What makes an ideal classroom? by Fatima Al Jarman

What makes an ideal What makes an classroom?

ideal classroom???

An essential guide + zine An essential guide by by Charlotte Veenstra-VanderWeele Charlotte Veenstra-Vanderweele and AlAryani & Fatma Fatma AlAryani

Foreward Classrooms and traditional learning models are generally seen as essential, oftentimes non-negotiable, elements of a school or educational institution. We wondered — why?! And is the typical classroom model actually effective for learning? What does it mean for a class to be ideal? What if learning did not take place within a class at all? In this guide + zine, not only will we contemplate what ideal classrooms look like for different members of our community, but we will also contemplate thoughtful attempts to create creative classroom structures and models. Beyond that, we will question the essential nature of classrooms at all, specifically in the lens of Indigenous learning practices. We ask you to join us in this contemplation and meditation of classroom environments and learning models with an open mind and heart. Mostly, we ask you to seek more, to reimagine, to open your mind to the endless possibilities of how learning can take place. Now, let’s start digging through the question — what makes an ideal classroom? 2

CONTENT

Assignment of the Day What does an ideal classroom classroom look like? Charlotte’s Elementary Education Testimonial Fatma’s Elementary Education Testimonial What makes an ideal classroom? A breakdown of models and structures Spiderweb of Learning Models Our Classroom’s Ideal Classrooms A Teacher’s Checklist

ASSIGNMENT DRAW YOUR IDEAL ELEMENT

OF THE DAY: TARY SCHOOL CLASSROOM!

Sana, 17, Palestinian-E

Egyptian, Saudi Arabia

Arie, 4th Grade, Brookfield, Illinois (USA)

Nikita, 18, Calif 10

fornia and India 11

Leen, 25, Jordan 13

Esme, 1st grade, Brookfield, I

Esme drew what appears to be a mostly traditional classroom in the United States. It largely reflects the layout of her current classroom. She drew and labeled objects that can be found in most elementary school classrooms like a calendar, a class schedule, cubes, folders, an alphabet rug, books, class pet, kids, tables, and a teacher. She also includes a less traditional section: the reset station. In real life, Esme’s first grade classroom has a reset station which includes reset tools. According to her mom, Esme talks about the reset station extensively and it seems to really help her. Her mom is considering adding a reset station to their home because it helps Esme so much with regulating her emotions.

Illinois (USA)

There’s a lot of interesting takeaways to be made in carefully analyzing the drawings that we’ve collected. What are the similarities, differences, or themes that the drawings made by Leen, Sana, Esme, Nikita, and Arie present? Leen and Sana both feature circular tables, with chairs organized around them, almost a communal student setting. Nikitia’s structure strays a little further away from our own traditional ideas of what a classroom looks like, in that it de-centralizes the positioning of tables, placing them in the corner of the “class” space, and instead centering bookshelves and what she describes as a “sensory pit”. Arie’s seating and table arrangement is also interesting to ponder upon: his drawing features a variety of table shapes that are scattered all around the room. We can observe things outside of the conventional US-centered classroom structure quite vividly: couches, bean bags, sinks, free resources, reset stations, gender neutral bathrooms, student-led board with their preferred pronouns and goals. 16

Both Sana and Nikita’s drawings feature a section in the room where students can opt to get snacks. In Sana’s drawing, in that same shelving unit with the snacks, her ideal elementary school classroom would also provide hygiene products and toys she describes as “quiet”.

While Leen, Sana, Esme, and Arie all drew classrooms in indoor settings, Nikita instead visualizes an all-glass classroom positioned somewhere outside. .

A detail that all drawings take into account is that of lighting. We see this with large windows or glass walls and ceilings that allow for natural lighting into the space, but also see this with lamps with adjustable intesnity.

