Classroom helps create atmosphere for French students

CLAYSVILLE - Christine Shymchyk's class is more than four walls and a floor inside a brick-and-mortar building.

When you walk into the McGuffey High School French teacher's room, you smell creamy pumpkin and are surrounded by soft lighting.

Her whole room is decorated in a French theme.

She takes pictures of all of her students and puts them on the wall in one corner "to help them get a sense of ownership in the room."

Another area is dedicated to the French Club. There's a section on French food and another that displays flags of each country whose language is French.

Behind her desk is a black-and-white program from the ballet, "Swan Lake," she saw while she lived in Paris.

Shymchyk, who has taught at McGuffey for three years, said she takes to heart one of the most basic lessons she learned about teaching.

"You need to create a warm, welcoming environment for your students to be a successful teacher," she said. "When it's a soothing, happy place, they perform better. They like being here."

She said her favorite part is the pictures of her students.

"I love watching them grow, especially those I have for a few years," she said.

Right now, she has a fall theme of decorations, but she will change them for the holidays and again for spring.

Students will help make decorations to celebrate Mardi Gras, and those, too, will hang around the room.

When she first came to McGuffey, she said adults and students alike would suck in their breath when they saw her room.

Now, she said, everyone is used to it.

"I like to make it cozy for them and me," she said, adding that when students are feeling comfortable, she can get the curriculum through to them better.

Ninth-grader Cassandra Westfall, whose French name is Sophie, said Shymchyk's class feels warmer and smells better than others.

"When I first walked in, I was like 'Wow! This is amazing!'" the French II student recalled.

Most rooms are four just white walls, said freshman Brady Reitmeyer.

But not this one.

"It makes it very comfortable," said the student, whose French name is Jean-Pierre. "It spiffs it up."

The classroom feels more like a home environment, said Philip Maccarato, whose French name is Maurice.

"It helps you relax and makes you want to learn at the same time," the ninth-grader said.

Shymchyk said it's especially true when they are working with technology.

She said she likes to create authentic learning environments by allowing students to apply the lessons to themselves.

For example, her French II class just finished a digital story in which they brought in pictures of their family, added that to music and had to talk about it in French.

"They enjoy it," she said. "They get to express themselves."

She said she uses new technology, but not to the exclusivity of other styles, such as flash cards and the overhead projector.

"I think the technology is a good essential because we're only going to use it more in the future," said ninth-grader Bobbi Santek, whose French name is Solange.

All of the technology fits in with Shymchyk's decorations.

"It's all even. It's all equal," Bobbi said of the decorations. "We love every part of the room."

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