What?! No desks!
As you can see there are minimal student desks or individual spaces. I decided to have no student desks for several reasons and while I understand your initial shock I hope you understand my reasoning behind this movement. I, too, was nervous embarking on this innovative idea but I kept coming back to one question, what is best for my students?
When I moved to first grade two years ago, my initial observation was that they can not sit still! They constantly need to move, talk, explore, and touch EVERYTHING. At first these behaviors had me totally thrown off guard and thinking about managing this behavior became a conflict between control and the fact that they are six years old. This summer I set out to never stop learning, thinking, and reflecting on my practice. One main take away was student centered learning. I learned that the classroom is not my classroom. It is our classroom. Together we will spend more time awake here than at home. We need to make the classroom our classroom and our home. With the knowledge of first grade wiggles and curiosity, I set out to find how to create this student centered environment. Through the help of fellow teachers around the world like Paul Solarz, writer of "Learn Like a Pirate" and Erin Klein, second grade teacher and Scholastic Top Educator, I was able to infuse many ideas to create a collaborative, creative and functional classroom space.
“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” ― Margaret Mead.
This year I hope to create student leaders. Students who are collaborators, risk-takers, and problem solvers. These open spaces, collaborative tables, and comfortable seats allow students to work together in a close space rather than feel isolated at a single desk. Students will be presented with a task and then must decide how to best accomplish that task. Not everyone learns the same way, or does it the same way everyday. Some may even choose to work at a traditional desk, and that is okay.
We are no longer preparing students for the industrial era. Students will have jobs that do not even exist yet. How do we prepare them for that?
It is not about the content of the job but the skills needed to be successful. Communication, collaboration, creative-thinking, problem-solving, and risk-taking are extremely important to businesses. So what better way to create a class of 21st century learners by focusing on the skills they need to be successful while also keeping in mind the content they need to utilize those skills.
Students learn best by doing and choosing.
Choice will be a big factor in our classroom. The choice of where to sit will be the first choice students will make when deciding on starting a task. For some students, lying on their stomachs is the best way for them to learn, for others it is sitting in a chair, and for some it is curled up next to a friend reading together. This opportunity for choice increases empowerment which leads to enjoyment which helps with motivation and ultimately leads to achievement. Another added perk that is necessary in first grade is problem solving. You know there will be a fight over the favorite chair, but how students solve this problem will help with coping skills, teamwork, and empathy.
What about handwriting and the need to sit in a chair and write?
While there may not be individual desks, there are still hard spaces for each child to use when doing assignments that require individual attention and handwriting. Each student will have a "Home Base", an individual surface to sit in a chair against a hard surface to write. If necessary, cubby boards can be put up to provide an individual space in collaborative areas to create privacy for students.
The ditching of the student desks does not take away the content of the curriculum, the ability for your child to read or write, but provides us with the space, creativity, and empowerment we will need to be successful this year!
Where are all the colorful bulletin boards?
As you can see there are very minimal colored bulletin boards. The walls are freshly painted a neutral color and pops of green are disbursed throughout the room. Why is this? What happened to the brightly colored, different borders, words everywhere elementary classroom? Did I run out of time, put in less effort, or care? No, I actually spent more time setting this up than a brightly colored room because I had to reflect and think through the choices I was making to best suit my students' needs.
So why are there no colorful bulletin boards?
Many different colors can cause overstimulation among many children. A recent study showed that Kindergarteners, when they were off task, were distracted by the visual environment.
Natural colors also brighten the room and make the transition from outside environments to inside seamless.
Less "teacher" work and more student work will be on the walls. This helps promote ownership, pride, and motivation in a student led environment.
Classroom should impact student learning- students need to make connections to what they are learning. If students aren't making a connection to what is on the wall, it is not necessary for them to look at/use.
As you can see there are minimal student desks or individual spaces. I decided to have no student desks for several reasons and while I understand your initial shock I hope you understand my reasoning behind this movement. I, too, was nervous embarking on this innovative idea but I kept coming back to one question, what is best for my students?
When I moved to first grade two years ago, my initial observation was that they can not sit still! They constantly need to move, talk, explore, and touch EVERYTHING. At first these behaviors had me totally thrown off guard and thinking about managing this behavior became a conflict between control and the fact that they are six years old. This summer I set out to never stop learning, thinking, and reflecting on my practice. One main take away was student centered learning. I learned that the classroom is not my classroom. It is our classroom. Together we will spend more time awake here than at home. We need to make the classroom our classroom and our home. With the knowledge of first grade wiggles and curiosity, I set out to find how to create this student centered environment. Through the help of fellow teachers around the world like Paul Solarz, writer of "Learn Like a Pirate" and Erin Klein, second grade teacher and Scholastic Top Educator, I was able to infuse many ideas to create a collaborative, creative and functional classroom space.
“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” ― Margaret Mead.
This year I hope to create student leaders. Students who are collaborators, risk-takers, and problem solvers. These open spaces, collaborative tables, and comfortable seats allow students to work together in a close space rather than feel isolated at a single desk. Students will be presented with a task and then must decide how to best accomplish that task. Not everyone learns the same way, or does it the same way everyday. Some may even choose to work at a traditional desk, and that is okay.
We are no longer preparing students for the industrial era. Students will have jobs that do not even exist yet. How do we prepare them for that?
It is not about the content of the job but the skills needed to be successful. Communication, collaboration, creative-thinking, problem-solving, and risk-taking are extremely important to businesses. So what better way to create a class of 21st century learners by focusing on the skills they need to be successful while also keeping in mind the content they need to utilize those skills.
Students learn best by doing and choosing.
Choice will be a big factor in our classroom. The choice of where to sit will be the first choice students will make when deciding on starting a task. For some students, lying on their stomachs is the best way for them to learn, for others it is sitting in a chair, and for some it is curled up next to a friend reading together. This opportunity for choice increases empowerment which leads to enjoyment which helps with motivation and ultimately leads to achievement. Another added perk that is necessary in first grade is problem solving. You know there will be a fight over the favorite chair, but how students solve this problem will help with coping skills, teamwork, and empathy.
What about handwriting and the need to sit in a chair and write?
While there may not be individual desks, there are still hard spaces for each child to use when doing assignments that require individual attention and handwriting. Each student will have a "Home Base", an individual surface to sit in a chair against a hard surface to write. If necessary, cubby boards can be put up to provide an individual space in collaborative areas to create privacy for students.
The ditching of the student desks does not take away the content of the curriculum, the ability for your child to read or write, but provides us with the space, creativity, and empowerment we will need to be successful this year!
Where are all the colorful bulletin boards?
As you can see there are very minimal colored bulletin boards. The walls are freshly painted a neutral color and pops of green are disbursed throughout the room. Why is this? What happened to the brightly colored, different borders, words everywhere elementary classroom? Did I run out of time, put in less effort, or care? No, I actually spent more time setting this up than a brightly colored room because I had to reflect and think through the choices I was making to best suit my students' needs.
So why are there no colorful bulletin boards?
Many different colors can cause overstimulation among many children. A recent study showed that Kindergarteners, when they were off task, were distracted by the visual environment.
Natural colors also brighten the room and make the transition from outside environments to inside seamless.
Less "teacher" work and more student work will be on the walls. This helps promote ownership, pride, and motivation in a student led environment.
Classroom should impact student learning- students need to make connections to what they are learning. If students aren't making a connection to what is on the wall, it is not necessary for them to look at/use.
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