Journal #5 : Alfie Kohn


Image result for a good classroomImage result for a good classroom

I believe that the school that I am at right now is very closely related to Alfie Kohn’s version of a good
classroom. The classroom is warm and full of supplies for the students such as books, colored pencils
markers, and toys. The desks are in groups or clusters where all the students can look at each other.
The teacher is rarely in front of the students lecturing they always have an activity, center, iPad or game
to play. On the walls, the students have their worksheets and activities posted. The students are engaged
and love answering their teacher's questions with raised hands or shouted answers. The students have
been very warm and kind to me and have noticed that I look a little different than them. The class
discussions are lead by the teacher but the students talk to either directly as well. Questions are asked
by the teacher and students equally. I do not agree with Kohn’s opinion on when a teacher says “who
can tell me…” is a bad sign because I believe that it is guiding them to seek answers. The students have
centers that they participate in groups every fifteen minutes for thirty minutes and they move around the
room to do so. While this is going on the teacher will pull students aside and work with them. The school
itself is beautiful and full of character, the hallways are neat and clean with the rooms seem a little dirtier
and disorderly. The library is well stocked but it is in the lower part of the building, so there are poles
and pipes all over the place and you have to walk around them. The bathroom is not in good condition
the children hate using it. A little girl almost was crying because she said she had to go to the bathroom
so bad but didn’t want to go because it was so dirty. The teacher and I told her the toilet paper trick when y
ou used the toilet and she felt a little better. The office staff is kind and helps us direct us to places in the
building when we are lost. The students and teachers as well have been so kind too. I do agree with a
majority of what Kohn observes and the categories aside from the organizational parts and the ways a
teacher can start a question for students to answer.

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