Creating havens of wonderment

Five ingredients for an active learning classroom environment:

Community: I hope my students grow to respect and to care for one another. I want them to learn from each other, as Vygotsky prescribes. I want them to care that their peers learn, and to care about more than themselves.
Scaffolds: I want my students to keep reaching for new knowledge with my help and the help of their fellow students. We need to keep growing and learning, and Vygotsky’s scaffolds will help us do that.
Risk: I want my students to take risks: Risk the wrong answer. Risk a mistake. Risk a failed experiment. And know that risk is part of learning, and encouraged in our classroom.
Play: I believe my students can learn through play and they need the freedom to pursue it. But like Dewey, I believe that “it’s fun” is not enough and that you should strive to make the play purposeful.
Wonderment: I want my students to feel like the classroom is place of wonder, where they can explore and find new treasures every day. I want them to enter curious and remain curious. As Montessori suggests, they should have easy access to books, games, puzzles and other tools to help them explore their interests.

I believe children need adults who care about them, teach them and love them. Regardless of what their homes are like, they need somebody who each day relentlessly strives to meet their needs, to grow their learning and to build their health, confidence and dreams. They need unconditional support, but they also need to be pushed to greater heights.

I believe teachers should be tireless advocates for their children. They need to give heart and soul to their children each day, while looking toward their future. They must infuse each day with the wealth of their experience, the details of their planning and the passion and energy of a warrior. They should be constant learners themselves, pursuing new research, new knowledge, new opportunities for their students. They should believe in the ability of all of their students to learn and achieve (I look to this song for inspiration. )Teachers should see their work as a privilege and an honor to shape students’ hearts and minds and treat it with like devotion.

I believe schools should be havens for students where they are safe, where their confidence soars and where they look forward to coming every day. They should be filled with books, ideas and adults committed to the well-being and dreams of students. They should be constantly evolving and improving, adapting to deliver what is the best education possible. They should be second homes, not only for students, but for their parents, a place where parents feel invested and welcome. They should be home to a community of teachers and staff who care about each other and journey together each day on a shared mission.