Plants make lots of appearances in the drawings, whether potted or surrounding the classroom! It’s also interesting to consider the possibilities of raising an animal in the class, as we observe in Sana and Esme’s drawings. 17

Charlotte’s Elementary Education Testimonial I went to Kindergarten at Moore Elementary in Franklin, Tennessee. I have a few memories of kindergarten and they are all very vivid. I remember that my school had a number of smaller rooms off of the main gathering space that were not full day learning classrooms, but were instead used more like special classes we would travel to as a group. The first room included jungle gym-like structures, the seconded included a number of tumbling mats where we learned to do handstands, and the third room was filled with tools that we could practice practical skills on. This room was where I learned to tie my shoe. In first grade, my family moved into the city, so I switched to Eakin Elementary in Nashville, Tennessee. I went to Eakin from first to fourth grade. I had amazing first and second grade teachers at Eakin. Mrs. Mabry, my first grade teacher, and Ms. Jerome, my second grade teacher, were different in some ways, but they had some key things in common. Both of these teachers truly, and outwardly loved their students. They would give us hugs every morning and take the time to write back and forth with us in our journals every week. I still look through these journals every once and a while and just marvel at how amazing my teachers were to put up with my endless questions. In second grade, my teacher, Ms. Jerome, taught us how to knit both with knitting needles and on our fingers. I quickly became obsessed with knitting because it gave me something productive to do with my hands. Once she taught us 18

how to knit, she provided a basket of yarn and knitting needles, so that we could knit during read aloud. It was, and continues to be, very helpful to me to have something to do with my hands while I am passively consuming content. To this day, I rarely watch television or listen to a podcast without yarn in my hands. I am so grateful to Ms. Jerome for this amazing technique. Moving into third grade, my teacher was Ms. Grace. I liked Ms. Grace significantly less than Mrs. Mabry and Ms. Jerome, even though she really liked me. One of the reasons that I didn’t like Ms. Grace very much was because she seemed to like me more than most of my classmates, which made me uncomfortable. She could be quite mean to students and there were some days when she was frustrated by seemingly everything we did. She did not share the love for children that my first and second grade teachers had. My freedom dream for elementary school is that every student gets to have fun all day every day. I would like for elementary school classrooms to be safe, loving, comfortable, fun, and beautifully chaotic places. I would hear laughter and chatter often in my ideal classroom. I want all community members to be welcomed into the classroom, so that students can see a diversity of people, careers, and backgrounds.

Fatma’s Elementary Education Testimonial I attended Wesgreen International Primary School for elementary school in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, a thirty-minute car ride from my home. There was a buffer period in first grade where my parents transferred me to a public school just three minutes away from home, but they eventually transferred me back to the same private school. My memories of my elementary education period are not the brightest. I have stark, unprocessed memories capturing the differences between my times switching between public and private school; in public school, all my meals were free and always featured a large, ripe banana and a box of strawberry milk. For recess, we were released into a large concrete-floored outdoor area to run around and play, but there weren’t any games… only the expansive floor and its surrounding walls. In private school, I would use the $3 my mother would give me every morning to buy a sandwich and a box of chocolate milk before running out into the playground to pick my daily choice of a large sandspit, the makeshift football field, and all sorts of playground games. One thing I remember most vividly was the fact that how comfortable or safe I felt in a classroom severely correlated with whether I felt comfortable or safe around my teacher. In fifth grade, I had a teacher who used fear, intimidation, and a raised voice as a means of controlling the classroom; I remember that my anxiety was at an all-time high that year. Alternatively, in fourth grade, I 20

remember having a teacher who encouraged games as a means for learning and personally acknowledged and encouraged my love for creative writing, which planted the seed for my current exploration of my identity as a writer. My freedom dream is my smaller self entering a classroom space and feeling cared for, instead of terrified. I dream of a world where children go to school and feel so much joy, they don’t know what to do with it. A world where they are encouraged to play and be their uninhibited selves. Where they are loved, and loved, and loved.

