Visualizing Your Future Classroom

Objective

As you begin your journey toward becoming an educator, it's important to start visualizing the kind of classroom you might one day lead. This assignment will help you reflect on your own educational background and begin to imagine the environment in which you’d like to teach.

Since you don't have a specific classroom yet, I want to use your high school (or middle school or elementary school if appropriate) as a basis for this assignment.

Why This Matters:
This assignment will help you begin to visualize a specific classroom that you can refer back to in future assignments. It also helps me understand your background and goals so I can better support your development as a future educator.

Instructions

Write a short reflection (approximately 500–700 words) that introduces me to your high school experience and uses that as a foundation to describe the kind of classroom you hope to teach in the future. Your reflection should include the following:

Part 1: Your School Context

• Location and Size: Was your school rural, suburban, or urban? How many students attended?
• Demographics: What was the racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic makeup of your school?
• Local Economy: What kinds of jobs were common in your community? What did your parents or guardians do for work?
• Technology Access: What kind of access to computers or tech did students have? Were CS classes offered?

Part 2: Your Future Classroom

• Grade Level and School Type: What grade(s) do you want to teach? Would you prefer a public, private, charter, or alternative school?
• Classroom Vision: Describe the kind of classes you want to teach. This should include what subjects, but also might include a brief discussion about the kind of teacher you want to be (teaching styles, etc.)
• Student Population: Who do you imagine your students will be? What kinds of backgrounds might they come from?
• Learning Environment: What kind of classroom culture do you want to create? How will students engage with technology?

You should submit this reflection via Blackboard before class starts on Friday, August 29th.