Current Classroom Design
Currently, I have my students placed into groups of 4 to 5 students. This year, I have a pretty small class of 17 students, which is really nice when being compared to the amount of students I had last year (27). This obviously makes a world of a difference in the amount of space that I have in my classroom. Since the groups are smaller, the students are able to move around the room easily. The benefits of having a smaller class also allowed me to purchase a big blow up chair, two bean bag chairs, and two carpets on in the from of the room and one in the back with the comfy chairs. One thing I don't really have a tech station because of the students being one to one. However, I do allow the to do their work around the room.
Redesign Option
 |
| My colleague's classroom with tables at different heights, milk crates as seats, bins to hold binders, pillows at another table, yoga balls, and stools. She also has an area where the students can lounge in bean bag and beach chairs. |
21 Century Learning environments have to allow students to be able to get up and moving around the classroom so that they are able collaborate with one another. This is the main reason as to why I always put my students into groups. When they were in 3rd grade, one of the 3rd grade teachers changed her room from having desks and chairs to tables of different heights, pillows, yoga balls, and stools to sit on. She said the students really enjoyed having the ability to move around the room and it gave a sense of relaxation. I asked her if it really made a difference in their academic levels and she said yes. She stated that there was a study that she found on Edutopia (Article Link) that claimed that flexible seating helps increase academic ability up to 25%. So, if I was given $1,000 I would use it to buy all of the materials that my colleague uses for her classroom. In addition, I've always been interested in placing a dining room table with chairs as one of my flexible seating options, so the money would also go towards that as well I would also buy up-to-date iPads to make a technology station as well.
Blogs From Educators on Flexible Design
Here is an example of the blog that my colleague used to help her create a flexible design classroom.
- Her name is Meghan and she is a 1st grade teacher in California who uses flexible seating with her students. She provides examples of what flexible seating may look like within a classroom.
- Another teacher that I found to be very helpful is Jennifer Ward. She is a high school teacher that decided that she wanted to change to a flexible design classroom. She provides her experience switching from traditional to flexible, as well as what resources she used to make the switch happen.
Resources:
Visualizing 21st-Century Classroom Design. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2018, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/visualizing-21st-century-classroom-design-mary-wade
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteI love that you compared your own classroom to your coworker's classroom to investigate how a change in seating may impact your own class/students. There's really no better comparison than a classroom in your own building to give you an accurate, authentic look as to how it may or may not function in your room. You mentioned, "In addition, I've always been interested in placing a dining room table with chairs as one of my flexible seating options, so the money would also go towards that as well...". I found this funny as I have a dining room table and chairs drawn out in my future classroom floor plans! I even have the table and chairs on hold in my basement for their future use!
Thanks for your thoughts,
Nicole Stouffer
Hi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteThat is too funny! I've actually visited another classroom in a totally different school district, and one of the things that I thought was interesting was the dining room table. My friend that works at this school said that there is a lot of co-teaching that happens so it's easy for both teachers to access each student, especially if they're working with them in groups. But, yeah I really want to talk to my administration to see if I can implement something like that with my students next year. That is fantastic though!
Hi Shannon,
ReplyDeleteI liked the original style that you had your classroom arranged in. You have a great colleague in your building who has taken advantage of the many different styles of working environments. I had purchased yoga balls in the past to exchange them for chairs but gave up on the idea after some use and behavior concerns. I just thought of an idea to introduce them back as a classroom reward! I’m getting distracted… Has your coworker noticed any improvements in the classroom since the changes were made? Has it been close to that 25% increase in academic ability?
Any classroom can get crowded quickly and problems seem to begin occurring more frequently than not. It’s scary that class size can be so high like your 27! Your room has a nice flow and even space for the students to maximize their learning in a variety of settings. Nice work, Shannon!
Be cautious with wanting those iPad’s. I hear Apple is introducing a cheaper version with a pen available in the future if you are stuck on that idea! I do prefer the Chromebooks over iPads. The keyboard is something one just needs to have experience with for the future. Thanks for sharing those two blogs. I liked some of the ideas and might use a few!
Thanks for sharing and good luck!
-Tony