Ideal School

I haven’t been to many other schools so reading and my personal experiences are what I am basing my ideal school on. I like the Charter Schools because they didn’t seem to be hindered by the Public school system’s rules and regulations but were still open to the public because of their use of tax dollars. In my ideal setting, there would be a Charter school that had a direct feed into a Magnet school. This way, the students who show a talent in a certain area could go to the Magnet school to have that talent expanded upon. It would be even better if there was a way that funding could be provided for the students who wanted to go into a more specialized program to attend the Magnet school without the cost of attending a private school.

I plan to teach at the middle school level. The school I went to housed Kindergarten through Eighth grade in one building. I liked having the different levels in one school because there was a mentor system that was set up. During the holidays the middle school students would team up with the Third through Fifth grade students for games and crafts, and had a great time. The younger kids would look up to us and we could help them when they needed someone closer to their level. For this reason, I think having a school that has all of these grades together, in one building, would be ideal. I suppose this could also work in a campus setting where different buildings house different levels of students, but I think that keeping them all together helps create a sense of community.

Of course every school needs to have a system of Administrators and workers to keep the school running efficiently. My ideal school would have a system like the ones used by most public schools, but it would be great if there was more of a democracy when it came to decisions being made about classrooms and teaching styles. In this way, the teachers can teach in the ways that are comfortable to their personal style, but still have certain stipulations that must be adhered to; all of which is come to through discussion rather than one head person making rules and enforcing them. I also feel that the workers for the school, such as maintenance, cafeteria, and office staff should be allowed in on the discussions as well so that they are being treated fairly. Without them to look after their parts of the school, it wouldn’t run very well if at all.

I’m sure that as teachers or prospective teachers we all pray for well behaved students who will be interested in what we are there to teach them. Unfortunately this isn’t always the case and I think it is something that should be accepted ahead of time. With that said, my ideal school would have a diverse community of students and teachers. I like having a group of people with different mindsets and backgrounds when it comes to discussions. I plan to teach both English and Art and feel that discussion is a tool I will be using frequently in my teaching methods. With many diverse opinions there is more opportunity for students (and sometimes teachers) to see a perspective that was otherwise hidden from them.

To add to the experience of having a diverse group of students, this ideal school would also have access to many resources. Since we are in the age of technology it seems appropriate to have a fully stocked technical center in the school. This will provide students access to a plethora of resources during their studies. I’m not sure that it has been done yet, but a teacher I talked with not that long ago had thought of bringing virtual technologies into the classroom, so they could show there students a better representation of what was being discussed in class. I think it would be neat if this actually began to happen in schools. It may prove to be a great tool in the future of learning.

On the other side of the technological spectrum, I would also like to have a well stocked library for students and teachers to access. Just because we are in the age of technology does not mean that there should be a loss of how to look things up in a book and use texts as research material. I may be biased, being a future English teacher and all, but I don’t think you can have a school without having a library, so why not make it a great one.

Overall, the ideal school would be one that provided a great experience for students and teachers alike. There is never going to be a perfect school, perfect doesn’t exist, but I feel that the school I described above, would be a great one to work at.