September 27, 2021
Throughout my educational experience I experienced a variety of teachers, all with different views of how a classroom should be organized.
My elementary classrooms had a variety of learning spaces and movement of students throughout our educational journey. The boundaries of this classroom were very unlimited, invisible at times, which allowed opportunities for relationship building within the classroom. Bright colours filled the walls, our desks were rearranged into different groupings weekly, and movement within the classroom was encouraged. School was an enjoyable experience where I felt equal and willing to learn from those surrounding me as they had the opportunity to express multiple different ways of life. Our class was a family, as relationship building was an apparent priority.
When I entered high school the factory model of education became reality within my life making school a much more dreaded process. Students became a product within an education factory monitoring success through academic assignments (Pirbhai-Illlich and Martin 2019). This created self-confidence issues as I began to question if my worth relied on unrealistic grades. Our class shifted from a family into cliques that divided many relationships. Though at times I appreciated silence and independence, it also created a monotone learning environment. An object-based model was incorporated into core classes; students were bound to desks and hierarchy of teacher, “teachers’ favourites”, and the average student seemed abnormally proper. Some educators did offer a brief viewpoint of the relational model though it was rare and often a privilege.