What is the ideal elementary school classroom?: A breakdown of models Written by Charlotte with edits and additions by Fatma While I would love to answer this question in a simple and conclusive manner, I would be leaving out the truth about the ideal classroom: it doesn’t exist. One classroom cannot serve every child perfectly. It’s impossible. Every child has different interests, backgrounds, needs, paces, and learning styles, so expecting that one classroom can serve all students is unrealistic. But, there are some classroom models that offer promising solutions for many students. In this article, I will explore three classroom and pedagogical approaches in this essay: differentiated instruction, restorative justice, and expeditionary learning. Differentiated instruction is a model that allows students of different abilities to learn in the same classroom, while also working at their own pace and in their own learning style. There are many forms that differentiated instruction can take. Some teachers choose to offer students different ways to present the information they have learned, such as tests, presentations, projects, while others allow students to work completely at their own pace by using flip teaching, or having the students watch the lesson as homework and practicing what they learned in class. In an article in Edutopia, the author writes about an elementary school teacher who implements differentiated instruction by allowing their students to present their knowledge in a form that they choose. The teacher gives the students options to demonstrate their knowledge of the weather cycle by drawing a comic, making a trifold, or creating a song and dance. One of the ideas behind this method is that it allows students to make choices in their educational journey which gets them excited about learning. When students are self-motivated to learn, they are more likely to become lifelong learners. Additionally, students who do not perform well on “traditional” assessments, such as in-class 24

timed tests, have an opportunity to accurately demonstrate their knowledge when they have access to differentiated forms of assessment. This method of differentiated instruction is beneficial for students when they need to demonstrate their knowledge, but the whole class still learns at the same pace, which could leave some students bored and others left behind. Another method incorporates flip-teaching and mastery learning to help facilitate differentiated instruction. An article in The New York Times describes four teachers who implemented flip-teaching in their classrooms in 2010 and love it. Flip-teaching is a method of instruction where teachers record their lessons and post them online. Students watch the lessons for homework and complete any reading necessary for class. Then, during the class period, they get to work with peers on their individually paced assignments or ask their teacher for help instead of struggling at home with no guidance. In addition to flip-teaching, this group of teachers also implemented mastery teaching. Mastery teaching is a method that requires students to really master a concept before they move on to the next one. It allows students to move completely at their own pace and take agency over their own learning. One of the benefits of the combination of flip-teaching and mastery learning is that students who learn certain concepts faster can advance to more complex units and get to learn at the appropriate level. Students who learn at a slower pace than many of their peers can take their time and really master the foundational skills before advancing to the next unit. This model also keeps classrooms inclusive in terms of ability because it eliminates the perceived need for gifted classrooms and would also ensure that the needs of students with learning disabilities would be met in their own learning plans. This inclusivity can help students to value different people’s abilities and forms of knowledge even when they are different from their own. Both of these models of differentiated learning have clear advantages for students, but there are certain disadvantages as well. One of the biggest disadvantages is that creating flex25

ible methods for assessments and flip-teaching with mastery learning require significantly more work and planning from the teacher. Grading different types of assessments takes a lot more of the teacher’s time than just a multiple choice in class test. Flip-teaching took the four teachers forty to sixty hours each just to record one unit’s worth of lessons. For teachers seeking to utilize flip-teaching in their own classrooms, it would require a lot more work outside of school hours for the first year, but after that, they could re-use some of the videos and techniques from previous years. After they got used to flip-teaching, the teachers who tried it said that it actually saved them time because they no longer needed to make daily lesson plans or meet with students outside of class. Another disadvantage of differentiated instruction is that it requires smaller class sizes. It would be really hard, if not impossible, for one teacher with a class of thirty students to offer differentiated instruction all of the time because the teacher would not have time to meet with each student during a class period. Instead of making class sizes smaller, or perhaps even simultaneously, differentiated instruction could be possible with more than one instructor in a class. Depending on which method of differentiated instruction is used, it can require more technology which not every student or school has access to. Some students also struggle when they have to spend significant amounts of time on a computer, so flip-teaching would not work for every student. While there are some big disadvantages to differentiated instruction, this model should be an option that every student has access to because it can be very beneficial for students who learn at different paces, but enjoy classes with students who have different abilities. The second educational model that I will explore is expeditionary learning. One Expeditionary Learning school, called Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning, describes their school model as: students learn by conducting “learning expeditions” rather than by sitting in a classroom being taught one subject at a time, work[ing] on developing the character — as 26

