Over the past seven months my home away from home became the learning community in Room 312.

This classroom contains 23 fourth grade students. These students come from homes speaking four different languages with English proficiency levels ranging from EPL 1-EPL 5. 20 out of my 23 students are students ELs, who have a language in addition to English spoken in their home environments. 13 of these students receive ELL services (both push in and push out) and 4 students are on behavior management plans (504).

Celebration of student work and student success!

These types of statistics inform the teaching which took place in Room 312, but as any teacher knows, these students are so much more than these labels. These students are inquisitive, caring, kind, capable, and so much more.  Reaching each student, and preparing each student for the future was a priority which impacted the design of each lesson prepared and taught in Room 312. In practice this meant using subject matter which connects with our particular students, creating scaffolds for those who need them, challenging those who are ready, and giving students choices when the opportunity arises.

Example of an academic support.

          The structure of our classroom speaks directly to the style of teaching which occurred in the room. The students sit in table of small groups, showing the importance of collaboration. The teacher’s desks are located in the back which shows that the focus is on the students and that the teachers trust the students enough for us not to be sitting right next to them, watching them. The walls are covered with modeled strategies and student work showing that this classroom is a space to support and celebrate the students efforts. Finally, the rug is right in the front in the middle, showing that full community learning is valued. Each morning we start the day by posting a morning message which states the outline for the day, usually has some type of fun fact or student shout out. This was an easy way to teach the students something fun, welcome to the room each day and give students credit when they deserve it.

        The Room 312 community are rockstars in their ability to work as a cohesive community! When the speaker is talking students S.L.A.N.T which means that the students

Students working together to replicate a story map.

are sitting up straight, listening carefully, asking and answering questions, nodding their head, and tracking the speaker. During full groups discussion times students are also given accountable talk sentence stems, such as “My partner Armando said….” or ” I disagree with (idea) because…”. These classroom structures along with activities such as writing up lifting comments to each other on a kindness Padlet built a respectful and engaging classroom expectation.