New Classroom Design

Looking towards what was the back of my room.

So summer this year just flew by, and I find myself in the middle of workshop week already.  I am absolutely shocked at how much new information I became aware of this summer through my PLN on Twitter.  One thing that really caught my attention was the talk about redesigning classroom space to be more collaborative.  Since I flipped some of my classes last year I was very intrigued by this because I wanted my students to feel more free to work together comfortably.  After looking through several examples on Twitter and Edutopia I decided to take the plunge and just go for it.

Looking to the teacher desk before.

Monster Teacher Desk I've had in my room.

Towards the front before.

The largest obstacle I had to overcome was finding the resources for the seating in my classroom since I wanted to get rid of most, if not all, of the desks in my room.  After speaking to my principal and touring the tunnels where extra equipment is kept, things were not looking very good.  Then it was suggested to me to check at Goodwill to see what they had available.  As luck would have it, when I checked their website for hours, I discovered they were having a 50% off all furniture sale that weekend.  After doing a little preview shopping the day before, at 9 am on Friday I was waiting anxiously outside Goodwill with several other people for them to open.

I am fortunate enough to work at a school that gives each teacher $100 towards start up costs at the beginning of each year.  $100 when shopping for furniture sounds a little tight, but on that Friday I was able to get one three-piece sectional couch (which was better than just getting a regular couch because the students can now move the individual pieces), one lounge chair, two throw pillows, and four end table/coffee tables all for around $40. Then, after some further scrounging at school I was able to find two larger tables, and four office chairs that I could also use in my room. 

My largest class this year will be twenty students, and my smallest probably twelve and I wanted to make sure I had seating for everyone at the same time, so a few desks still remain in my room.  However, after getting rid of the monster teacher desk and moving a few other things around in my room, I think I have created a more inviting, collaborative space that I am very excited about.

 

 

 

 

I created several spaces where groups can work together, as well as some spaces for students who prefer to work individually at the time.  The other nice thing I like about all the new furniture is that students will be able to easily move pieces around to make it work for that particular class.  I teach six different curriculums and finding a setup that works for everything in middle school can be a struggle.  The current layout may not stay that way, however.  Scott Capro, one of my awesome PLN members, suggested that I let the students have an opportunity to create different layouts and then have the classes vote on their favorites.  I now plan to do that during the first week of school as well, really emphasizing that this space is theirs and we need it to work best for them.

 

So, this is it.  I have it set up and ready to go for the first day of school.  Back to School Night is tonight, and I'm thinking that I might lock my door and tape off my room so none of the students can actually see it until the first day.  I want to create some anticipation and excitement because they will not have seen the room yet this year (I had most of my students last year as well).  Of course it doesn't hurt my plan that my room is probably 90+ degrees right now and the computer lab across the hall has air conditioning so I would have probably brought the students in there anyways.

 

Here's to some new adventures!!