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“I want to build spaces where each person is visible to me and to everyone else, where students are known and understood, where they feel safe and valued.”-William Ayers
Making the classroom feel like a safe place to learn has been on my mind a lot this week. How do we send the message that this is a place where we are all learning together and it's OK to make mistakes? I don't just mean the obvious, academic mistakes, but what about behavior mistakes? What about making classrooms a safe place to learn how to interact with others?
In our math methods class, our instructor introduced the idea of "I've got you." The idea is, as your teacher, I will help you learn. I will help you control yourself even when you feel out of control. I will keep you safe as you try new things and I won't let you fail.
I want the message in my classroom to be:
In this classroom we work things out together.
We help each other learn and we forgive each other when we make mistakes.
We listen to each other. We learn from each other.
I want all of my students to feel safe and valued. I want them all to have the opportunity to learn, to work things out. To revise their thinking. To try something new. I want them to know that they can trust me to keep them safe. I want them to know they are valued.
This is a huge take away I've had from our math class. She is so great at making you feel like your thoughts, your ideas, your mistakes are all an integral part of our learning process, not just as individuals but as a classroom community. We ARE all in this together. We have classrooms to teach in because we need to support each other. We are in groups so that we can use our own strengths and the strengths of others to succeed. I love the message you wrote and think it would be a great thing to put up on the wall as a constant reminder to the students that "I got you."
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ReplyDeleteYou are so right! The feeling of community we have is what I want for my students! That feeling that others are there to support your learning and help you out - (Thanks for taking all the videos, by the way!) And ... the feeling that our instructors are holding us up, too. These are invaluable to me! I am so glad to have each of you!
ReplyDeleteThis idea of community will be the content of my next blog ... the community we get from using tools like blogs to support each other's learning. Thank you for being part of my learning!