Last night I watch the movie Freedom Writers and those student began to feel the classroom as a home. The teacher, Mrs. Erin Gruwell allowed her students to share their stories and incorporated their struggles into the classroom. This allowed the students to first see the teacher as a human who genuinely cared for them which facilitated the students to be open with one another along with the teacher, who initially knew nothing of their upbringings. The desks were initially set up in lines facing the front of the room. This set up did not allow the students to discuss with one another and further broke up the cliches/groups. As I watched, the desks moved to the sides and the desks faced each other. This set up allowed the students to discuss more with each other. This built a better community because were encouraged to debate and their views mattered in Mrs. Gruwell's class.
During my practicum experience, I have a teacher I observe who had couches in his classroom. I never asked why the couches or how do you decided who sits at the couches but I see that this makes the room 'homey'.
Lastly, I had a teacher in high school or who had a stuffed class pet; it was a penguin. This penguin went on trips with the students and became a mascot. For example, two students went to Hawaii during Christmas break and the penguin went along on the trip. The penguin became a symbolic identifier for the class.
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