I recently visited a classroom in Yonkers that looked a little bit different from the typical ho-hum desks and chairs. Desks were in small groups around the edge of the classroom, and a giant, multicolored rug with squares sat in front of an interactive SMART Board. Although this school doesn't have the most funding to burn on devices, this board and the accompanying document camera provided so many opportunities for the class to interact! Students could share their project journals using the document camera, while others commented on the big board. In another lesson, the teacher used interactive quizzes (like Edpuzzle and Kahoot!). For these activities, students had the choice of sitting at their desks, at a nearby lunch table, or sprawling on the rug -- whichever gets them working on content best.
Providing a variety of these spaces or "zones" in a classroom creates specific environments that can impact student thinking. Working on my laptop at home, sometimes I prefer to sit upright at the table; other times, I want to take up three sections of the sofa and do my work in a Superman pose... how can we limit the movement of our students when we want to facilitate the same type of productivity? In classrooms, I call this ability to choose your seating based on the activity "buzzing". Depending on the type of work, students can visit one location, meet with a group, or work with specific materials, then breeze over to another area for the next step of their project. This type of work can seem chaotic to an outsider, but given the right activities and projects, students will become so immersed that the chaos actually works. According to William Corcoran ("Mister C"), "students know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, they see each other as resources, and they utilize each other’s skills. To develop deep self-awareness and metacognitive habits, we need to remove all the roadblocks of the traditional classroom model." For this and more resources on designing for project-based learning, check out:
This is particularly relevant for students with exceptionalities, who benefit the most from universal design for learning (UDL). In this classroom, there were a number of students with specific needs, and even the smallest design details were geared towards serving them. On the bottoms of chairs, students had big, colorful rubber bands for jittery legs. A corner of the room covered in bean bag chairs and plushy pillows allowed one student to hibernate when he encountered a moment of emotional distress. From the giant, colorful letters on the wall to the mini self-monitoring checklists on each desk, the teacher had incorporated her students' needs into every aspect of decoration. For students with exceptionalities and specific needs, teachers can turn to even more resources for advice on UDL:
Most NYC schools are on Spring break this week. For teachers looking to get a fresh start next Monday, consider ditching the bulky inflexible furniture, and allow students some time to buzz!
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