Perfection In Learning by Ashlen

Perfection In Learning by Ashlen - October 2014 Scholarship Essay

Every classroom is different, just like every teacher is different. People learn in all sorts of different ways. One reason they learn in certain subjects better might not be just because they do not particularly like the subject area. It might be the environment in which they are learning. The things I personally need are simple, yet sadly lacking in most classrooms.

At my school, I am involved in the chorus and musical theater program. The atmosphere of these classes is one of the first things I wish I could put into every class. The room in which these classes occur for me is basically my home. I love it with all my heart. It is not just a place I go into for an hour, tapping my foot while I wait and hope for the bell to ring. It is the class I, and many others, walk into and feel comforted and loved. The people in these programs are my family. We all help and watch each other’s backs. Comfort is the main thing I wish i could place in my ideal learning environment. I feel it gives students the ability to learn without worrying about being judged, which as much as some might say it does not bother them, it affects every one of us.

In my ideal classroom, the other thing I would have in there is colors. When I say colors, I do not mean the colors taped up to the wall for us to learn, that would just be silly for a high school. I mean decorations and patterns in the furniture and the boards, also the curtains. So many classrooms you walk into are very drab. Would you not learn better if you walked into a classroom and immediately felt interested and felt like this was a nice place in itself to look at. Instead of going into a place and seeing the plain desks and blinds, the same ones you see in every other classroom. I feel this would help students want to be in class. I know I would much rather be in a decorated, pretty room than a grey and beige room with nothing to look at.

As a last addition to my classroom, there would have to be a "fun" station, something to motivate students to do their work. In this station I would have different sorts of activities. Drawing materials for the more artsy type students, extra credit opportunities for the kids wanting to boost their grades or just enjoy doing work, different genres of books for the students who love to read, and lastly I would have an Mp3 player with clean music for the more musical students that like to listen to new types of music. This station would be available for students who have finished their work and hopefully it will be a good motivational tool. Now, what if they just do the work and not really try? What if they just speed through it? To avoid situations such as these, the teacher would be required to check over the work first before the student may proceed to the activities.

These are the features that I personally want to have in my ideal classroom. I feel they would increase the want to learn, something i believe many students are missing. If we can just increase that want to learn, grades will improve and participation in school would become so much more common.