Everywhere I Look: Tiers

Get the Picture?
I was looking at my blog and I realized that it looked a bit dull.  Even when I go to read it in the future, I will like to see more pictures to remind myself of what the heck I was talking about.  It's funny; I describe what I am doing or trying to do to people, and I refer people to this blog, but no one really gets it until they step foot in my classroom.  Sometimes, not even then.

Benched
If you've read the first few blog posts, you'll remember that I took the design idea of the risers from a trip to the Museum of Anthropology.

video viewing area at MOA



risers in my classroom last year


I liked how the bench idea enclosed the space so that it provided a good arena for discussion.  I liked the multi-tiered idea because we don't think of work space in classrooms as dimensional, but planar.

But now, as I tend to walk around, I'm aware that my multi-tiered idea is not so unique.  I remember that universities have multi-tiered auditoriums.  And the Roman Senate and Colosseum had a multi-tiered arrangements.



from http://knowledgenews.net/moxie/moxiepix/a2254.jpg and http://www.research-in-germany.de/dachportal/en/b-pictures/a-discover-germany/12764/university-lecture-hall,property=BigImage,slc=dachportal_2Fen.jpg

In fact, I was walking around the library in my community and there is a new courtyard there.  There's a small grass field, some sculpture that ties it into the surroundings and a stage/concourse area that they use for performances and exhibitions.  What I really noticed, though, was the seating arrangements they had on the perimeter of the field.  Check it out:

These benches I realized are like mine, and people were using them like mine.  Some were facing forward and using them like table tops. During performances (in the wooden stage area in the background in the left picture), people would sit on the table tops to get a better view with people sitting below.  My dreams of a patent and great fortune --- dashed again.

During the summer, I saw another interesting application of benches in an educational setting.  I was in Powell River and there was this great store for kids that did art workshops.  The shop is called Skylight Art.  In the back they have this booth where kids can splatter art all over their papers or canvasses without having to worry about the floor or the walls (yeah, that space looks like Jackson Pollock exploded).  There is another area where laptops are set up, so kids can explore movie making and digital media.  The walls are adorned with large digital prints of kids holding their artwork, and shelves and shelves of their creations.  I really love what they are doing: making kids the centre of artistic experiences. 

The rest of the shop is set up with, you guessed it, large benches.  The tables provide big open spaces for working with glorious mess materials, and the benches give young artists the opportunity to work along side other artists (or not).  Even aesthetically, I loved the long, clean lines the continuous benches and tables provided.  Another interesting point is that almost everything is white: the floor, the ceiling, the tables, the walls, etc.  At first, it didn't make sense to me because it would be such a pain to keep clean, but the message became clear: the space pops into life with the colour that comes from the art and the artists. 



Here are some pictures I took through their windows.
They have better pictures at http://www.skylightart.ca/



Tiers Are Not Enough

So the bench design is nothing new.  But the application of them in a primary classroom might be unique (even if that uniqueness only extends to my experience.  Let me dream, will you?).  I love the communal and open, flexible arrangement that my risers provide, but I guess my main goal in using the risers is to break the factory style of the traditional model of the classroom.  The message of the traditional classroom is: everyone face the teacher at all times because all of your learning is going to come filtered through that teacher (not from other students, not even from your own experience).  And yes, while at times I do stand up in front of my students and tell them what to do, I am trying to build in more authentic experiences and more interaction with other students.   

Back to the BIG IDEA

Okay, okay, so my last post was this love letter to the risers because I've come to realize that they symbolize what is really important to me: ME.  Sad, isn't it?

Maybe now is a good time to remind myself that this whole journey is not about risers or even classroom decor per se.  It's really about creating the proper neural connections for kids.  My mission is for kids to associate learning with everything they do, everywhere they go, but the manifestation of that mission turned out to be classroom decor.  I wanted to break the idea that learning is only associated with desks and classrooms.  My reaction to that was to get rid of the symbol of institutional learning: desks.  So I redesigned my classroom, eliminating as many of the trappings of traditional classrooms as possible.

