Innovating My Classroom
This is my first blog post EVER! In truth, there are many stories I could have told, but this is where my mind went...straight to the moment I jumped into that rabbit hole.
Every summer, whether I'm at home or on vacation, I go down the rabbit hole of education. The rabbit hole strikes me as fitting because, like Alice, I enter into an unknown topic, and fall deeper, and deeper, until I recognize that the rules have changed, and will continue to do so, and that my job as an educator is to become not only comfortable with those changes, but to embrace them as I come to believe...with all my heart, that these changes are the right thing for students.
Some time ago I began seeing classrooms on Pinterest that were full of colorful, collaborative work spaces, with seating that ranged from plastic crates turned upside down w/cushions added for comfort to elaborate, movable desks/tables that can change in configuration and are made for collaboration. Three summers ago, that's the rabbit hole I went down. I started having conversations with my principal, Bryan Brockett, and found that he had also been exploring options for flexible seating in the classroom. After many conversations, emails, and texts, we agreed that I would revamp my classroom. The problem was...you guessed it...money! I was so eager and committed to make this happen (maybe a little obsessed) that I was willing to scout for furniture at garage sales, purchase pillows, crates, lapdesks, and bean bags from Wal-Mart, stacking stools from IKEA, and seek out other inexpensive resources.
Once Dr. Brockett saw that I was committed to flexible seating in my classroom, he told me to get prices for tables that could replace my ridiculously heavy, bulky single desks. This was not an invitation to redesign the perfect classroom, but to design something that would be considerably different than the limited set-up the district-provided furniture afforded. That began the real task of reinventing my classroom.
After much research, I found that I could replace my desks with dry erase tables from Private School Partner, a company with affordable school furniture. They were also the only company that offered ADA compliant height tables, which for me meant that I could purchase four of these tables and adjust the height to offer students’ more options. Two of them would be adjusted to a standing height, leaving the other two at a regular height. I also wanted to purchase a smaller rectangular shaped table that I could take the legs completely off of to become a “sit on pillows on the floor” table.
I took my findings to Dr. Brockett, and he allocated $1500 to my cause. This was happening at the end of the school year, which was perfect timing. Over the summer, the custodians removed all of the heavy desks from my classroom. As the new school year approached, there was no sign of the new tables, so I had to create a makeshift classroom to start the year with no desks or tables...just chairs. I created groups by making small circles of chairs with a clipboard under each; and this worked just fine for the short time before the tables were delivered.
Finally, it was delivery day, and I couldn’t wait to get those new dry erase tables into our room so those kids could collaborate and write down ideas to share with each other. Up went the tables, in came the kids with their brand new 1:1 Chromebooks, and those tables were entirely too small! There was just enough room for their Chromebooks, but not for a book or any papers they might need to use during their work time. What to do now? These tables were definitely not going to work, and there was no money available to replace them. So I explored options for racks that might hold the books or work above the table space, and that was not a perfect solution, although a possibility. And then it hit me...we needed new tables...bigger ones! My kids deserved having a good work space, and I felt it was important to provide that for them.
Down the rabbit hole again...this time Donor’s Choose was behind the locked door, locked because it was another avenue that was new to me. I wrote my proposal, and started with personal friends and family. They were generous and funded about half of the project. After a couple of days, I sent an email out to the parents of my students, and surprisingly, it was funded within two days by the generosity of a few families! The new tables were ordered and delivered, giving my students a collaborative workspace where they could spread out and share their ideas with each other.
This year I added some new seating options. Originally the table that was on the floor had pillows as seats, but this year I purchased stadium seats from Costco ($15 each - deal!). Kids now have the option of pillow or chair with a back on it. I also purchased inexpensive tall stools from Wal-Mart for our two stand up tables. For one of our two regular height dry erase tables I purchased yoga balls with rings to hold them in place. For the other regular height table, I wanted something different and once again asked Dr. Brockett to help out. Since it was now a new year, he offered to purchase wobble chairs for that table. We have two tables that I found in our furniture surplus room, one is a regular rectangular table that has regular school chairs on wheels. The other one is an irregular height table made of wood; finding appropriate seats for it was challenging. However, Harbor Freight to the rescue! That table now has mechanic’s roller seats that fit perfectly!
Why is it important to innovate today? While flexible seating to encourage collaboration is great, what I did not expect from this innovation was how much it would influence my teaching. The quest for a classroom with flexible seating has lead to inquiry on my part about best teaching practices. The inquiry has ignited a passion to help students become risk-takers and self-starters, able to work both independently and collaboratively as they become prepared for college and real life work. I am learning to Ditch That Homework, Learn Like a Pirate, Teach Like a Pirate, Hack Assessment, and Empower students. These practices, as well as others, are helping my students become both academically proficient and socially
responsible students, prepared to think critically and for themselves.
A year later...and things have changed. I have had the opportunity to replace the two tables that did not have white board tops with new ones that are like the rest of my tables. I also added one additional table just like the others. I have removed the yoga balls, as students found that puncturing them with sharp pencils was just too hard to resist. The wobble stools went to one of our special ed. classes, where they are being put to better use. I was able to order tall stools with backs for the tall tables, as having seats without backs was an issue for many students; their backs hurt. Being flexible and willing to make whatever changes are best for your students, along with being relentless in finding the funding for the changes you want to make is key to successfully innovating your classroom.
