Children thrive when given choice. Allowing them to make their own choices means that we trust them. Allowing them to make their own choices tells them that we care about their well-being. As teachers, we care about our students and, with that, we are concerned about their development into confident, independent young adults.
As education has evolved to include project based learning and well-thought differentiation to accommodate the various learners, we must adjust what it means to be in a classroom. Stiff, expected, and year-after-year reproduced seating does offer enough opportunities for our children to be successful when interacting in groups, when collaborating with other subject areas, or when learning how they, as forever learners, learn best.
The stools and the chair bands will be for students who have a hard time sitting still and need extra movement in order to focus. The yoga mats will allow students to work while sitting on the ground, offering them more choice. The headphones will provide more opportunity for listening stations and those readers who prefer or benefit from hearing fluent reading. They will also help to cancel out any distracting noise to help students focus on their independent work. Lastly, the dry erase easel will allow me as the teacher to conduct small group lessons anywhere in the room.
The seating and other accompanying material in this project are just a small step in the direction of creating a space that is equitable to all. Unfortunately, many materials are on our wish lists, and many of those items end up staying there due to price. Help me and my colleagues change that so that our students, our future, can experience real-world, skill building education in a classroom that gives them choice, one that believes in them.
About my class
Children thrive when given choice. Allowing them to make their own choices means that we trust them. Allowing them to make their own choices tells them that we care about their well-being. As teachers, we care about our students and, with that, we are concerned about their development into confident, independent young adults.
As education has evolved to include project based learning and well-thought differentiation to accommodate the various learners, we must adjust what it means to be in a classroom. Stiff, expected, and year-after-year reproduced seating does offer enough opportunities for our children to be successful when interacting in groups, when collaborating with other subject areas, or when learning how they, as forever learners, learn best.
The stools and the chair bands will be for students who have a hard time sitting still and need extra movement in order to focus. The yoga mats will allow students to work while sitting on the ground, offering them more choice. The headphones will provide more opportunity for listening stations and those readers who prefer or benefit from hearing fluent reading. They will also help to cancel out any distracting noise to help students focus on their independent work. Lastly, the dry erase easel will allow me as the teacher to conduct small group lessons anywhere in the room.
The seating and other accompanying material in this project are just a small step in the direction of creating a space that is equitable to all. Unfortunately, many materials are on our wish lists, and many of those items end up staying there due to price. Help me and my colleagues change that so that our students, our future, can experience real-world, skill building education in a classroom that gives them choice, one that believes in them.
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