This drawing of an ideal classroom from one of my classmates (anonymous) demonstrates how a differentiated classroom might look physically. It might have different seating options for students to work as a whole class, in small groups, or by themselves. Each student can sit in a different place, just like each student can work on different material. well as the intellect — of students, and chang[ing] not only how students learn, but also a school’s culture.” Expeditionary learning is based on ten ideals: the primacy of self discovery, the having of wonderful ideas, the responsibility for learning, empathy and caring, success and failure, collaboration and competition, diversity and inclusion, the natural world, solitude and reflection, and ser27

vice and compassion. Different schools implement expeditionary learning in different ways, but these are the common principles. According to their website, students who spend three years within the Expeditionary Learning network are ten months ahead in math and seven months ahead in reading compared to their peers across the district. Additionally, students who go to Expeditionary Learning schools are more likely to graduate and go to a four year college or university. A middle school in Portland, Maine called King Middle School has been implementing expeditionary learning since the 1990’s. Twenty years after they made the shift to expeditionary learning, the teachers recorded a video for Edutopia about the benefits and challenges that they have experienced with this method. One of the biggest challenges that the teachers discussed was that interdisciplinary projects were difficult to plan because the timing needed to be flexible enough for it to be student-led, but also needed to stick to some sort of schedule so that all of the subjects would be working on the same project at the same time. One of the things the teachers laughed about was how much snow days had messed up their plans. If school is all project-based, it is much harder to change the lesson plan temporarily to accommodate something like a snow day or a substitute teacher. On the other hand, most of what the teachers had to say was very positive. They joked about having to hide the bad work from parents at curriculum nights before they switched to expeditionary learning, but once they made the switch, one of the teachers described the projects as “unreal”. Every student was really engaged in the work they were doing, so the final projects really reflected their passion and knowledge of the subject. Expeditionary learning offers many benefits to students such as encouraging them to be passionate about what they are learning and connect concepts they are learning across subjects, but it can be challenging to schedule. Restorative justice is another educational model that has many benefits to students. As defined in Edutopia, restorative 28

justice “helps a student to own what [they] did, make it right for those hurt or affected, and involve the community in helping both the victim and the offender. Restorative justice acknowledges that those who do wrong need healing as well.” In most schools who implement restorative justice, community members spend a lot of time talking about their feelings in circles with a talking piece, which ensures that only one person talks at a time. According to the Center for the Study of Social Policy, the practice of restorative justice is rooted in Native American traditions. Glenview Elementary School in Oakland, California is an example of a school who added a practice of restorative justice to their classrooms. Students start their days with a morning circle to check in about their feelings and end their days with a circle to reflect on their progress, behavior, or emotions that day. Throughout the school day, teachers also use restorative justice to recenter the class on the task they are engaging in and resolve conflict peacefully and completely. The teachers found this implementation of restorative justice to be helpful for their students. In an Edutopia article, elementary and middle school teacher Joe Shim reflected on his journey connecting restorative justice and social and emotional learning; in the beginning of his career, he taught under a head teacher who used restorative justice circles frequently to resolve conflicts in their class. Later in his career, he moved away from restorative justice because he felt he lacked the time for it in class, but when he switched to a school that integrated social and emotional learning into the curriculum, he found himself returning to the practice of restorative justice. The school’s social and emotional learning curriculum, which involved helping students reflect on who they are as people, showing them how to work with others, and teaching them their place in the community, helped students in practices of restorative justice and vice versa. Four schools in Montclair, New Jersey have adopted practices of restorative justice in their elementary and middle school curriculums. Overall, the response has been fairly positive with the suspension rate of the district dropping significantly and 29

