10 September 2009

The "Best Classroom?"

It's day three here and as my fourth graders work on writing our classroom guidelines they have been doing some brainstorming. What would the "worst classroom" look like, sound like, etc. and what would the "best classroom" contain?

Several of my students felt a best classroom would have students working quietly on worksheets all day while the teacher sat at his/her desk and did paperwork or played solitaire on the computer. No, they weren't joking. I'm working hard at changing their idea of what learning looks like to them.

We began generating this web together, and then as they filled in their own details, I filled in mine. It was one of my attempts to change some of their thinking.

What would a "best classroom" look like and sound like to you?

[As an aside, this post by Will Richardson has had me thinking a lot about what happens in my classroom. Plus, it has given me some good questions to ask my own 3rd and 1st graders at dinner.]

3 comments:

Franki said...

Will be fun to see the ways their attitudes change over the year. Smart activity--interesting work. Thanks for sharing!

Mary DY said...

What a great task to give my own future teachers! I love my creative friends.

Kieman Holland-Anderson said...

Franki & Mary,

Thanks for the feedback. To give credit where credit is due, the idea originally came from a Teaching Tolerance article from a few years ago.