Here are a few pictures of my classroom. They were taken at the end of the day, so the chairs are up on the desk. To say the least, my students and I are really looking forward to a new classroom that is designed for better learning.
OBSERVATIONS:
I have noticed that it is hard for my students and myself to get around my classroom. When everyone is in the room it is hard to move without bumping something or someone. Also, the coat rack is always getting in my way. It seems that I bump my head once or twice a week on the coat rack. I have also noticed that it is hard to get into my classroom. Another observation is that some of my students have a hard time seeing the Promethean Board from where they sit. I don't have a general meeting area for my students.
When went on a site visits of some classrooms that had been transformed. I was excited to see all the things that could be done and here are some POSSIBILITIES in the pictures below:
I had my students write one thing they liked about the classroom and one thing that they didn't like about the classroom. Most of my students said the one thing they liked was the Chromebooks we have in the classroom. Each student gets to use a Chromebook, which is really nice. The one thing that many of my students didn't like varied. Some said the desks, and others commented on the coat rack. The blue sticky notes where the things they liked and the pink sticky notes are the things they didn't like.
Another thing I had my students create was their ideal classroom. I gave them no other instruction than to create their ideal classroom. I gave each student a blank piece of paper and told them to create. it was very interesting to see what they had come up with. I have been sharing pictures of different things we could be getting for the classroom and I can tell the students have really paid attention. Many students liked the idea of having couches in the classroom as well as getting rid of the desks and going for tables. Another piece of furniture that my students really liked was the puzzle pieces to sit on. Here are 4 different layouts I am sharing from my class.
Top 5 Takeaways:
- Classroom design does make a difference in how student's learn. How the classroom is set up does play a major role in educating students. Students being able to move and have different places to sit does impact their learning.
- How much insight I have gained about the classroom just by asking the students what they like and what they don't like about the classroom. They are the ones who spend as much time in the classroom as I do and their opinions about the room were very valuable to me.
- Realizing that the Classroom4TheFuture is now and seeing as well as reading about all the cool changes that are happening everywhere in the world. The amount of information that is available on this topic is huge. I don't know if it was there all the time and now I am in tuned to it that I am finding all this information. It is just amazing the reports and data that is there for me to read.
- It is great to see how much my students are excited about the possibilities that could happen and how much they have paid attention to this process. When I asked them to design their ideal classroom, every student was totally engaged in their work.
- And, the biggest takeaway is that by me taking a step back to look at my classroom from a student's point of view, as well as the professional developement I have received, has made me a much better teacher