The Context
In September of 2020, I wrote about how I set up my classroom going in to teaching in a COVID context (here). Since then, I've had the chance to think about the role classroom design has on teaching in a COVID context.
To recap, in September of 2020:
- Students were distanced as much as possible, and at that time, there was no mask mandate for students.
- We spent as much time handwashing as we did reading.
- I put up the transparent screens for students at tables.
- We restricted movement down the halls as much as possible.
- We didn't share supplies, and we reduced contact and face to face communication.
- We kept to our own classes, and even had separate play zones outside with staggered entry times, play times, lunch times, and exit times.
- It was a tense time because we didn't know really how COVID was transmitted and teachers were constantly second-guessing themselves on how to keep 20-odd children, themselves (and by extension, their families), and their colleagues safe.
Does Classroom Design Have Any Impact?
At first glance, I might say that classroom design had little to no impact on learning in a COVID context. Why? Because by the end of the year, all my students progressed and learned a lot, and we built a tight-knit classroom community. In September, it was like herding cats because most students had not set foot in a classroom in 6 months, and had the double-whammy of having atrophied academic skills (What is reading again?) and atrophied public social skills (What do you mean I can't lie on the floor, close my eyes, and eat Cheezies? Where is the fast-forward button on my teacher?).
I could not rely on my classroom (the Third Teacher) to help me support my students the ways it used to. The kids who needed to walk around the classroom had to stay put. The kids who needed to stand up could, but only hunched over their desks (no risers, no high chairs, no standing at the window counter). The kids who learned best by stretching out or lying down couldn't (no risers, no carpets). The kids who learned best with a partner or in a small group could not gather (no "watering holes", no risers, no kitchen tables, not small meeting areas). The kids who needed a spot for themselves could not find one (no "caves", no egg chairs, no zen dens). I could not use some my favourite aspects of my classroom, to support diverse learners.
Well, at least not in the ways I usually did.
Classroom Design has a huge impact, but the rules changed.
Now, looking back, teaching in a COVID context was actually an on-going classroom design challenge. In the same way that desks with inkwells and fixed seats "worked" for the students and learning of the time, my risers and alternate seating worked for the kind of learning and learners I wanted, pre-pandemic. I had to shift my thinking within a COVID context.
Here are some of the design choices we played with to support learning in a COVID context:
Strategic Seating
- Kids who needed to stand a lot were placed at the back or on the sides so they could stand without obstructing the view of others. Later, we had some designated counter spots so specific kids could stand and work.
- After having a conversation about giving students what they needed, we brought back the wobble chairs for students who needed to move.
- Like before, we raised the light level to increase student energy and alertness, and brought it down, when we needed to calm things down.
- We brought in additional cheap, but attractive lighting to hang from the ceiling, and made sure we used warm-coloured bulbs instead of the bright, sharp ultra-white bulbs. The whole class could be lit from these lamps with a warm glow instead of the built-in overhead lighting.
- We used natural light from the windows, but in grey Vancouver, the light was augmented by the hanging lamps. We also added cotton curtains to soften the boxy rectangle dominance of the room. These also came in handy when we had a bright hot spell (so hot that schools were shut down --- a first for Vancouver!).
- We built individual storage boxes. They reduced the amount of movement around the classroom, had a small footprint because they were upright, and could be taken outside. Because I used some gloss white cabinet sheeting, the sides could be used as a whiteboard.
- Personal whiteboards. These could fit in the storage boxes and could be used in a number of ways. To reduce talking, yelling, and breathing all of over each other, students had chats, votes, and conversations by writing on the mini-whiteboards and holding them up.
- Whisper Phones. I first heard of these from my friend, Kyme, who used them to help students with their reading fluency. Whisper Phones are just some elbow piping from the hardware store in the shape of a phone hand set. If you whisper in one end with your mouth, you can hear yourself very clearly in the earpiece, and no one else can hear you or be disturbed. A little bit of self-talk privacy for a couple of bucks? Love it.
- Cloakroom. I crammed the cloakrooms full of stuff because I knew students would not be using them because of the close contact gathering. (And where else could I put my dismantled risers?) But every once in a while, in a pinch, students would ask to cram themselves in there, in between the junk and the corner, away from the world. For them, it was a calm, safe, isolated space.
- We also did a lot of closed-eyes visualization. Sometimes the best way to get some privacy is to close your eyes.
- Outside In, Inside Out
- We went outside. We ran around the field, we walked through the neighbourhood, we had great conversations and explorations in the forest, we painted pictures or drew chalk art on the blacktop, we took our lapdesks and did our work outside. Generally, every time we went outside, it was positive, fun, and freeing.
- Inside, we opened the windows to let the fresh air in, and the recirculated breath out.
- My cobbled-together doc cam was my right arm. I showed techniques live on a sheet or whiteboard while the class could watch on the big TV. I could record these demos. Without the intimacy of gathering together students on the carpet, I can bring the class together by reading them a story where every child can see the pages on the big TV.
- We watched lessons, slide presentations, videos and demos on TV. During lunch, students could not talk because their masks were off, so to keep them calm and occupied, we would watch nature scenes on TV. If you’ve been to one of my workshops, you’ll know about “fancy restaurant mode”: we turn down the overhead lights, put out a few electric tealights, put on some light jazz music, and shows views from the fanciest restaurants in the world on the TV; the students go into “fancy restaurant mode”, acting calm, using their manners and hushed voices. It’s a simulated urban oasis, and a good way to travel when you can’t travel.
- The computer was also the link to our home learners. In September, we started with 4 students learning from home. A couple of times per week, we would include them in a lesson, story, or activity via video conference. The in-class students were so excited to see the home learners each week. I think the home learners also felt included in the class, so much so that one by one, they started to return to in-class learning without much fanfare. (Okay, that’s not totally true. The returning students didn’t have much difficulty when they returned, but the class would have thrown a party or staged a parade for each returning student when then re-entered the classroom. It was as if they were coming back from space, not a few blocks over).
- Microphone. Like mentioned before, the microphone (and small, powered speaker), allows me to be heard, lets me use a calm tone (not the loud, angry-sounding register), saves my voice, and focuses students.
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