Area 2: Classroom Environment

Rationale for Inclusion

In this artifact, I address my ideal educational setting as well as compare the pros and cons of the United States, Canadian, and Finnish systems. I focus on the ideal of equity and equality to be utilized to promote support and respect in the classroom. I incorporated the Canadian teaching of equity and equality in implementing their wonderful gender education. I incorporated the idea of having required collective bargaining with membership fees to help all teachers receive equitable pay and working conditions. I also proposed that the US Supreme Court intervene in the inequity in school funding and declare it unconstitutional. Then create a system like Canada did to help bolster equity. Community Development is a great way of helping create equity in schools by supporting those who have fewer resources to work with. We need to promote a culture of lifelong learning in our society. This would boost equity because everyone would take education seriously including the politicians. I also proposed the mandating of looking out for students’ welfare as described in Finnish Law. Finally, I push for more global education where students learn about who has the privilege and who doesn’t and how it got that way. Students will learn not to be ashamed of it but use it for the good of society. Research indicates that equity will help in all areas of the classroom. Managing student behavior, and classroom procedures, and finally creating a culture of learning all stem from equity. If you do not have equity all of these things will be problematic at best. Students need to be met where they are. If schools continue to have great disparity between them in terms of equity, student achievement, behavior, and classroom procedures will continue to be inequitable between schools. Creating a society of lifelong learning will greatly help create a culture of learning in the classroom. Respecting all genders regardless of race will greatly help with student behavior and classroom procedures because female teachers and students will be considered equals and valued for their contributions. Male students will not lash out at females in any position with that culture of respect. Females will not feel threatened either. Creating a stronger collective bargaining system between schools will help to promote more solid classroom procedures as teachers will have better working environments. It will bring more highly qualified teachers into the field as pay, benefits, and working conditions will improve. Student behavior will grow in a positive direction as there will be more respect for teachers. Incorporating technology into the classroom in an equitable way would help to support students, limit behavioral issues, and help establish a culture for learning. Students would have greater engagement and motivation through the use of technology and it will help to bridge the performance gap between those who have and those who do not. Creating greater equity in schools will boost performance greatly and will narrow the gap between underperforming and overperforming schools. This will promote respect between all students as affluent ones will respect less affluent because of who they are. The students with less will still respect themselves as equals as well. This is backed up by research in my artifact.

Rationale for Inclusion

There were many reasons I chose to put this artifact in this section. My experience at a church listening to a language I didn’t understand humbled me. It made me think about students who are learning English as a second language. We must treat them with respect and with support. This case study gave me a little insight into the lives of Hispanic women. This will prove invaluable in the classroom as I’m sure that I will have Hispanic female students. I plan on addressing mutual respect between myself and my students as well as between themselves. This will provide an environment that is conducive to learning. English learners struggle with issues in schools that are not common to the average students. In this study, my subject mentioned how she spoke Spanish completely until she started school. I’m sure this is true for others as well. We need to be patient with these students and provide a culture for learning as well as respect. REspecting all students and learning about their backgrounds and histories will most assuredly help in managing classroom procedures and behavioral issues. If students are treated with respect and they know it they are more likely to be cooperative with the teacher. We also need to see that many cultures have similarities to our own. The more we learn from them the more we notice this. This is important because when we see commonalities with other groups of people it is easier to treat them with respect and support. Also, if a culture is different by learning about their background a teacher can be able to understand where the student is coming from. They will likely be able to work with them better mutually. I treated my subject with respect and she was respectful back. I believe that to be the norm when dealing with other cultures. You never know what you will learn from other ethnic groups. Education and learning are the keys to eliminating discrimination, oppression, and hate. These case students are great examples of that. When I become a teacher, I plan on learning about my students as much as I can to incorporate their interests and cultures into my activities to help boost morale, confidence, and engagement. This is one of the best ways to do that in the classroom. This will promote a culture of learning in my classroom as well as create a classroom built around respect and support. It will also be a cornerstone of how I plan on managing student behavior as well. I will most likely not have the time to do a thorough case study as I did in this artifact, but I will be able to do surveys to get information. This information is crucial in understanding my students so I can treat them appropriately. So much of this domain is centered around support, respect, and management. It is imperative to understand that knowledge of student backgrounds nurtures that in the classroom setting. This artifact is centered around such ideals and is the foundation for further learning about others.