Dare to Dream
Like the process in architecture when designing a space, teachers must also apply the process of envisioning a learning space in the classroom. Before teachers can fill the classroom with furniture and bulletin boards, we must sit down and deeply reflect what we want our classroom to feel like, an important aspect when considering student and teacher well-being. Only through this foundational step will we be able to guide what furniture goes where and what themes we want to highlight. The following describes the thought behind my own “Dare to Dream” classroom.
In my classroom, I hope that the colors and the atmosphere are not overwhelming, but the room is well blended and has a sense of cohesion. I wanted to focus on using the yellow and green watercolors; yellow represents warmth and light, while green represents calm and growth. From the beginning, the first element of my project is the student’s desk. The chair is purposely positioned as if the student has gotten up from the desk. This is an invitation for my students to freely move around, physically and mentally. At the bottom left corner of my project, there is a soft rainbow of colors coming into the room. This symbolizes the colors and feelings that students may have coming into my classroom; often times, we use colors to describe how we feel, and so I wanted to use the rainbow to illustrate the various ways we may feel when we come to school.
The classroom itself is not in the completed shape of a box, but rather, one of the sides of the room has been removed. In its place, there is an open void to seeing various elements. One of them is the elephant. The elephant is symbolic of an authoritative but gentle presence; I hope to demonstrate the leadership qualities of an elephant, but I also hope to have the loyalty and soft nature of the majestic creature as well. As the elephant steps into the room, it creates a sense of power, but it also exhibits an approachable nature. In the same way as a teacher, I hope that students will be able to see those qualities.
The center of the painting is the pathway of books leading to a full-size mirror. This mirror is the main object of the artwork. I hope that students are given the opportunity to see more of who they are and their significance in the world through literature and literacy. Therefore, the pathway of books not only symbolize the things we will learn together, but also the process of finding identity through reading and writing. This is especially reflected after my K-12 experience of not seeing myself in the classroom and curriculum. With that being said, I hope to create a space where students can find themselves but also see more of others in the world, which explains why the pathway of books looks over the globe. Through this process of finding yourself, you see more of the world as well.
The oceans of the globe gradually turn into this stream flowing beside the student’s desk. This stream represents a challenge for students to swim upstream, against the current. It represents the difficulties that may come in our learning journey, but it is also an invitation for students to practice resilience and endurance. Beside the stream, there is a growing mustard tree. Not only does this tree symbolize the mustard seed of faith from my religious background, it also illustrates the community that will grow in the classroom, like a family tree. This ties in with the student’s family and the classroom family we hope to intertwine.
Finally, the background of the painting shows a broad landscape and mountain range, which symbolizes adventure and endless points of discovery. At the top of the painting, the clock hands read “be here.” The mountain ranges spell out “now.” This invites students (and myself) to be present, to be here now, and through incorporating all these things, the classroom will be a space where students are able to grow and see more of who they are. My biggest inspiration for all these aspects is my own education story. I failed to see who I was and the significance of the world in my education, but I hope to create a different pathway for my future students, where students come into the room and fill the space with who they are, and at the same time, students are challenged to see past the classroom into their community (local and global).
