My Future ELA Classroom

My vision for my ideal ELA classroom starts with a positive atmosphere. I’m dedicated to establishing a positive classroom community so that my students feel safe and comfortable. I believe that this is the starting point for facilitating effective and efficient learning in the classroom. There are many factors that contribute to establishing this community within the classroom, one of which is organization. Being prepared does not ensure that a class with run smoothly, but being unprepared ensures that it will not. The more organized your classroom and your materials, the more smoothly you will be able to manage a class. The way that a classroom is organized contributes a great deal to the learning environment within it. Students should always be aware of what is expected of them both academically and behaviourally. Classroom procedures should be made clear to students. These procedural rules and guidelines will lead to a more efficient classroom and more cooperative students.

Building on the topic of organization, the way in which a classroom is organized contributes a great deal to the environment within it. Room decoration, disregarded by many teachers, is important in helping to create a positive classroom community. The use of bulletin boards and wall space helps to facilitate an encouraging and comfortable environment for students, especially when covered by the students’ own creations. Seating arrangements also contribute greatly to the classroom environment. Personally, when it comes to seating arrangements, I like the idea of having either a U-shaped arrangement or a grouped arrangement in order to encourage and facilitate collaboration among students.

Another hugely important factor to consider when attempting to establish a positive classroom community is the relationship between teacher and students. It is important for teachers to work on establishing mutual respect from the beginning of the school year. Although it may not be appropriate for teachers to become friends with their students, this does not mean that they cannot and should not be friendly with their students. It would be detrimental to avoid smiling with students. Students should always be able to see that you are happy to be there, because they most certainly will not be if they believe that you aren’t.

The most important factor in establishing respect and cooperation with students is lesson quality. It is a good teacher’s goal to ensure that they facilitate interesting and engaging lessons each day. Throughout our English Language Arts course, we have learned many different engaging, fun and educational strategies that I believe will prove to be very useful. I’m excited to get into the classroom and to begin trying these strategies with my students, such as ‘Tea Party’, ‘Poem in my Pocket’, double entry journals, writing prompts, blogging, and many more.

So, to summarize, what I want for my future ELA classroom is to establish a comfortable, collaborative, respectful and engaging learning environment.