The classroom environment should foster cooperation and acceptance as much as the teaching methods used by the teacher.” (Bucholz 2009) I sincerely believe that the classroom outline honestly reveals what the teacher's intrinsic values are regarding his or her students and their education. My classroom will also reflect my educational philosophy. I believe that to provoke achievement, motivation and purpose in my students, the space will need to reflect and facilitate my expectations. The classroom space, just like the world, should never be static. My classroom will reflect my students and their learning outcomes. The walls will include posters, projects and skills relevant to the current area of study. It will essentially be a non-authoritarian environment where students can feel welcomed, wanted and appreciated as individuals. As in a progressive classroom, most of the time within the walls of my classroom, desks will be placed in appropriate groups to promote cooperative learning and teamwork skills through the use of group projects , active hands-on experimentation, and deeply rooted learning through questions and answers. Alternatively, I believe in the importance of students not always relying on the “groupthink” aspect. They must be able to be strong self-thinkers and ultimately know how to depend on themselves for answers. This is why my classroom will, at times, be set up in an essentialist environment with desks neatly arranged in individual rows. I believe this provision allows the individual student to be held accountable for themselves. I believe the importance of this is to develop strong thinkers and leaders in society, rather than cooperative followers
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