community members have positive feedback. In an article from the Montclair Local News, one student said that she was naturally very shy, but the restorative justice circles have helped her practice public speaking, and she now feels more confident sharing in class. Her mother also shared that, “it’s pretty critical to social development for kids to look at each other and talk, particularly in an age when, unfortunately, now the only way my daughter can interact is over the computer.” Practices of restorative justice can help students feel more comfortable with public speaking and making connections with classmates. While many schools have had very positive results with restorative justice, an incident in a school that integrated restorative justice into their curriculum made teachers question whether or not they were appropriately preparing their students for the real world. Lyons Community School, a public middle and high school in New York City, uses restorative justice to teach their students how to regulate their emotions. In a podcast by This American Life, teachers share their concerns about whether or not restorative justice will serve their Students of Color well in interactions with the police. During a school field trip in 2014, a police officer who was not in uniform bumped into a student from Lyons. The student said “say excuse me” to the officer who had gotten off the train, but was still close by. The officer responded by cursing the student out, which triggered many of the students in the class to respond with violence, which the officer reciprocated. The officer revealed that he was a cop and called for backup. He arrested two of the highschoolers. After the incident, the school held many restorative justice circles and in one between the teachers, they discussed whether or not restorative justice was harmful to their students in that interaction with the police. They wondered if the students would have been arrested if they had been taught for years to follow authority figures directions without expressing their own feelings. However, I believe that it’s important to go even deeper; why is it that we exist in a world where individuals are granted the power to arrest and cause harm on another, especially a child, for saying 30

“excuse me”? While restorative justice certainly has the danger of students learning to speak out against injustice even when it could harm them, I am not sure this is always a bad thing. Restorative justice has many other benefits such as helping students name their emotions, learn social and emotional learning skills, practice public speaking, and resolve conflicts. While these three models of education are very intriguing and could be very helpful for many students, it is important to note that not all teaching and learning happens inside the classroom. There were successful educational systems before the formation of the United States, but most educators ignore Indigenous educational pedagogies. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, the author of “Land as Pedagogy: Nishnaabeg Intelligence and Rebellious Transformation”, writes about how Nishnaabeg people educate children without using schools at all. Instead, children learn from exploring their environment, observing animal and plant life and behaviors, reporting to their community members what they noticed, and being affirmed and believed by everyone around them. Simpson writes about this method of learning through the story of Kwezens, a young girl who discovers maple syrup after observing a squirrel. Simpson writes that this experience taught Kwezens to be “self-led, driven by both her own curiosity and her own personal desire to learn. She learned to trust herself, her family and her community. She learned the sheer joy of discovery. She learned how to interact with the spirit of the maple. She learned both from the land and with the land. She learned what it felt like to be recognized, seen and appreciated by her community. She comes to know maple sugar with the support of her family and Elders. She comes to know maple sugar in the context of love.” Isn’t this what we should want for children? Shouldn’t we want them to choose to explore and learn for themselves? Shouldn’t we let them learn in a context of love? Shouldn’t they learn from the land and with the land? While I recognize that the systems that make up the United States right now would not allow for all of our children to be educated in the same way that Nishaabeg children were before they were colo31

nized, we should be learning from their lessons about education. What if Indigenous teaching practices were interwoven into our classrooms? What if, at specific hours of the school day, children were encouraged to go outside and explore? Needless to say, we would need to credit these ideas to Indigenous peoples, like so many have neglected to do, and we need to stop forcing Native American students to attend their colonizers’ schools. All three of the models explored, differentiated instruction, expeditionary learning, restorative justice, and traditional Nishnaabeg forms of education, are very beneficial models, but each has its own challenges. None of these models are perfect, but different practices that are based in pedagogies like these can help make an ideal classroom. No one classroom will ever be perfect for every student, which is why it is important that teachers continue to use their own pedagogies and combinations of pedagogies to create their classrooms. One example of a school that combines these principles is Phoenix Modern, an elementary school in Arizona. This school incorporates mastery learning, differentiated instruction, and expeditionary learning to give their students control of their own education, even at a young age. Phoenix Modern uses a unique schedule to allow students to choose how they use their time and energy. Instead of having teachers, they have learning guides who help students with what they are working on. Phoenix Modern also incorporates the values of mastery learning by giving space for the students to self-pace and lead their education. The school does not have any tests or grades and instead the students work on long, interdisciplinary projects and have a showcase for the school community at the end of each section, which is about seven to eight weeks. It’s also quite remarkable to consider the classroom design and physical environment of Phoenix Modern; a quick Google search reveals a cool, retro-looking building that literally elevates above ground level. Classrooms are described as “studios” where students gather for “community discussion[s]” and “special enrichment opportunities” beyond just “core subjects”. The lexicon of a day at 32

Phoenix Modern is “calm”, “intentionally curated”, and “relax and recenter”, revealing the slow, gentle values that guide the educational space forward.