So here's the big question: does it make a difference?
The short answer is yes.
The longer answer is yes, sort of.
The explanation is that it made a huge difference to my students last year.  My students were proud of where they learned and it built a strong sense of community.  They loved the freedom and flexibility.  But I don't know if they made the leap that they can "take their learning with them wherever they went."  In my own defense though, I don't know if I took it as far as I could with that message in the time I had.  It will be interesting to see if I can replicate and extend the results this year with my new crop.  So far, so good.

At the very least, it has made a big difference to ME.  I have come to realize that the way I set up my classroom is really important to me.  Messing around with my classroom decor has really improved my working conditions and my frame of mind.  I've had a lot of fun trying different things and I've taken my students along for the ride, and they've loved it too. 

But again, I don't want it as decor for decoration's sake.  If that were true, I might as well go back to the commercial posters and borders.  I didn't want a classroom that looked like a traditional classroom because I want the neural break from factory-type learning.  But on the other hand, I didn't want the classroom to mirror my students' homes either.  What I really want is to create a classroom that reflects a more universal learning environment. Or perhaps a more ideal one.

New Year: Will the Risers Stay?

At the end of last year, I asked my class for feedback about the changes I had made.  They told me to keep the peaceful decor.  They told me to keep the risers.  They told me to introduce the risers slowly (the way I did it with them, so that my new class could get used to the idea).

Needless to say, I followed all of their advice.  I kept the decor (i.e. lamps, area rugs, mood lighting, pillows, reading nook, some drapes, the ceiling mesh, etc.) and added a few new things (a wall hanging, a big mirror that my neighbour left on his front lawn).  I kept one set of tall risers (that for the first month was used for me to pile my junk on because I got rid of my desk and filing cabinet).  Last week, the first set of 3 students got to sit on the risers.  It was a very big deal, bigger than I had imagined. 

Students really started to get motivated by the risers.  When someone asked why I chose those particular students, I told them it was because they could work in a number of situations, were always safe, and were organized.  I immediately saw others wanting to make an impression on me by being more conscious about work, safety, and organization.  Some even got rid of everything in their desks to show they were ready to go when I gave them the nod.  The funny thing is is that those 3 students were just a trial.  I didn't really intend to keep them on the risers, and in fact, I didn't even have the rest of the risers assembled.  (I took them apart during the summer to store them and to resurface some of them with some leftover laminate flooring I had.)  So now I have six students on two of the high risers, and worked my tail off over the weekend to have the rest of them ready.  I still haven't fully assembled the others, but they are ready to go as I see fit. 

I can see that the risers are important to the students, but I didn't realize how important they were to ME.  If you walked in my class during September, you wouldn't have noticed a big difference between my class and any other.  I couldn't figure out why my classroom did not have the same feel as my last classroom.  At first I thought it was because I switched classrooms, but my new classroom is in almost the exact same configuration, and I used a lot of the same decor.  Then I thought it was just because of the new year and new kids, but I have a cohort of some of the same kids and I think they feel the same way I do: it doesn't feel right. 

But as I start to add more sets of risers, the feel is returning.  My class is starting to look the way I like it, and my teaching, I noticed is starting to move in the right direction.  When I have a bunch of desks, I feel way more hemmed in, and my teaching is more directed: I am going to talk and you're going to follow what I say, step by step.  Subconsciously, the risers remind me that kids can't sit still for so long, so I have to be more economical with my words and less directive.  I tend to move more with the risers because they are more open and I can move randomly through the classroom instead of row by row.  The risers also tend to promote student interaction among a variety of students whereas the desks promote interaction with the same people they always sit beside.  With desks, it is not as easy for students to move because they feel the need to stay with the stuff in their desks.  I also feel cut off from my students; we are separated by their desks.  The risers promote more fluidity, more ease of movement for me.  The classroom with desks is also more rigid as I cannot easily change the configuration without having to move fifty pieces of furniture (which can be frustrating, cumbersome and loud).  With the risers, I can change the configuration of my classroom in about 30 seconds.  (This really promotes changing lessons on the fly.  For example, we can create large graphs because we can use the tops of the risers.  We can cut into a story drama of the book we are reading because we can clear the floor space.  We can have another class over to sing some songs because we can all fit).  I think it's all about the freedom, openness, and flexibility that the risers afford that makes me like them so much. 

