The Place to Think-Confer-Create-Share
Working with architect, Pat Callahan, from Studio GC, has been a terrific experience. In the early planning stage he brought the knowledge from both good and bad attempts at 21st Century classrooms.
I appreciated his professional insight and positive attitude as we navigated new and exciting territory. We visited the Chicago Merchandise Mart, and I was admittedly overwhelmed by all the possibilities..and thrilled! They're not kidding when they say the Merchandise Mart was designed to be a city within a city. I really did not even know the sheer amount of tables and seating options available.
As I stated in a previous post, the design of my classroom was based my methods of instruction. It is important to me that my students have flexible seating options as they navigate learning independently, in pairs, small groups, large groups, or whole class. Flexibility is paramount. The Ruckus chair is designed to be sat upon in a variety of ways including as a perch to rest on at standing tables. Chairs and tables on wheels will allow for quick set up changes. Below you'll see suggested arrangements for think, create, and share spaces.
Think Space
This is the initial design for a "think" space. What comes to mind when I see this is independent learning or testing. I honestly don't envision my entire class ever sitting in neat rows, but this is a logical arrangement for direct instruction or local/national assessments. This traditional arrangement is not my favorite, but serves some practical purposes.
Create Space
The following two spaces are my favorites for different reasons. The "create" space you see on the left is my comfort zone. I am used to students working in pairs and small groups on a regular basis, and this is a sensible set up for that. However, I do not necessary predict the classroom will look this neat and linearly aligned. It will really depend on the situation. I'd like my students to be independent in creating an arrangement that works for them or their group.
Share Space
This arrangement has been deemed the "share" space. It is arranged such that the whole group is facing a screen that could be used to display digital work. Since students in my class are expected to verbally present their ideas, this set up allows for large group presentations. This is also an ideal set up for Read Aloud, which is one of my favorite times of day!
Class Conference/Class Collaboration Space
For this arrangement I do not have a nifty architect provided sketch or even a definite name, however I do expect that there will be time during which we will use all of our tables to create one large conference table. I think that there are so many benefits to having face-to-face discussions and class meetings.
Prospects
The sheer flexibility of the furniture I am acquiring allows for so many possibilities. Neither the students, nor I, are locked into any one set up, and now it's purposeful in design! My colleagues and I have been slowly moving toward more flexible seating, but like all teachers, we've been doing it with what we have or can find. Teachers are very creative! It's not about the stuff, really, but it will be nice to have matching furniture.
Concerns
In an ideal world I could twitch my nose "Bewitch-style" and my room magically rearrange itself. I anticipate having to spend some time practicing how to rearrange and use the furniture purposefully. This will be added to my classroom management plan for the first few weeks.
The variety of arrangements allows for a lot of freedom, and with freedom comes responsibility and knowledge of self. I am still working on exactly how I will dole out this freedom while developing responsibility. There a lot of teachers who are well ahead of me in the flexible seating game, and I am taking many notes from them. Assuredly I know that students will need time to try each type of seat and spend a few minutes evaluating how well it fit their learning style and comfort level.
In my classroom students have always been able to switch seats as needed, so it has never been too much of a problem for students to relocate as needed. However, last year I added an arm chair and what we came to call the little chair. The class decided that we needed a more orderly way to manage turns so we assigned a person per day. I see that becoming an "if-needed" solution. I plan to provide a multitude of choices, and I'd rather the students problem solve, alas, if needed we will assign days. So, a slight concern is, how will we handle favorite spots efficiently?
Student materials. While I have some plans and ideas, until I have a clear solution, I am going to include where to keep student materials as a concern. My students will have cubby spaces in a cabinet that are roughly the size of traditional desk. However, I don't think that it is going to be practical for large groups to be visiting this area at once. So...the plan right now is to have mostly community supplies. I have not decided whether or not to do a central location or supply caddies. There are not any textbooks, but in math my students have two large workbooks. I believe that I will have them store in each student's locker, but I am not definite on that yet. Also, as of now, I plan for students to carry their learning binders with them with a small supply pouch. Where to store these? Possibly in their cubbies with them traveling with students throughout the day, possibly on a shelf. I am unsure.