Phoenix Modern building via “Inside Phoenix Modern School” by Tom Tingle/The Republic

Photo via “Inside Phoenix Modern school” by Tom Tingle/The Republic. It’s especially interesting to reflect on this photo inside of Phoenix Modern next to Sana’s drawing on pages 8 and 9. Sana draws a carpeted floor featuring weavings of plants and mountains. Similarly, a lot of the drawings we’ve collected have walls decorated with hand-made posters.

Phoenix Modern is just one example of a school that combines different learning pedagogies to create a truly wonderful and unique educational experience for elementary school students. No one school model will ever work for all students, so it is important that schools incorporate different learning models into different classrooms and even into the same classroom. This gets at the purpose of education, which I believe is to inspire lifelong learners from a young age. Allowing students to choose their own educational journey is one of the best ways to inspire students to want to learn. Students deserve to choose from diverse and creative learning models for themselves. There are many different ways to teach students successfully, but all of these models have a few things in common: they focus on students, love, and the joy of learning.

Our Classroom’s Ideal Elementary School Classroom

Begin this checklist by acknowledging that there is no checklist for an ideal classroom. No formula can be replicated to ensure a class fits the needs of your students. Now, spend some time freedom dreaming. If you had all of the resources in the world and no limitations, what would your classroom look like, feel like, sound like, and smell like? Once you have some totally creative, absolutely achievable ideals, it’s time to start making small changes and working towards a more ideal classroom. What is the purpose of education to you? What will be taught and learned in this class? What teaching models can you learn and incorporate into the classroom? Reflect on the zine’s previous exploration of expeditionary learning, differentiated instruction, Indigenous teaching practices, and restorative justice. How many students does this classroom have? How many teachers does it have? 42

Are there other roles? Do individuals in this class have more than one role? Are the teachers students as well? Can the students be teachers too? Who is your classroom designed for? What are the identities and backgrounds that make up this classroom? Are they all centered in what is being taught and learned? Is there enough room for everyone? Emotionally? Physically? Are some students taking up more space than others? Do some students need more space than others? Are all students being seen? Make a list of your classroom’s ideals and values (don’t forget the purpose of education!). Now, make a list of how these ideals and values can be achieved through small, actionable steps.

Are all of your students’ physical needs met in your classroom? Does every student have access to basic necessities like hygiene products, healthy snacks, deodorant, etc.? 43

Does the classroom meet the physical needs of all its inhabitants? Check the lighting (natural and artificial), air ventilation (natural and artificial), chairs, tables, and other pieces of furniture that take up the physical space. Is the classroom physically accessible to all of your students’ needs? For example, if you have a student in a wheelchair, can they move through all of the isles between the desks? How can you make the classroom more physically comfortable for all of its inhabitants? Think: bean bags, plants, LED lights, fairy lights, posters with affirmations, sensory tools, etc. Think outside of the box! Is the classroom emotionally and mentally comfortable for all of its inhabitants? Are students being pushed to challenge themselves, while still feeling safe? Do students feel heard when they share their feelings? If the answer is no to any of these questions, how can you make the classroom more emotionally and mentally comfortable for everyone? Is there a safe spot in your classroom that students can use to calm themselves down or take a break? There is an example of this in Esme’s ideal classroom. Her teacher calls this space “the reset station” and it includes “reset tools”. Does your classroom and curriculum make your students excited to be there? You might have to ask them… Student feedback is super important!

What’s missing from this checklist? What more can you do? What support can you ask from your fellow teachers? What about support from your fellow 44

students? What support can you ask or demand from your school community and administration? Make sure the changes you are making do not just apply to your classroom. Do all of the students in your school, district, state, country, world have the same necessities that your students do? We’ll give you a hint: the answer to that is definitely no! Start fighting for all children and students through small actions you can do today. Never stop believing in the power of a good teacher!