My mentor teacher has been working at the high school that I observed at for several years, and you can certainly tell they have incorporated their personality and passion for history into the classroom. My mentor teacher jokes that they put him in the basement, or "the dungeon" as he calls it, so that no one can find him. But I think he is the lucky one because he is one of the few with temperature control within his own classroom. We laughed as he admitted to welcoming some new technology and decorations within his classroom, while not being willing to let go of some older resources (such as the speaker from the 1970s or the massive projector screen). But perhaps what I admire the most within his classroom are the piles and shelves of history books, which students are free to read from at any time. Within the classroom there are historical images and posters, such as the past United States Presidents, maps, flags, historical documents, newspaper clippings, and famous historical images or figures. From an organizational perspective he has bins for each one of his class for students to hand in their work, and even white binders for some students to keep their work in. At the front of the classroom displayed on the first bulletin board upon walking in, are the Delaware History Standards, the bell schedule, along with the yearly school calendar with important dates, and where he updates the specific school day and lunch period. In the front right corner of the classroom is where you can see more of my mentor teacher's personality and educational background displayed. An aspect I thought unique to the school was that every teacher displayed their college banners on a bulletin board, in my mentor teacher's case he has four which include both his college and masters programs. Additionally, within this corner he has his previous teacher of the year nominations for the high school, along with the yearbook in which he was awarded teacher of the year within his school. Since the classroom is so far from the teacher's lounge, my mentor teacher brought their own printer and supplies for his own personal use. All along the far right wall of the classroom are various students' work on a past Civic's project. Since the desks are so spread out my mentor teacher rarely uses the side or back whiteboard, and he mainly utilizes the front white board and projector screen. Although, most recently my mentor teacher has transformed the back white board as a "College Acceptance" board, where all of his students can proudly list all the various colleges they have been accepted to thus far. This also is an opportunity for the younger classmen to see not only what their peers have accomplished, but it is also displayed to hopefully inspire them to continue their higher education as well. It was great to see students eagerly list their most recent acceptance! The back left corner of the classroom is what I have deemed as the "teacher corner," where ironically my mentor teacher rarely sat down as he was too busy pacing around the classroom discussing and teaching students. My mentor teacher has his desk along with an additional side table, which I used as my temporary desk. The school provided my mentor teacher a desk computer as well as a laptop, which he was then able utilize two screens when teaching; this became extremely useful when preparing videos or articles while still displaying the PowerPoint when teaching. In the back "teacher corner" is where the speaker (from the 70's) and sound system is located, which made adjusting volume levels extremely easy; additionally you can see a pile of real LIFE magazines from past decades. Within the back corner is another side table, a podium, file cabinet, and a closet. My mentor teacher joked that the podium was "retired" as he much rather walk around discussing and engaging with the students than standing behind a pulpit. Within the cabinet and closet is where he stores his years of accumulated resources, previous texts, and some soccer supplies since he also coaches the soccer team. Overall, my mentor teacher made this "dungeon" a home for history and learning and I look forward to creating my own safe space as well.
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