The question that really made me think about student learning environments this week was one that Trung Le asked in the book, The Third Teacher (2010). He asked, “Does this learning environment support a child’s natural instinct to learn through creation and discovery?” I thought about my own classroom and if I have a learning environment that is set up to support students in collaboration, creativity, discovery, and taking chances. Below is a picture of my classroom this previous year.
Most of the tables are set up so that students are working in groups of four. However, there are two front tables that sit six that do not have students set up in groups, but still sit with a table partner. I would have liked to have all students in groups of four, but the small space of my classroom did not allow for this. The SmartBoard is at the front of the room and this is the only screen we have in the room to share work. The SmartBoard was mainly used by myself as I taught whole group instruction. I would have liked for students to be able to have had another large screen to share work and collaborate on when working on projects so that they can take control of their own learning instead of waiting for me to display work and examples on the SmartBoard. I have two small bulletin boards, one where I displayed work students made for me and our calendar and another where I displayed a photograph of each student so they felt as though they were a part of our community. I displayed student artwork above the cabinets with clothes pins, which made it easy to display and take down artwork as we did a lot of projects! However, I would have liked to have had more space to display work such as writing projects and projects from science.
I am actually moving classrooms this year so I have the chance to really redesign my classroom. My new classroom will have different dimensions than my old one and I am excited about the new space and getting the opportunity to map it out on SketchUp first. The design I came up with looks like this:
It is important in a learning environment to have students feel like the space is theirs and that it’s a safe place to share ideas. Trung Le (2010) stated in his article about Redesigning Education, “Every available wall and surface is an opportunity to display student work. The design allows students to explore many different ways of learning in the classroom–it’s learner-centered space.” I have done this by designing the table top as white boards so that it makes for easy brainstorming and ways to show work to their partner. There is still a SmartBoard at the “front” of the room but there is also an interactive screen at the back of the room by the comfortable seating area where students can work together on projects and display their work digitally. There is a whole-wall bulletin board that allows for students to display their work and ideas throughout the year so that they can share and allow for feedback from others.
This classroom is a social space. As O’Donnell (2012) cited in his work, “The goal of learning from a social constructivist perspective is to construct and reconstruct meaning, knowledge, and context through discourse communities (Green & Gredler, 2002)” (p. 63). All the tables are arranged so that the students are working in groups of four. Each student would have a table partner and another partner set across from them so that collaboration is easily accessed. The table groups allows for the teacher to easily circulate the room and provide support, when necessary. There is also stand up desk at the back of the room which allows for students to stand while they work if they cannot sit so they can think however they need. The students have swivel chairs because this allows for them to easily move between groups and turn around to talk to another person.
In order to implement this vision, I would need about $500 for the extra tv screen, $1,440 for the whiteboard tables, and about $2,500 for the swivel chairs (based on prices I found on Amazon.com). I would stage the implementation vision by giving the research and facts I gave above. This could be done on a site such as DonorsChoose or GoFundMe. This would not have to happen all at once. I could do each step separately and slowly get the resources to build the room I have planned.
References
Le, T. (2010, May 4). Redesigning Education: Why Can’t We Be in Kindergarten for Life? Retrieved from https://www.fastcodesign.com/1637619/redesigning-education-why-cant-we-be-in-kindergarten-for-life
O’Donnell, A. (2012). Constructivism. In APA Educational Psychology Handbook: Vol. 1. Theories, Constructs, and Critical Issues. K. R. Harris, S. Graham, and T. Urdan (Editors-in-Chief). Washgington, DC: American Psychological Association. DOI: 10.1037/13273-003.
OWP/P Architects, VS Furniture, & Bruce Mau Design. (2010). The third teacher: 79 ways you can use design to transform teaching & learning. Retrieved from http://thethirdteacherplus.com/s/Ch2-TTT-for-Web-0y6k.pdf
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