New Era, New Classrooms by Mariam

New Era, New Classrooms by Mariam - July 2020 Scholarship Essay

Inspiring. Innovative. Illustrated. I vision my dream classroom would implement these three special I’s to enhance the education of students, especially focusing on pre-medical, a tough journey often completed in traditional classroom settings without the motivation, technology, and environment the students require to succeed.

One of my first tips to anyone for pursuing anything is to get enthusiasm in your goal, if you’re not incentive to drive towards your target point, you might slug off in the middle of the road, or not give it the full attention and effort it may require. In my visionary pre-med classroom, it would showcase an array of different medical professionals, from a variety of diverse races, colors, and genders to promote diversity within each medical student’s education. It would also give students the energy, the motivation every learner mentally needs, to see their goal is excitingly possible. Consequently, implementing these short changes could inspire a student to persevere a few more years or perhaps motivate them enough to complete that mid-term with better effort, all they need a strong force of encouragement. Specifically, medicine is the field of compassion, empathy, and well-being towards our living in any form, and nothing, absolutely nothing, can stand in our way if we’re internally passionate about our goal and drive it from the encouragement of others, that goal can be universally anything.

Secondly, I envision a modern and technological classroom, entirely developed digitally for each specific class. This would accommodate for reducing paper-pen-supplies, (saving our environment in the run!), and transfer the main ideas from the professor to the student through a visual application, all brain & world efficiently. Very commonly, many public colleges and universities don’t have the proper inventions to teach their curriculum, which bores and fails students right in their first step to a long-term career. Classes should be visual as possible, such as in the medical field, where the body is meant to be investigated thoroughly and entirely for learning purposes; otherwise, you won’t have the right model/image/concept in your mind when you’re learning about its functions (physiology), its intricate structure (anatomy), or its treatments (surgery, medicine, therapy, etc.). For example, a 3D visual board that displays the human body in all its sections, and details would work magnificently for several classes that focus on the human body structure and treatment. Another example is a digital smart-board, which would require fewer to none stationery supplies, and easily accommodate more options (such as pre-made shapes, different ink colors, ability to place images and draw over them, display videos, insert presentations, etc...), moreover displaying it all over a large, see-able, bright board. In recent years, we’ve advanced in all of our fields beyond our previous minds, it’s only fair we innovate and advance our teaching techniques too.

Last, but not least, a creative outlook would do wonders in my dream classroom that promotes out-of-the-box thinking! We may have all the digital boards and the right motivational posters, but we still need to design the classroom a place where you feel energized by just looking at your surroundings. Instead of stifling a yawn as you turn away from the bare cream-colored walls and a ticking clock in the center, the room should bring a vibrant vibe through its classroom structure, not only illustrative in the walls, but also in its seating and furniture. Illustrative doesn’t mean only in relation to drawing, but also in the dexterous sense of creativity and expressiveness, something that engages the students to keep their attention spans up, and perhaps even wish class not to end! An inviting classroom doesn’t need to harbor bright, neon color paints on the wall, it could be a single-color tone, but with the right décor, something perhaps humorous, aesthetic, or educational, something that keeps student active and thinking. For example, displaying the different organs of the body on the wall in an Anatomy and Physiology class would be super-efficient as the professor can refer to them as needed, and the students can have all their environment rightly focused on the class’s theme, purpose, and objective.

Pre-medical is the first taste a student receives in their steps to become a health-professional, why don’t we invest in the materials they need in order to give us better the health we need in the future? And this is just one personal derived question, as I'm a future pre-med student, but this is an overall question for every type of student, why don't we invest early on in the learning process so we have more innovative workers in the future? We have the inspiring minds, we have the innovative technologies, and we have the creative ideas to achieve this with the help of different people, perhaps right in our own communities who could help implement these new changes more accessible! As with our recent events, we’ve undergone countless new changes in less than a few months, we’ve proved to the world we can accommodate almost any challenge out there if we consider it important. We can also take the important challenging steps to improve the traditional-style classrooms and use this pandemic as a call for us to reinvent our teaching styles and instigate to teaching our future generation with better-equipped classrooms.