Change is Good

I remember the moment well.  I was attending a conference in Saskatoon.  The Two Sisters were sharing their knowledge about Daily 5, CAFE and the new Math Daily 3.  For the first time in a long time this year I was feeling excited.  The topic at this point in the conference was classroom environment.  We were being shown images of classrooms that were centered around the Daily 5 model.  I was oohing and aahing over them, but I also found myself at a crossroads.  These were exactly the spaces I wanted to develop in my own classroom.  I wanted a reading nook, and a love seat, and rugs, lamps, small tables-I wanted it all!  But how?!  I only had a regular size space.  To do all that, I would need a huge classroom.  Wouldn't I?

Then it happened.  One of The Sisters said,  "Now I know what all of you are thinking.  You're thinking, 'How big is your classroom?!'  But I'm going to tell you that to make this work, we have half as many desks as we do students.".  That was it.  The lightbulb went off and I knew that I was going to be able to transform my classroom environment.   In the week that followed I put in long hours to change the landscape of that space, and the changes that happened in seven days blew me away.

In a previous post, I wrote about how my classroom started out and why a traditional classroom set up didn't work for my students and I.  You can find that post here.  Today, I'm going to share some images of the new classroom environment, and tell you a little bit about how it functions.

This is the closest to a full room view that I was able to get.  If you were able to look at the images from my previous post about our classroom environment, you would know that this is leaps away from the classroom set up that existed previously.  These changes were all made based the Daily 5 classroom model.

This space has been set up with a plan, and we have dubbed the work areas around the room to be Good Fit Spaces.  The table that you see in the foreground of this picture is the "Listen to Reading Station".  Students use the laptop, desktop and a recently added CD player to listen to audio books as they follow along with the companion book.  This allows something very cool to happen; students who may not be at a reading level for chapter books or novels are able to read them and enjoy the story as they are essentially listening to someone else read.  At the end of their reading session, they are asked to recount some of the details from the book they are reading in a binder.  

If you haven't yet, you will soon notice that there are only 10 desks in classroom.  This is not because I only have 10 students.  I have, in fact, 17 students in my class.  I know! The first question that I am asked every time someone new sees this space is "Where do all the students work?".  The answer is that they are allowed to work anywhere they like, and interestingly, only a small handful of students ever choose the desks, even though they are allowed to work there at any time.  The pods were created, for the most part, as a space for me to organize guided groups, and to help students improve on common strategies.

In the middle, right hand side of the picture you will see a small coffee table that I picked up from a local thrift store, and bumped up against the table is a small shelf consisting of three cubes.  The shelves hold materials for word work and classroom books.  The small table is the perfect size for my students to sit at and work.  

The large open space at the front of the class is first and foremost an instructional area.  Ideally it would be defined by a large area rug, but I only had so much time!  When I am teaching, this is where I do it.  Students are asked to sit in that space, close together.  The general rule of thumb is that they should have just enough space for themselves, and almost be touching knees with the person sitting next to them.  In this space, the person they are sitting beside becomes their elbow buddy.  I deliver short lessons, trying to maintain a 10 minute lesson maximum before letting students choose their Good Fit Work Space to practice the skill just introduced.  In the times when we are working as a group in this area (usually for Math using whiteboards), students are allowed to have a bit more space, but in general, they sit and work fairly close together.  Teaching lessons in this space this way has had a profound impact on classroom management.  There have been almost no interruptions to instructional time.  Let me say that again.  There have been almost no interruptions to instructional time.

Recently, a student told me that she preferred the classroom the way it was before.  When I inquired as to why, she said because I didn't notice when people were fooling around as much.  She also said they didn't have to pay attention as much.  I said, "Thank you for your honesty, but I think it's best for our  learning if we keep the room set up the way it is."  Mental fist pump!

I'm sure you have noticed the love seat in the classroom.  That is our designated reading area, although students may choose to work there as well.  The key to this, and any space in the room, is that students have to learn what is a good fit space for them.   I will talk about how to help students find their Good Fit Spot in an upcoming post.

The above picture is the classroom space to the right of the Listen To Reading Station.  The small table behind my desk provides extra space for students to work.  I have significantly downsized the Teacher Shrine area and became more organized and efficient in this process as well.  (To see what it looked like before, check out images from this post.).  It is important to note that students are also allowed to work at my desk from either side.  The table butted up against the wall in front of my desk is at our math station.  Students have access to learning tools and manipulatives that they can use at any time.  The counter on the right side of the image is extra space for students to work, and has become a popular area for them to go when they work independently.  (I think it's because this ledge faces the window, and it's a sunny spot to work.)

This is our classroom space in a nutshell.  These pictures were taken in March, a week after I attended the conference.  (I told you, I drank the Kool-Aid at that conference, and I'm so glad that I never looked back.)  A few more changes have been made to this space since these images were taken and I will share them with you in the future, but overall, the layout of the space has not changed significantly.

I will say that I love this new space.  My students are excelling in it, and I frequently have colleagues come in and sit with me on the couch in the mornings and after school to talk about it.  I can tell that it's the beginning of a wonderful journey that will link environment to student learning, and I am thrilled to finally be doing it.  I have also heard from several other teachers who work with my students that they have also noticed a positive change in them.  They have told me that they are more focused, they are problem solving better and they start working faster and stay working longer.  All these great things from changing our classroom environment!