Not your ordinary classroom flip

My round two in cohort is going to take a very different direction. Certainly I’ve been grappling with this issue since the last time but it  has never been more present in my teaching experience than this year. This is a picture of the Stanley History Wing at Ridley:

A beautiful hallway of five classrooms with elegant carpentry, adorned with historical artwork selected by the senior History classes. It is the main thoroughfare of the school, connecting the main school house building to the outdoor quad and two other major academic buildings beyond it. Nearly every student likely has a class here in courses such as business, economics, geography, history, civics, religions, and even some english. It is a space truly pulled out of time given the modern architectural tones of glass and concrete of many other schools. This certainly is not my challenge! It’s a joy to teach in this space.

Inside the rooms sheds a little more light as to where I am torn. In two of the classes (on the left), there exist large harkness tables. Incredibly well crafted blocks of wood that had to be assembled in place and facilitate large group discussions. In the other three, considerably solid two-seater tables with sturdy yet comfortable chairs. With enough seating for 22 students in each room, one might ask… really? is there a problem here? It seems all is in order.

 

Order. That’s just the thing I want to get away from.

The classes in other rooms in the school take on a much different vibe. Flexible spaces with tables and chairs on casters, even mobile whiteboards allow my classroom to transform and shift with my style of teaching daily. Not only that, but the teachers whom I share that space with can shift as well. We are tight on space at our school and classroom space is at a premium. Nearly every room is used in nearly every period of each day.

My issues start with furniture. I simply can’t move the harness table. Firstly its too heavy and secondly, what else can I do with that space other than have discussions? small group work? awkward. presentations? difficult. tests? students are elbow to elbow. The two-person tables in the other roms are a challenge. They weigh about 70lbs and while you can slide them around, I could do with 5 less per room and use it for other purposes. But if I leave them this way, the next teacher may struggle to move them back! We are also lacking adequate whiteboard space, sufficient outlets, casual seating.. the list goes on. I’ve read all the articles, flipped through all the classroom redesign guides.. but theres a lot to sift through.

So here is my challenge. Through some grease and noise, I’ve secured approximately $30K to refresh one-two spaces in this wing. I turned this into my action plan (approval pending):

How might I excite and engage students through the redesign of a traditional space but at the same time, empower the teachers in my department to explore new teaching styles through the combining of five classrooms?

I don’t wish for these classes to be used in isolation. Already teachers are swapping rooms on a needs basis. I need to run a debate simulation—> harkness table. I need to test —> traditional set-up. I need to run a stations activity —> move to a room with pods. This is a testament to the flexibility in my department but we need more options. What if I can’t move rooms? Why is my pedagogy held back by the physical space? There must be another way!