Hmmm.  I didn't realize how much the risers symbolize my style of teaching until now.  By not having them, it has caused me to look at the how and why I use them.  And I wouldn't have noticed the difference if it were not for the students last year telling me to introduce them slowly.  Smart kids.

Living Colour

About Colour

First, yes, I am Canadian, so I spell colour with a u in it. Second, when it comes to my classroom vision, I don't believe in colour for colour's sake. Third, I am really inconsistent in that last statement.

I have not terribly conscious of my classroom decor in the past. Furniture arrangement I strategized a good deal but not decor too much. And when I did it wasn't very good. One year I tried to create different zones on my bulletin boards. Red was for math. Yellow was for language arts. Green for science. I think I may even have tried to match my duotangs colours with my bulletin board colours. It turned out to be bad for a number of reasons. I'm not disciplined enough to change my bulletin boards very often so the colours became pretty arbitrary especially when art would span over 3 or more coloured subject zones. There was too much colour. First there were the many multicoloured zones and then there were multicoloured borders then there were the multicoloured posters and the multicoloured pictures I put up. It was pretty much a multicoloured mess. Don't even mention the multistained carpet.

In my district they are really rethinking kindergarten and ones of the things we
are really paying attention to is decor and colour. My district wants a more organic and more flexible approach to classroom decor. Of course I could not be happier about this because that is exactly what I'm going for in my own classroom. The downside is that I don't teach kindergarten so I don't have access to the great furniture they are ordering for the new k classrooms. Check it out at http://www.naturalpod.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3
One message my district is giving is Back off on colour! And I get that. I have in the past bombarded kids with colour. It can be sensory overload. Remember that this whole project began when I saw the effect that subdued lighting and an inviting ambience had on my staff (they hung out a lot and didn't go home). Kids are probably more attacked by stimulation and yet we throw more at them regardless. I definitely found that my students seemed a little more subdued after the changes. The amount they could read independently definitely lengthened noticeably.

This year I greatly reduced colour overall. I got rid of borders, banners, posters, and even student work that was not framed. I also got rid of the 3 different shades of blue desks. I brought in the neutral or organic tone risers and area rug. I filtered the light through some white mesh. I did have some accent splashes of colour here and there: some jewel tone curtains, a large hanging of a kimono, the beaded door curtain, and some cool blue or white led lights. The only real mistake I made in terms of colour was the huge blue feature wall with the squashed sheep/cloud finish.

I learned my lesson. When it comes to colour, less is more. And I do faux finishes as well as I can do a triple back flip. Leave it to the professionals.


Written (badly) on my iPod.

Recommendations and Issues When Using Risers Instead of Desks

We Love Our Risers

 

During one of our final classroom meetings, I asked my students for advice about the risers and whether or not they thought I should use them again next year.  The message was clear and unanimous on two counts: definitely use risers again next year, but start SLOWLY.

 

My students loved the risers for these reasons:

• The risers gave lots of choice in seating (i.e. stretched out, standing, sitting behind them, kneeling on the floor, cozying up underneath them, etc.).
• The risers looked good.  (I actually disagree with this.  By the end of the year, the plywood covered risers looked like scuffed shipping crates.  I'll cover those ones with some left over laminate flooring, like I did with one other one.  The laminate holds up well, and cleans up nicely from food or art spills.
• Everyone could see.  Because of the multi-tiered orientation, everyone could see the Smartboard, me, and pretty well everyone else.  
• There seemed to be more room.  The risers were extremely efficient in terms of footprint.  I tended to have them in a horseshoe a bit in from the perimeter, so there was usually a big space in the middle where we could gather if necessary.  Desks tend to be more sprawling and they were always in the way when I was trying to get to someone.
• The risers were more "friendly".   The students liked that they could sit side by side with their classmates with no barriers (desks) between them.  By the way, the students who recognized that they needed personal space would sometimes retreat to a desk, but mostly periodically.

All in all, students thought they could learn better because they felt happier and could see more.  Some students liked also that they had had a hand in assembling the risers.  I build the components in my garage, and then students would sometimes help me assemble the risers when I brought the parts to school.  They had also helped to sand the risers so that they were smooth as a baby's bum.  Most of my kids have never had the tactile pleasure of using tools or sanding, and they loved the experience.  It also created built in ownership.  Looking back, my students took REALLY good care of the risers (way better than the care they took of their desks).  Maybe that is a result of introducing them slowly as prescribed by my students.