Time will tell, but summer is for thinking about all of the possibilities!
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| Meet the Ruckus Chair from KI. |
As I stated in a previous post, the design of my classroom was based my methods of instruction. It is important to me that my students have flexible seating options as they navigate learning independently, in pairs, small groups, large groups, or whole class. Flexibility is paramount. The Ruckus chair is designed to be sat upon in a variety of ways including as a perch to rest on at standing tables. Chairs and tables on wheels will allow for quick set up changes. Below you'll see suggested arrangements for think, create, and share spaces.
This is the initial design for a "think" space. What comes to mind when I see this is independent learning or testing. I honestly don't envision my entire class ever sitting in neat rows, but this is a logical arrangement for direct instruction or local/national assessments. This traditional arrangement is not my favorite, but serves some practical purposes.
The following two spaces are my favorites for different reasons. The "create" space you see on the left is my comfort zone. I am used to students working in pairs and small groups on a regular basis, and this is a sensible set up for that. However, I do not necessary predict the classroom will look this neat and linearly aligned. It will really depend on the situation. I'd like my students to be independent in creating an arrangement that works for them or their group.
This arrangement has been deemed the "share" space. It is arranged such that the whole group is facing a screen that could be used to display digital work. Since students in my class are expected to verbally present their ideas, this set up allows for large group presentations. This is also an ideal set up for Read Aloud, which is one of my favorite times of day!
Class Conference/Class Collaboration Space
For this arrangement I do not have a nifty architect provided sketch or even a definite name, however I do expect that there will be time during which we will use all of our tables to create one large conference table. I think that there are so many benefits to having face-to-face discussions and class meetings.
Prospects
The sheer flexibility of the furniture I am acquiring allows for so many possibilities. Neither the students, nor I, are locked into any one set up, and now it's purposeful in design! My colleagues and I have been slowly moving toward more flexible seating, but like all teachers, we've been doing it with what we have or can find. Teachers are very creative! It's not about the stuff, really, but it will be nice to have matching furniture.
Concerns
In an ideal world I could twitch my nose "Bewitch-style" and my room magically rearrange itself. I anticipate having to spend some time practicing how to rearrange and use the furniture purposefully. This will be added to my classroom management plan for the first few weeks.
The variety of arrangements allows for a lot of freedom, and with freedom comes responsibility and knowledge of self. I am still working on exactly how I will dole out this freedom while developing responsibility. There a lot of teachers who are well ahead of me in the flexible seating game, and I am taking many notes from them. Assuredly I know that students will need time to try each type of seat and spend a few minutes evaluating how well it fit their learning style and comfort level.
In my classroom students have always been able to switch seats as needed, so it has never been too much of a problem for students to relocate as needed. However, last year I added an arm chair and what we came to call the little chair. The class decided that we needed a more orderly way to manage turns so we assigned a person per day. I see that becoming an "if-needed" solution. I plan to provide a multitude of choices, and I'd rather the students problem solve, alas, if needed we will assign days. So, a slight concern is, how will we handle favorite spots efficiently?
Student materials. While I have some plans and ideas, until I have a clear solution, I am going to include where to keep student materials as a concern. My students will have cubby spaces in a cabinet that are roughly the size of traditional desk. However, I don't think that it is going to be practical for large groups to be visiting this area at once. So...the plan right now is to have mostly community supplies. I have not decided whether or not to do a central location or supply caddies. There are not any textbooks, but in math my students have two large workbooks. I believe that I will have them store in each student's locker, but I am not definite on that yet. Also, as of now, I plan for students to carry their learning binders with them with a small supply pouch. Where to store these? Possibly in their cubbies with them traveling with students throughout the day, possibly on a shelf. I am unsure.
Time will tell, but summer is for thinking about all of the possibilities!
This is all very exciting! Thank you for all the extra work you are putting in to make this happen! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading. It is truly my honor to work with our Wildcats and give them the best that I have to offer. I love that my team is on board too!
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