How do I make an acceptable classroom for the ETA

This is just a very easy to follow guide when trying to make an acceptable classroom for the Board of Governors to review before accepting it as a new class on the Elftown Academy.

Basic Guidelines

Well the basic template of what your classroom should look like is on a wiki page called the Classroom Template. The Classroom template wiki page gives you an outline of the neatness that is looked for in a wiki, it also helps you layout the classroom so it is easy for students to use.

Use consistant and easy to understand English. Try to avoid using shortened words like 'intro' or 'grad' it is just plain annoying when people do that. Also British English is used on many of the Elftown pages so please try and use British spelling as well, if you are unsure of what British spelling is, type your classroom up in a word document first and set your dictionary to English UK, it will spell check it for you.

NEVER ever copy and paste text in a wiki for your classroom and claim it as your own work. If you do so, you will be found out. So overall it is best to write it how you would explain it to a friend who is asking for help rather than just saying 'here is a chunk of information I found on this topic on a random website'. Plus if you write it in your own words it will give the Board of Governors an insight as to what your teaching abilities are like.

Classrooms with too little content in them will be denied pretty much straight away. You actually do need to have some kind of lenghty content in them rather than just a couple of sentences on your topic, so in short make it long, elaborate and detailed. Or remember it this way as LEAD:

Long
Elaborate
And
Detailed

If you can do that you have pretty much got your application accepted.

Always be sure to make a link on your classroom back to the Elftown Academy as well as the department you want your classroom to go in.

If you use photographs or images from the internet it might be an idea to state underneath them in  tags where you got the images from so if a person wishes to reference the image they can. Also if you do, do this please do not use photobucket images as they will disappear after a while and it does become a pain. But over all it doesn't matter too much if you do or don't but it is nice if you do.

Writing up your classroom

When it comes down to writing up your classroom it is best to write it up on a word document first as you can check for spelling errors as well as numerous other things such as grammar and punctuation which will be in your best interest to do. But mainly in this section I am going to give examples of good and bad context of text as well as examples of well set out classrooms and bad ones.

INTRODUCTION

To start with, we will look at what makes a good introduction. When it comes to introductions, sometimes lengthy ones are needed and sometimes short brief and to the point ones are needed. Personally when I write an introduction I make sure it is simple and to the point about the topic I am writing about, so that people know before they read any further what they are about to read.

MAIN CLASSROOM TEXT

When it comes to writing up what information for your topic you have you need to make it simple yet full of detail, thus I am going to give examples of what is expected in the case of text within a classroom. In this example, I am going to use some text from one of my own classrooms in the biology as a good example and also I will write a poor version of what you could write for it. Also remember for each new paragraph you write it should be like the good example.

Good - Firstly the topic is about Transcription in DNA. If you look at it, it is following the rule of LEAD, for it is relatively long, it is elaborate and easy to read as well as detailed enough for a person to learn from.

"Transcription takes place in the nucleus. The DNA double helix unwinds and hydrogen bonds between the bases break, allowing the two strands to partly seperate. The sequence on one of the strands, the template strand, is used in the production of a messenger RNA molecule. This mRNA is built from free RNA nucleotides which line up alongside the DNA strand. Because of base pairing the order of the bases on the DNA exactly determines the order of the bases on the RNA. In other words, every triplet code on DNA gives risk to a complementary codon on messenger RNA. This process of synthesising mRNA involves a number of enzymes such as RNApolymerase. The completed messenger RNA molecule now leaves the nucleus through a pore in the nuclear envelope (two membranes that surround the nucleus) and enters the cytoplasm. This is where the second stage takes place."

Bad - Yes this is reasonably okay if you are just learning about the topic but in truth it is extremely short and not that well thought out, it is just a really poor note form of an explanation.

"Transcription is where the double helix unwinds and the bonds between the bases breaks and the strands seperate a little. This makes a template strand used in making mRNA. mRNA is made from free RNA nucleotides that line up along a DNA strand. The order of the pairing bases of the DNA determines the order of the RNA. The finished mRNA leaves the nucleus and goes into the cytoplasm."

Also when writing up your classroom please make sure you use the correct punctuation, captitals in all the right areas and just things like that as it will help make your classroom a little more presentable.

Images

As for images, dividers and bullets in your classroom, I can ony say use them sparingly as most of the time they are not needed.

PICTURES TO HELP EXPLAIN CONTEXT

Use pictures if only needed to help explain something you are trying to say as they usually aren't really needed except for visual aides. But I always say use them spaingly.

DIVIDERS

When it comes to dividers it is usually best to just stick to the classroom template divider but if you feel a little adventurous and want to give your classroom a bit more of a personal touch then use one of the others but in alls truth I would just stick to the classroom template divider which is the first divider in the selection.

Selection of Dividers:





























BULLET POINTS

As for bullet points, I would stick with this selection and just choose the colour that matches the dividers.

Selection of Bullet Points:

               

               

Last Note

Please remember this is only a guideline as to how you should make your classroom look good, it is not exactly saying you do this and that and it will be accepted, as it may not be if a member of the Board of Governors doesn't think it is ready. Just take their advice and edit it a little to make the standard better and be patient.


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