 

Except for One Thing
The students also gave one piece of negative feedback.  The risers, especially at first, were uncomfortable.  The risers are long, flat pieces of plywood.  There are no scooped out places for little backsides like their blue plastic chairs had.  This didn't bother most students, but for the ones that it did bother, those students brought their own cushions or used some of the ones I had.  Some students also did not like the lack of back support ("bleacher back") and found their backs sore from not leaning back on their chairs or not getting elbow support from their desks.  Coincidentally, I found those complaints coming from students with the worst posture and muscle tone.  Also, this was only an issue when we all had to stay in one place, and I generally try to keep my teacher talk time down to no more than 15 minutes at a time.  When my students are working, they can choose a number of different body positions.

 

And Despite Initial Fears    

 

I have to say that using risers was a major success.  When I first envisioned using risers, I almost didn't do it because of the number of fears that I had.  But looking back, those fears turned out to be non-issues.  Here are some of the fears I had and what the actual resultant was:

• Chaos.  Without desks, I feared there would be pandemonium and that everything would be a total mess.  The exact opposite is true.  Because everyone could see and hear properly, it actually cut down on off task behaviour.  Because there were no desks, students couldn't just mindlessly stuff materials in the back of their desks, and if they left things on the floor or the risers, it was highly visible so they'd have to take care of it.  Mind you, the little storage in their lapdesks and giving them alternate storage on a rolling trolley were essential too.
• What would my principal think?  When I brought in the first set of risers, I didn't actually ask permission.  I just did it.  I wasn't sure if I was eventually going to go whole hog anyway, so I didn't want to scare anyone.  My fears were totally unfounded because my principal was so great about it.  She understands the educational value, and she supports me 100%.
• What would the other teachers on my staff think?  Actually, they are pretty used to some of my weird ideas.  None of them have gone all the way and started building their own furniture, but some of them have really started to think long and hard about how their classrooms look and function.
• Is this bad for kids' bodies and muscle development?  According to our great occupational therapist, no.  In fact, she praised the number of alternate body positions that out set up affords.  I was worried about bleacher back, but she said it was akin to having children sit on those big yoga balls.  As long as they kept both feet planted on the ground, it was good for muscle development.  (Linda also recommended taping paper to walls so child could work upright or having them work on their bellies).
• What would the parents think?  By the time parents saw the risers, we had already had the full set up going.  The students had slowly gotten used to the risers as I only brought them in as fast as I could make them.  We experimented at the beginning about who got to be on the risers to see how each student responded to them.  In doing so, students saw that being on the risers was a privilege, and saw them as something special.  When the parents saw the risers, the students had already provided them with the hype, and our bulletin board outside provided the educational reasoning.  All of the feedback that I received from our parents was very positive.
• Can I afford all this?  Because this was coming out of pocket, and I am cheap, budget became an issue.  The risers and lapdesks were going to cost me about $400 I thought.  The actual cost for them was really closer to $200.  I got some plywood from a parent, I used some Ikea doors, I had some 2x4s in my garage, I also had a bit of money left in a slush account, and one of my students gave me a giftcard to where I bought the lapdesks.  Sometimes being cheap also make you creative.  I can also justify the money in that because I no longer buy commercial posters or borders, I can now spend that money on my new vision.  Of course, that does not take into account the other items I bought to give a new atmosphere to my classroom.  (See the previous blog entry). 

Going Slowly Next Year
In an email to my friend Kyme, who is currently and enthusiastically exploring classroom atmosphere, I talked about some of the reasons why my students recommended implementing the risers slowly.  I'll list them here:

• Going slowly gives kids a chance to process the changes.
• The teacher gets a chance to see what is working and what doesn't. If you make all the changes at once, it is hard to pinpoint what made the difference or what the problem was.
• Going slowly and introducing a few changes at a time prolongs novelty factor. Kids and their brains like novelty.
• It is easier to handle financially.  Instead of spending $500 in one shot, it was gentler to spend over the course of three months.
• By going slowly, your kids get to buy into the process with you, which they can't do if you've made all the changes before they got there.

Here is my new fear: can I sustain this?  I'll try to answer this in my next blog entry.