Blog #6 Alfie Kohn

Alfie Kohn's chart has two categories: "Good Signs" and "Possible Reasons to Worry." I agree with many of Kohn's ideas in this chart because it provides some things to consider as a future teacher when setting up the classroom and teaching. In my future classroom, I will put the time and effort to make my room as welcoming and open as possible for all my students. I want to create a safe space where students have fun learning and enjoy coming to my classroom every day. When I think about what are the things I loved about school in the past, a lot of it falls under Kohn's "Good Signs" column. Throughout my entire schooling, I have always felt more comfortable and welcomed when the environment itself looked and felt open and welcoming. During my sophomore year of high school, my English teacher had a classroom with lamps and lots of decorations around her room to make it feel cozy. Our desks were grouped in twos facing the front board, but we always collaborated and moved around to work together in groups of four. Past students would sometimes stop by to say Hi and see my teacher when we weren't in the middle of a lesson. This teacher's room and her teaching style will probably always stay with me because not only did I learn a lot from her lessons, but I was comfortable and felt safe in her classroom. 

This week, we reflected on our own experiences in our mentoring classrooms. We took Kohn's chart and circled what we felt showed what we saw in the classroom and teaching. For example, I am working with PreK students, and their classroom has one long table for the kids to sit at, an area for rug time, and lots of toys and play areas. The classroom falls under Kohn's "good signs" because there are plenty of comfortable areas for learning and lots of activities to do. Not only that, but the walls are covered with students' work, there are always sounds of the students learning and playing, and the teachers in the room (including myself) are always interacting with the kids. I feel like these things are important to consider as we become future teachers. 

Overall, my mentor classroom falls under the "Good Signs" column, and the school itself seems like it falls under that column, too. Hopefully, in the future, I will work at a school that shows all the "Good Signs," and my classroom will fall under that category, too.