Hello, and welcome! You are about to take a tour of my secondary English classroom, room 206, at Fukuoka International School. This year my room houses the grade 6, 9, and 11 Language & Literature classes, as well as grade 10 Language Acquisition. At my school we use an International Baccalaureate (IB) framework, which means my grade 6-`10 classes are part of the Middle Years Program (MYP) and my grade 11 class is part of the Diploma Program (DP).
Who are my learners?
My students are some of the most hardworking and passionate students I've had the opportunity to work with. The students in my classes also hail from fairly diverse backgrounds because our school is the only international school in our immediate area. I teach students from Japan, Korea, China, New Zealand, Poland, America... the list goes on!
In the IB there are two different tracks students can take with language learning - Language and Literature or Language Acquisition. Generally speaking, Language and Literature would be the closest to what a typical Language Arts class in the US might look like; we read and analyze novels, we do formal writing, we hold debates and discussions. Language Acquisition is for students who are acquiring the basic literacy skills in English: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. My Language Acquisition class is entirely comprised of English Language Learners (ELLs). However, there are also many ELL students in my Literature courses! They just happen to have been studying English most of their lives and have reached near-native proficiency.
In the IB there are two different tracks students can take with language learning - Language and Literature or Language Acquisition. Generally speaking, Language and Literature would be the closest to what a typical Language Arts class in the US might look like; we read and analyze novels, we do formal writing, we hold debates and discussions. Language Acquisition is for students who are acquiring the basic literacy skills in English: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. My Language Acquisition class is entirely comprised of English Language Learners (ELLs). However, there are also many ELL students in my Literature courses! They just happen to have been studying English most of their lives and have reached near-native proficiency.
My Classroom layout
In the slideshow above you can see the layout of my classroom. I value group work and small group discussion, so my desks are generally arranged to facilitate these activities. Due to COVID-19, I cannot make the groups as large as I normally would, so for now most desks are in pairs.
I'm also very lucky to have a room with plenty of windows, so I get sunshine throughout the day! I choose not to cover up too much of the window space, as I think the natural light brightens up the room quite a bit. I do, however, choose to hang some student work here, as well as some of the command terms and vocabulary for my subject. This is especially helpful for my ELL students, in case they need to reference it.
My whiteboard has the day's date and agenda, which is separated by grade level. Not only does it help keep me organized, but my students also check it daily when they arrive. It gives them a brief preview of what they have in store for them in English! I also keep a small set of cubbies underneath the board because it gives me a perfect place to set out the materials I need for the day, but it also provides each of my classes a space to keep things like their notebooks or extra novels for silent reading.
In the upper windows (that look out onto the hallway) I keep small posters with the IB Learner Profile traits - traits that we expect all IB students to exemplify in their learning and throughout their school environment. The traits are an integral part of all subjects in the IB, and the students know them quite well. Because they represent the core values of our school, I keep them displayed all year.
I'm also very lucky to have a room with plenty of windows, so I get sunshine throughout the day! I choose not to cover up too much of the window space, as I think the natural light brightens up the room quite a bit. I do, however, choose to hang some student work here, as well as some of the command terms and vocabulary for my subject. This is especially helpful for my ELL students, in case they need to reference it.
My whiteboard has the day's date and agenda, which is separated by grade level. Not only does it help keep me organized, but my students also check it daily when they arrive. It gives them a brief preview of what they have in store for them in English! I also keep a small set of cubbies underneath the board because it gives me a perfect place to set out the materials I need for the day, but it also provides each of my classes a space to keep things like their notebooks or extra novels for silent reading.
In the upper windows (that look out onto the hallway) I keep small posters with the IB Learner Profile traits - traits that we expect all IB students to exemplify in their learning and throughout their school environment. The traits are an integral part of all subjects in the IB, and the students know them quite well. Because they represent the core values of our school, I keep them displayed all year.
Student work
As seen in several of the previous pictures, student work plays a large role in my classroom design. While I do hang posters and anchor charts to help support learning, I ultimately want the students to feel like they have some ownership over the room too.
Below, you can see my grade 9 Language and Literature students' most recent assignment - creating a symbolic image! We are currently doing a dystopian literature unit, during which we are reading The Giver by Lois Lowry. After studying about symbolism, I asked students to create an image that symbolizes something from our novel so far; a character, an event, a theme. Look below for examples of art and student writing!
Below, you can see my grade 9 Language and Literature students' most recent assignment - creating a symbolic image! We are currently doing a dystopian literature unit, during which we are reading The Giver by Lois Lowry. After studying about symbolism, I asked students to create an image that symbolizes something from our novel so far; a character, an event, a theme. Look below for examples of art and student writing!
"The puppet being controlled symbolizes how the citizens are being dominated by the government. There are two chains on the puppet, one that is tied and another one that is broken. The chain that is tied expresses how the citizens cannot run away from their community and the other broken chain represents the first four chapters where things are still okay and they are still free, but gradually more harm will come and attack them. I have shaded the back of the puppet to emphasize the darkness and gloomy fact of not having any freedom."
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"In my symbol, there are two main elements. In the center, a small boy glowing with colorful light, trying to cover up his differences. This boy represents Jonas, who is trapped in a dark hallway. He is hiding his differences from a huge monster that is looming behind him, who is trying to swallow him so nobody can see him anymore. The monster and the eyes in the wall represents the Elders and Speakers, humiliating people for being different in any way, always watching."
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In my grade 10 Language Acquisition class, students wrote questions for and conducted an interview with a bilingual/multilingual staff member at our school to learn about the experiences of other language learners in our community. Students then formatted their conversations into magazine interviews to be "published".