Woodprojects in the Classroom 4: Student Design Challenge: T's New Workspace

 Following the success of the 3 Pieces of Wood project, a new project emerged naturally.  

As the year progressed, it became clear that one of my students, T, needed to change where her workspace was.  She was in and out of the classroom for sensory breaks and because her workspace was far from the classroom door, she would get distracted and not make it all the way there.  We needed to move her workspace closer to the door, but because her table was so big, it would not fit there.  We tried regular student desks in the past for her, but she kicked them around and was resistant to them because other students did not use them very much.  

What you have to know about T is that the students loved her very much, she was the friendliest kid and also the most stubborn kid we had all ever met.  Even though she was not fully verbal, you always knew exactly how she felt and what she wanted to do, and especially what she DIDN'T want to do. T needed a small workspace, but there was no way we were going to get her to use a typical student desk.  T was also the smallest student by far, so she would need a custom workspace.  

After conferring with Mrs. G (T's knowledgeable education assistant), we came up with a strategy.  Below is a Learning Story I created with the students using their words after we finished.  [My words are in square brackets.]

Student Designers to the Rescue 

This is T’s old work space. 
It took up a lot of space and her feet didn't touch the ground.

When we had to move T’s work space,
we realized we needed something different:

• Something that fit T.
• Something that took up less space.
• Something that fit with our classroom.

We measured T.

•      We like building.
•      It was fun working together. 

We made our own designs, shared them with each other, and gave them to our teacher.

Our teacher took parts from our designs and
put them together, then he made T a work space

This is the sheet we used.

(using left over wood and grade 8 woodworking skills).

Our teacher took parts from our designs and put them together.  Then he made T a workspace.   This is us building.

This is when it was done building.

The finished project
•    This is T’s new workspace. 
•    The desk is epic.

[It was truly epic.  The students went with a mini-riser design that fit in perfectly with the group risers.  The seat was low, long, and heavy.  It fit T's needs (her size, her comfort, the way she would use it, and the product and process made her feel special but not unusual).  And it fit our needs (easily moved by us, not easily moved or kicked by T, sturdy and bottom-heavy so as not to tip, small so it would fit by the door, the sled bottom with felt pads made it quiet, etc.).  The students/designers even gave the design a name, the "Miss T." ]

Miriam Miller came in a helped us think about what we did and learned.

Personal and Social Responsibility
•     It was challenging but fun.
•     We felt some pressure to do a good job, but it felt good in the end.
•     We took our time to do this. 
•     We made some mistakes but we learned from them. 

Personal and Social Responsibility
How did we use these?

[Empathic Design:
•       Empathy is thinking about how someone else feels (Standing in someone else’s shoes)
•       Design is making things from our ideas, to make something useful (helping others)]

•      Like the 3 pieces of wood project
•      But we did T’s desk together and we were able to use more pieces of wood
•      Working together can be better [new ideas, help if we get stuck] and harder sometimes [slower]
•      We had to think about T’s needs [thinking from her perspective]
•      We had to be polite [and inclusive].
•      We had to ask her to measure her.  Mrs. G was very knowledgeable. 

Epilogue

Unfortunately, at the end of the year, T's guardian, her grandma, let me know that they were moving.  With hesitance, Grandma asked if she could buy the Miss T desk because she'd heard about the success we'd had with it.  I laughed and said she could have it for free because it had literally been made for T.  Like the students, I don't miss the Miss T desk at all, but I sure miss the little kid with the big smile who sat in it.