For this post, I will be discussing classroom design as well as other things.
In the article, 12 Ways to Upgrade Your Classroom Design, Gonzalez has a list of some things teachers can do to make the classroom a better learning environment. I am not going to talk about all twelve ways but I want to highlight somethings. The very first one is “Ask your students”. Having discussions with students about their learning is essential. In the end, it is their classroom too and they are the ones that need to benefit from it the most. The next one I want to talk about is “Reduce your teacher footprint”. This point talks about minimizing or eliminating teacher workspace. I see how this is helpful to students but I think there needs to be some teacher workspace so the students feel related to the teacher. Seeing that a teacher is working on their desk can help set an example for students. The next point I want to talk about is “Creates spaces for creation”. This seems like a great area where students can go to express their own learning styles. This can allow for more hands-on activity as well. The final point I want to talk about is called “Create writable spaces”. In this space, students are able to write down what they think will be beneficial to hang. In my current classroom, we do something similar where we have students write what they notice and wonder about a book. They write this on a large poster paper and we hang it for the entire quarter.
The next post I want to discuss is called Classroom Eye Candy 1: A Flexible-Seating Paradise. This classroom is from a high school English teacher. The classroom set up that she has is wonderful and can be a great learning environment for the students. This is because there is flexible seating. With flexible seating, it is incredibly important to have good classroom management. It is important to set standards on what is appropriate and what is not in these seating arrangements. Something that really struck me is that she does not tie different seating as rewards. She talks about the problem of having students stay in the exact same spot all the time so she switches it up by challenging students to not sit in the same spot twice. This is a great idea and the classroom looks wonderful.
Overall, these two articles were very helpful in my thought process for my future classroom. My two biggest takeaways are asking the students their opinions and making the learning environment comfortable. A lot can happen in a classroom but if a student is comfortable and feels safe, they have a better chance of actually learning and retaining the information.
References:
Rachel's Mind 