This is my first blog post EVER! In truth, there are many stories I could have told, but this is where my mind went...straight to the moment I jumped into that rabbit hole.
Every summer, whether I'm at home or on vacation, I go down the rabbit hole of education. The rabbit hole strikes me as fitting because, like Alice, I enter into an unknown topic, and fall deeper, and deeper, until I recognize that the rules have changed, and will continue to do so, and that my job as an educator is to become not only comfortable with those changes, but to embrace them as I come to believe...with all my heart, that these changes are the right thing for students.
Some time ago I began seeing classrooms on Pinterest that were full of colorful, collaborative work spaces, with seating that ranged from plastic crates turned upside down w/cushions added for comfort to elaborate, movable desks/tables that can change in configuration and are made for collaboration. Three summers ago, that's the rabbit hole I went down. I started having conversations with my principal, Bryan Brockett, and found that he had also been exploring options for flexible seating in the classroom. After many conversations, emails, and texts, we agreed that I would revamp my classroom. The problem was...you guessed it...money! I was so eager and committed to make this happen (maybe a little obsessed) that I was willing to scout for furniture at garage sales, purchase pillows, crates, lapdesks, and bean bags from Wal-Mart, stacking stools from IKEA, and seek out other inexpensive resources.
Once Dr. Brockett saw that I was committed to flexible seating in my classroom, he told me to get prices for tables that could replace my ridiculously heavy, bulky single desks. This was not an invitation to redesign the perfect classroom, but to design something that would be considerably different than the limited set-up the district-provided furniture afforded. That began the real task of reinventing my classroom.
After much research, I found that I could replace my desks with dry erase tables from Private School Partner, a company with affordable school furniture. They were also the only company that offered ADA compliant height tables, which for me meant that I could purchase four of these tables and adjust the height to offer students’ more options. Two of them would be adjusted to a standing height, leaving the other two at a regular height. I also wanted to purchase a smaller rectangular shaped table that I could take the legs completely off of to become a “sit on pillows on the floor” table.
I took my findings to Dr. Brockett, and he allocated $1500 to my cause. This was happening at the end of the school year, which was perfect timing. Over the summer, the custodians removed all of the heavy desks from my classroom. As the new school year approached, there was no sign of the new tables, so I had to create a makeshift classroom to start the year with no desks or tables...just chairs. I created groups by making small circles of chairs with a clipboard under each; and this worked just fine for the short time before the tables were delivered.
Finally, it was delivery day, and I couldn’t wait to get those new dry erase tables into our room so those kids could collaborate and write down ideas to share with each other. Up went the tables, in came the kids with their brand new 1:1 Chromebooks, and those tables were entirely too small! There was just enough room for their Chromebooks, but not for a book or any papers they might need to use during their work time. What to do now? These tables were definitely not going to work, and there was no money available to replace them. So I explored options for racks that might hold the books or work above the table space, and that was not a perfect solution, although a possibility. And then it hit me...we needed new tables...bigger ones! My kids deserved having a good work space, and I felt it was important to provide that for them.
Down the rabbit hole again...this time Donor’s Choose was behind the locked door, locked because it was another avenue that was new to me. I wrote my proposal, and started with personal friends and family. They were generous and funded about half of the project. After a couple of days, I sent an email out to the parents of my students, and surprisingly, it was funded within two days by the generosity of a few families! The new tables were ordered and delivered, giving my students a collaborative workspace where they could spread out and share their ideas with each other.
This year I added some new seating options. Originally the table that was on the floor had pillows as seats, but this year I purchased stadium seats from Costco ($15 each - deal!). Kids now have the option of pillow or chair with a back on it. I also purchased inexpensive tall stools from Wal-Mart for our two stand up tables. For one of our two regular height dry erase tables I purchased yoga balls with rings to hold them in place. For the other regular height table, I wanted something different and once again asked Dr. Brockett to help out. Since it was now a new year, he offered to purchase wobble chairs for that table. We have two tables that I found in our furniture surplus room, one is a regular rectangular table that has regular school chairs on wheels. The other one is an irregular height table made of wood; finding appropriate seats for it was challenging. However, Harbor Freight to the rescue! That table now has mechanic’s roller seats that fit perfectly!
Why is it important to innovate today? While flexible seating to encourage collaboration is great, what I did not expect from this innovation was how much it would influence my teaching. The quest for a classroom with flexible seating has lead to inquiry on my part about best teaching practices. The inquiry has ignited a passion to help students become risk-takers and self-starters, able to work both independently and collaboratively as they become prepared for college and real life work. I am learning to Ditch That Homework, Learn Like a Pirate, Teach Like a Pirate, Hack Assessment, and Empower students. These practices, as well as others, are helping my students become both academically proficient and socially
responsible students, prepared to think critically and for themselves.
A year later...and things have changed. I have had the opportunity to replace the two tables that did not have white board tops with new ones that are like the rest of my tables. I also added one additional table just like the others. I have removed the yoga balls, as students found that puncturing them with sharp pencils was just too hard to resist. The wobble stools went to one of our special ed. classes, where they are being put to better use. I was able to order tall stools with backs for the tall tables, as having seats without backs was an issue for many students; their backs hurt. Being flexible and willing to make whatever changes are best for your students, along with being relentless in finding the funding for the changes you want to make is key to successfully innovating your classroom.