to further educate them on the importance LGBTQ+ has on our Country, and the world.