Interactive Classroom

One thing that is very important to me is having an interactive classroom. As I have previously mentioned, the subject matter that I am studying to teach is English. I believe that having a classroom where the students are interacting with each other is extremely important when being in an English setting. Students learn a lot from discussing ideas and the class material with each other. In an English classroom the material is going to be different passages and books. I am currently in the class EDU 245 (Children's Literature), and one great thing that I have taken away from it so far, that I will use in my classroom, is literature circles.
Every time that we read a book in my EDU 245 class we have a literature circle where we discuss the book. Each member of the circle has a different role that they need to fulfill. These roles are discussion director, literary luminary, vocab enricher, investigator, travel tracker, connector, and illustrator. I think that this is a great way to get students talking to each other while also being extremely productive and gaining a deeper understanding of the assigned novels. The roles help the students really dig into the book and having discussions help the students see the novels from different points of views. Overall, I just think that students communicating with each other plays an essential part to their learning.

One Thing that will Never Occur in My Classroom

One thing that I will make sure never happens in my classroom is gender and cultural bias. I am extremely passionate about this, especially in a society where schools are becoming more and more diverse and the white race will eventually become the minority. I do not believe in white privilege or male privilege, and will do my best to make sure that my students never feel like they are experiencing that in my classroom. I want everyone to feel like they are in a welcome and safe environment.
 Going through school, I know that there are definitely teachers that favor males over females or females over males. I had a Spanish teacher who loved the boys and did not like the girls. A boy and a girl could hand in the same assignment done exactly the same way, and the boy would get a 85 and the girl would get an 80. She would always call on them, and even at certain times would sit on their desks. I found this extremely inappropriate and it strengthened my belief that my classroom will never have gender bias and everyone will be equal.
In my EDU 200 class, we learned about culturally inclusive teaching. This means incorporating different cultures into lessons. I think that this is important because everyone should feel included. I think it is vital to recognize the uniqueness of some students so that they feel included instead of like a minority. It is also important that they are treated like everyone else and that there is no bias towards white students because that creates an extremely hostile environment. That is the exact opposite of what I want for my students. A classroom should feel like a safe place, and I will ensure that my students feel that way in mine.