Learning Space Matters

Last year was my first year with mobile furniture with fourth graders.  There was so much we learned together about learning, space, relationships and ourselves as people.  One of my biggest take aways was simple.  When you let kids be in charge, they are empowered.  They are empowered to learn, empowered to find or create space they want or need, they are empowered to ask for more, and they are empowered to learn more.

It could easily be seen as a project about space and furniture.  But it was always a project about learning, relationships, and valuing the learner.  What my students told me time and time again via survey, conversation or with action was when I have a choice, when my voice matters, when I am in control as the learner, I will be at my best.  When I am a part of a community, when my person is valued, when I can build relationships, I can also learn.

Furniture was the tool that amplified what my classroom community valued.  It allowed most of my kids to create a space that worked for their learning as individuals and as members of a group. It made the shift to a more student centered space, it made more of the space about learning, it made my students reflect more on what they needed to do their best in multiple learning experiences.

Here is some of their work!

Twitter Tuesday Inspires an Act of Kindness

My students participate each week in a school chat that we call Twitter Tuesday.  We tweet with a few other classrooms about a topic and share the hashtag #ntalearns.  We have done chats since the beginning of the year, but we were inspired by the prompt a few weeks ago from Wonderopolis, "how can you pay it forward?"

We started by watching the video from the Wonderopolis site, but then our conversation turned to how we could do something in our own community, and pay something forward in our world.  They always participate in a Today's Meet to discuss the topic of Twitter Tuesday (see below). My students wanted first to donate money, but I also work in a place that money can often be hard to come by, but we wanted to support something local.  We came to a vote and decide to support The Greater Chicago Food Depository with a food drive and also host a movie night one evening at school to collect monetary donations.  My students researched the charity, found out statistics about food insecurity in Chicago, and how donated food was distributed within our community.

They were able to create a flier for the food drive and the movie night and set a goal to donate 400 cans which is about one per student in our building.  They have been working hard over the last week to donate themselves, spread the word, set up and host a movie night, and count and collect the food donations.


Through this small work of having a conversation online with fellow school mates, my students were empowered to act, and act in a way that benefited others.  They did the work of researching the charity, the problem, and then created a ways to support the organization within their school community.   This work falls outside of my curriculum map, but it is driven by students and students' passion to impact their community.

In the end, they raised over $45 from their movie night and beat the goal of 400 cans by collecting 611.  I am so proud of the actions they took and the hard work it took to organize and implement a school wide food drive and fundraiser!

Learning in an Agile Learning Space

My students have the privilege of having an agile learning space with Bretford furniture. The furniture is mobile, tables and chairs with wheels, that can be arranged in different ways depending on the needs of the learners. In my classroom my students are the drivers of the setup and design, they discuss their ideas for the design together, they arrange the furniture and then reflect on how the design worked for the task and purpose. As we learn about how learning space impacts our classroom, I wanted to share some ideas.

I looked up the definition of mindfulness to share with students.  The definition reads, "the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something."  I wanted to hear from them what they think they have become more mindful of as this year has progressed.  The furniture has given each of us a way to be aware of how our classroom feels, and how learning happens in the space.  I think I can speak for myself and my students to say that the experience has lead to an awareness that it can be flexible and ever changing, but also that it is important to what and how we learn.

If I asked my students before this project started the purpose of desks, chairs, space and a classroom I imagine they would say something similar to my own idea: places to write, sit, and learn.  I have found that in experiencing and exploration of how space can change has caused me to view the entire learning space as something different.  It is about finding a space that is quiet, or spacious, or close and collaborative, or zoned for different types of experiences.

The most interesting thing I have seen my students do in the learning space in the last week is using the space that is not occupied by furniture.  The design we have been working with for a few days leaves a large portion of open floor space next to a work center in math that students can choose to be independent or collaborative in.  There have been groups of students who have created a collaborative work space on the floor to be able to literally “put their heads together” and work.   I have also seen student who find other surfaces to be the “desk” or workspace,  students who are standing more, students who are using more of the classroom as space to learn, not just the desk and chairs. (See the first clip in the video below for a visual example.)

Having students become aware of the possibilities of the furniture is excellent, but having students use other spaces and choose how they want to learn, and for my kids specifically knowing they DON’T have to ask, is really monumental for me and for them.  They are getting to know themselves as learners and making decisions about how they work best in our space. They are now aware that our classroom is more than desk configurations, its about how we can use any space to be comfortable and have our needs met as learners.  

Asking students to reflect is a task many teachers do, but to ask them to reflect on learning space is something new for me, and it's empowering for students. In their reflections, I have found they are actually thinking deeply about the learning experience. How furniture and setup impact sharing ideas, collaborating, having access to materials and environment that is conducive to thinking. When we let students reflect critically about space, learning and preferences we are empowering them to advocate for what they need, give them voice to set up a space that will work for others too, and become the driving force in the classroom.

I recently discussed the impact of agile learning spaces with Don Orth on the Mobile Reach podcast with Jennie Magiera and Sue Gorman, if you still want more information about the impact of learning spaces.

Examples of students learning in the spaces created by students.

Student reflection of how space impacts learning.