Cheesy Posters

Sarina Castella

In elementary school, my teachers were my idols. My favorite teacher was my 3rd grade teacher,
Mrs. Berry, who stood out from others by making the classroom entertaining and keeping her students on
task. She was an effective teacher because she gave rewards and fair disciplinary repercussions. She
was very lighthearted and made students feel that they were in the right place as soon as they walked in
the door. I aspire to be my own Mrs. Berry to my future students.
In the ESL classroom that I intern in, my coordinating teacher has two round tables so that each
student can see each other and the teacher during lessons. There are inspiring quotes on the wall and a
smart board in the front of the room. This setup is very similar to the way I envision my future classroom
because it gives lots of opportunity for discussion which is very important in ESL. This allows students
equal access to hands on opportunities with the smartboard. The classroom has empty space in the
middle of the room for students to sit and read on the floor. This makes the room feel less condensed.
Another asset to the room, that I love and will utilize in my future classroom, is the inspiring quotes
posters. These posters may come off as cheesy, but I believe that without them the room looks vacant
and they give the students an extra sense of motivation and belonging. I will avoid making my room
overstimulating by sticking to a color scheme of only pink and white as much as possible.
Going through elementary school and, now, being an ESL intern, I have a lot of experience with
classrooms. This helps me understand which methods of classroom management works and which
doesn’t. For example, some students have a hard time paying attention and sitting in the same chair for 7
plus hours a day and, because of that, become off task easily. A sufficient solution for this is to have other
chairs that let them move around, such as a spin chair. The students can have the option of switching to
this chair if they pay attention, as a reward. A bad solution for this would be to scold the student for not
being able to sit still and let their grades reflect this. Another example that I have seen and want to
administer to my classroom, is to have behavioral rewards such as candy or a bendy pencil. I will
organize this by having a color coded chart on the side of their seat that coordinates with their behavior of
that day. They will “clip up”, meaning good behavior, or “clip down”, meaning bad behavior. If they clip all
the way up, they will receive their reward.
My future classroom will be neat, clean and organized with references to the rewards and
disciplines for classroom management, while also accommodating to students who have a harder time
paying attention. I will have many pretty decorations and inspiring quote posters to liven up the room.
Lastly, I want my students to understand that when they walk into my room, they are welcomed and
should be ready to learn.