My Innovation Site is (finally) Public!

I am happy, proud, and slightly exhausted to say that the site I've been working on can now be viewed by everyone in the internet universe. 

It can be found here.

I have visited classrooms around my district looking for interesting things that are going on in an effort to share and spread innovation.  It's been a wonderful, wonderful experience.  Teachers have been gracious in letting me in their classrooms, but humble about what they do.  When they get talking though, they get this gleam in their eyes because they are talking about something they are passionate about.  It is very inspiring.

The new public site is in blog format, whereas the in-district site was more like a collection of themed magazines.  I liked the themes and magazine style because I could add an editorial comment at the top about the collection of ideas.  We switched to blog format for ease of management, but viewers can still group the stories into themes by clicking the categories on the left of the page. 

Please stop by the site if you have a moment and browse through some of the ideas. 

The thing that is special to me about the ideas is that most of them came from individual teachers who were trying to do things differently (not national initiatives, not big budget programs, etc.).  Most ideas originated because teachers were bothered by something and they wanted to fix it.  Or they heard of something similar happening somewhere else, and they thought, "What would it look like if I tried that here?"  Even if they adopted someone else's ideas, they made them wholly their own.  I like that.

Lighting Is Everything

If you want to make a quick, dramatic change to your room, start with lighting. 

I don’t know about your classroom, but my classroom has these bright fluorescent fixtures that suck the life out of you.  I try to keep them off as much as possible.  I don’t get enough natural light from my north-facing windows, so I augment with some spot lighting.  The area lighting also creates some interesting zones. 

The 4 overhead hanging lights create intimate areas for small groups. 

The floor lamps create a spot to cozy up in the comfy padded chair with a book and a buddy.

A couple of desk lamps along the walls make for nice private areas for solo work.

 

Mr. S

My buddy next door, Mr. S teaches grade 4/5.  He has been experimenting with lighting effects too.  Check it out.

An arm lamp at the back by the sink creates a great, flexible workspace.

 

The floor lamp defines the mood of the carpeted reading area.

A couple of clamp lamps become instant wall sconces.

 

If you can’t change the wall positions or even the wall colours, lighting is an easier alternative.

Window Dressing: a different experience

When I was in San Francisco, I was wandering just off Market Street and I came across this cool shop window.

It was a funky hardware store. Instead of the usual merchandise posed like mannequins with price tags, this store had their merchandise displayed like Art. A tape measure was formed into a crown.  Some sink parts were arranged like the ripples of a Monet pond.  The frames were made of yardsticks.  The window was visually appealing. It was intriguing. It told a story. It made me want to walk in the store and see what happened inside.  So I went in. 

Inside, visually it looked like almost any other urban hardware store with goods from floor to ceiling in cramped little aisles.  But there were subtle differences. Instead of the metallic smell of nails and screws, there was this buttery aroma.  Near the entrance, there was a cinema-style red popcorn dispenser with a hand drawn sign that said, "Help yourself!"  So I did.  I shoveled some popcorn into one of those little red and blue striped bags.  I merrily chewed on the popcorn as I browsed the aisles.  Around the next corner, I was asked whether I wanted red or white wine.  (I chose red.  I don't trust free white wine, even in northern California, unless it is to clean my windows).  Even without the wine, the staff seemed genuinely glad to see me.  They were just  happy to talk to me, and once in a while, we even mentioned hardware. 

Of course I HAD to buy something.  How could I not support such a business that created such a pleasant experience in a HARDWARE store?  I ended up buying some picture frame wire for $15.  But what I walked out of that store with was joy.  Yeah, it's hard to believe that I spent a week in San Francisco (with its glorious shops, hotels, restaurants, museums, architecture, natural beauty, etc.) and my most gratifying experience was in a hardware store.  But that's just it.  I expected to find rich experiences in those other places (and I got them), but not in a hardware store.  The hardware store delivered a fun, intriguing, personal experience in a place which at its best traditionally is utilitarian, and at its worst, BO-ring. 

This is what we should be doing in schools.  No, I don't mean giving kids popcorn and wine.  No, I don't mean having them sell hardware.  No, I don't mean configuring objects in interesting, artistic ways to attract customers (though that is cool).  No, what I mean is redesigning the whole experience of education.  Instead of merely focusing on the product and hustling our clients in and out as fast as possible, why not slow the process down a little and make it more pleasant, personal and beneficial for everyone involved?  Those hardware people were able to design a hometown experience in the financial centre of a major city.  If I lived in San Francisco, I would visit that store every time I was in the area.  They focused on the clients and gave them the best experience possible while they looked for a new toilet seat or found the right light bulb.

