Jennifer Gonzalez- Cult of Pedagogy: Updating Your Classroom Design- March 27, 2018

Recently, Jennifer Gonzalez created a blog post about upgrading your classroom design.  We often see classrooms that look cozy and modern, allowing students to collaborate and feel at home, yet many teachers believe that it is impossible to make their own classroom this way within budget constraints and small spaces.  Jennifer interviewed Bob Dillon to gather 12 things that teachers can do to make their classrooms more student friendly and a better place for learning.

1) Ask students throughout the year "What in this room supports your learning and what gets in the way?"

2) Take things out: if you remove items and you don't miss them then you don't need them in your classroom.

3) Mix up Student Seating: try different arrangements or allow students choice in where they sit.

4) Take notice of the perimeter: Are the walls distracting or do they add to learning? Do certain posters need taken down?

5) Reduce or Eliminate Teacher Workspace: Allow students more space in the classroom

6) Create Collaboration Spaces

7) Create Creation Spaces: These spaces can be used for project based learning or any hands-on learning.  Give students access to several supplies and a clear space to work.

8) Create Writable Spaces: Consider personal dry erase boards, allowing students to access one of the teacher white boards, or using a dry erase easel.  This will allow students a place to sketch their thinking in collaborative groups.

9) Create Quiet Spaces: This allows a space for students to re-center when needed.  This doesn't have to be fancy, it can be a small area with a beanbag.

10) Create Spaces to Showcase Learning: This can look many different ways as it can be sticky notes of student questions, pictures of student learning, etc.

11) Focus on three colors: Do not overwhelm your classroom with several colors, but instead focus on one neutral and two accent colors.

12) Use the hallway: An example of this is giving students space in the hallway to collaborate or displaying student work in the hallway.

This blog post was one that I really connected with as in this class we are learning about redesigning our classrooms for more collaborative space and technology use.  Utilizing student voice in classroom design was one component of this list that appeared strong to me as I often overlook the power of allowing my students to identify how they feel about the classroom design.  I found this list extremely helpful at providing ways to upgrade our classrooms to the current styles of learning, without needing a tremendous amount of money.  I hope this list is helpful to others in this class!