Raisin the bar: The Evolution of our Learning Environment

Term one has seen a constant evolution of our learning space. Our overarching focus for this term has been "Our Place Our Space". With the new 'holes in the walls' and having 43 learners and two teachers within one space, we felt it was important that the kids had an understanding of how each space should be used and how learning should occur in that space.

The angle we approached this from was to have the learning spaces designed by the learners, for the learners.

When a space wasn't working particularly well, or wasn't being used in the way it was designed to be used, we challenged the students to evaluate it and use critical thinking in regard to whether the space needed to be modified or the learning behaviours modified within that space.

One of the spaces that has been a constant 'problem' has been our cave. It had previously been used an an office/withdrawal space. Before the school year started, a window was created in order for this to be used as a learning space. It began with tables for people to collaborate, but it was being used as an escape room. 'Escape' as in 'escape from learning' (lets hide away and chat about anything BUT learning).

Inside 'The Cave'

Individual desks in the Quiet Space - known as The Cave (through the glass)

We had booth-like individual desks in one of the classrooms, with boards between them to minimise distraction. The learners chose to move these into this cave, creating a silent space to work in. With such an emphasis on collaboration, we've found that learners are hesitant to use the space in case they want to talk about their learning, as they'd need to leave the room!

Today, some of our learners utilised this space for their reading tasks. One of these students had headphones on, in order to listen to music while they worked on task... They don't tend to be able to maintain focus in a silent space.

The Creative Space

What was the old cloakroom... has been turned into a Creative Space. With lino on the floors, it lends itself to being a wet area when required. It also makes clean up easy. A large table, which is half painted in blackboard paint, is often used by a group who are collaborating on a task or who want to work individually on a group task, with the ability to discuss the tasks/learning as they go. This is a space that always has people in it.

Mrs Raisin's Teaching Space

I don't have a jelly bean table for group instruction and I have struggled to find a way to configure tables to get a practical group teaching station. I have found it easier to get groups together on the floor, usually in a circle. The kids turned one of our couches around so that it backs onto my teaching space. This has worked really well in that it minimises distraction for learners in both spaces, while creating a sound buffer. These boys knew I wasn't going to be pulling out a group so took advantage of using the space. In 'the old days', the sight of a group of boys sitting like this would automatically arouse suspicion! I've found that boys in particular, often line themselves against a wall like this. They work on their own learning, or a collaborative document, but are able to confer with each other, in a way that they can easily see the person's screen next to them. They can learn tricks and tips off each other and get feedback immediately, rather than having to move to see/show each others work.