I would love to educate kids in a way that would have them love the experience as they learned.  Have students see the joy, beauty, and wonder in every day things, like hardware, language, numbers, rocks.  Spend long times with individual students so they can share what is wonderful to them with me and vice versa.  Sir Ken Robinson said that we need to go from an industrial model of education to an agricultural one, that we just need the right conditions to develop children properly.  I think that the hardware store was on the right track.  They took the expected (the hardware products) and added the unexpected (the personal, joyful experience). 

We could do the same in education:  take the expected (learning), and add the unexpected (a personal, joyful experience).  It doesn't take a lot of money nor does it need to change radically (after all, they still sold hardware), but it does take time and a great deal of imagination.  How else will we start to see things in a new way unless we use our imaginations?  Like the hardware store, imagination will be the nuts and bolts  for designing a new experience in education.

Is it time for a reboot?

I've been investigating classroom design for three years now and I was starting to think that it might be a good time to start over and reboot. We had some political tension and I wondered if I should take down everything I bought or created. I decided not to for a number of reasons. One of the reasons was that a little political tension was not a good enough reason. Also as a protest it seemed lame.

But then I wondered if tearing it all down would be interesting from a scientific stand point. But I decided that was unnecessary too. I already know of classrooms that have minimal thought to design or classrooms where the environments don't work for the teachers or students, so I already know what effect those classrooms have on learning.

I do have to say that in some oddly masochistic way, I did find the idea of starting over from scratch appealing.  I've been helping other teachers rethink their classroom, so I might be getting swept up in their enthusiasm.  I think I am also getting wary of getting stuck in the rut of "But I've done it this way for years."  It has only been three years, but I do want to practice what I preach.

For now, I'll keep it the way it is.  No reboot yet.  I am out of my classroom more next year, so it would be tricky making too many changes.  I'll probably have a new teaching partner and I'll definitely have a new crop of students, so I'll have to implement any changes gradually with them.  Plus, I need to have my classroom set up in my odd way as an example for other teachers who are looking at alternative designs. 

The year after this one though, hmm, all bets are off.  I know I'll have that itchy feeling again.

"It's a year later, and I'm wondering where you are now with this?"

I was going to post something else, then I noticed that one of my (5) readers left me a comment(!) that provoked me into some reflection.  I thought I'd use it as the basis of a new post.

Andrea asked (in the post "So you want to get rid of your desks?")

"It's a year later, and I'm wondering where you are now with this?"

That's a great question, Andrea. I actually think you've gone further with this than I have, classroomwise this year.

I have this one day per week district job that has me going to other people's classrooms and checking out their innovations, so my inquiry work in my own classroom has taken a slight backseat. So in terms of advancement, I haven't made much, but in terms of reinforcement, lots. I've had dozens of visitors come by my classroom who have watched how the environment plays a major role in the students' learning. Their comments are always interesting, and I get some provoking questions and feedback.

 
Andrea also wrote:

"After reflecting on your post, I created zones in my classroom last year for different types of activities, and also surveyed children about how they preferred to work and tried to meet their needs."

Like you, Andrea, we are constantly tinkering with our classroom, and it changes as it needs to be changed. We set up a store for a while so the risers became shop stalls. When we were working through some class issues, we had this big, one level circle to maximize that community connection. When we were doing lots of projects and art, the risers, floor and easels became big work and display spaces. So I guess I am still trying to create a flexible space that meets the demands of what we are doing at the time.  Most of the time, our classroom is set up with the 3 zones (campfire, watering hole, and cave) to accommodate different kinds of day to day learning. 
 
 
Andrea also wrote:

"(I teach middle school). We made some changes that increased engagement, so this was time well spent!"

Part of my district job was to help people implement changes in their classrooms, and the one area I spent a lot of time on was classroom design.  I was in many classrooms, and I can honestly tell you, (though you already know this) that classroom design matters.  I've witnessed first hand that classroom design influences (for better and worse) several big and small factors:

• visibility (and hearability?)
• self regulation and stimulation level
• classroom community
• traffic flow
• comfort
• engagement
• connection of teachers with students
• temperature, light, and smell
• ability to teach different subjects in a variety of methods
• pride and ownership
• safety
• student interactions, etc.

I am really interested to see what you found out, Andrea, especially in your surveys.  Students sometimes have different priorities than teachers when it comes to classroom environments.  I worked with this one middle school teacher whose students were highly resistant to making changes to their classroom.  They were really wary of making their classroom into something too babyish.  It wasn't until she showed them some pictures of alternatives that they saw some positive possibilities and then the ideas really started to fly.  That teacher said it transformed her class into a community and transformed her teaching to be much more personal.


Andrea also wrote:

"Thanks for bringing up a topic that helped me improve the experience for my students."

Thank you for the comment that spurred me into writing this post!  And please send me pictures of the kinds of changes you made, if you can.