Making my Classroom a Second Home

It is usually a house before it can become a home. The love, care and support makes the house a home, but some houses do not even become homes.

As a 23-year-old teacher my students in my classroom is my first experience of parenthood. This means I admire them as if they are my own. Thus, will our classroom be our home. Of course some learners will be more fortunate than others, but that is where I come in. My job is to make everyone feel equally in our classroom.

Not every high school learner will treat me with the necessary respect, because of my age and that is why they will most probably firmly believe that I am a challenge for them. But, what they do not know is that they are more of a challenge for me than I will ever be to them. There will be many young teachers after me, but will they maybe be my last set of learners or will they be my dream class?

To ensure that they become my dream class, I will bring all the things that they like and adore to my classroom. Let’s bring Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to their classroom. Grade 10 learners will be thrilled to hear that. Every social network will have its own wall in the classroom. On a Friday every learner will get the chance to express themselves on a social network in the classroom. There will be magazines available for them in the classroom if they want to use pictures and be more creative. The reason why I decided to use the Friday, is because it’s a perfect day to reflect on the previous four days of school. Friday is also ideal if you want to plan for the following school week. The post, tweet or picture will also remind the learner to think twice before they act during the weekend. For some high school learner’s weekends can be very challenging.

Every learner will be able to see what each one of them posts on the classrooms social networks and they can comment on each other’s posts. Through this act the learners in my class communicate and everyone has the chance to say something without needing to talk. I can also regulate their posts and comments and advise them on how to approach situations properly. By doing this I also teach my learners to manage their feelings and emotions while being active on a social network outside the classroom.

Our weekly blog posts were a marvellous form of digital pedagogy. The above mentioned is just another variation of it. Digital is the fun and modern side of, pedagogy is about how teaching is practiced. So let’s do it with learning, creative love!