Classroom 204 Door Sign

       As you pass through the doorway into room 204, you will find 16 young learners expanding their thinking capacities and engaging the power of their minds. Students embody the mindset and thinking strategies needed as they embark across disciplines. Students become readers, writers, mathematicians, engineers, scientists, and historians throughout the year. Students diverse experiences in the classroom reflect their diverse interests and diversity in their backgrounds as well. My students come from Ghana, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Columbia, and the United States. I have students who receive a wide range of services outside of the room. Almost every student is an English Language learner and I also have two students receiving special education services and two students receiving speech services. 

      In our room, we focus on building a strong classroom community built on mutual respect, collaboration, and trust between students and teachers. Each morning, after students settle in, they start by writing into their conversation journals. My mentor teacher and I respond every day to these entries to build relationships and open the ways of communication to our students. This exercise builds a routine, strengthens their writing skills, and increases their stamina for writing. It also allows for students to express themselves in their writing and share experiences and information with a teacher in a confidential way which builds trust and respect between us. After finishing journals, we have morning meeting every day as a part of the Responsive Classroom approach. This consists of greeting which ranges from handshake, ball toss, and different language. Then we do an activity to engage our minds and get ready to learn. After that, we read a morning message and discuss our day ahead. To conclude, students share anything they wish from their lives and answer questions and comments from their peers. This morning routine is essential to our community and building our class into a family of trust, 

View of Classroom 204 from Doorway

     Both my mentor teacher and myself strive to make our classroom a safe learning environment for all of our students to push their limits and take risks with learning. We help shape this through our school’s S.T.A.R. program for behavior expectations. We encourage our students to do their best in their academics as well as help each other create a space that can produce high quality work through respect and on-task behaviors. Students embrace mistakes and learn to take risks while facing new challenges by using the tools they have available to them including each other, anchor charts, and teachers as resources. By using everything they have available and collaborating to build understanding, students and teachers shape the classroom into an area where trust can guide exploration and perseverance is necessary for success.