One of the first activities I wanted the students to do was to work in groups on anchor charts as to what a good classroom looks like, feels like, sounds like, and what it is not. This activity helps them establish a good foundation of expectations for respect. They shared their group anchor charts with the class as a whole to create a master list, and then used their collective findings to come up with non-negotiable "We Will" statements. I had laminated poster board for groups that could not fit around the dry erase tables. The poster board is much harder to clean off, and not quite as efficient for group reflection and sharing. We all much prefer the dry-erase tables. I wish I had it on film the first time I flipped the table into vertical mode so you could hear them say "wow! that's so cool!" Check out the pictures below!
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I had a few extra minutes at the end of a class, so I asked the students to write their first impressions of the furniture on a post it. A lot of them think it's super neat and I've encouraged them to come in each day and find a chair that will help them learn best. They have not needed much encouragement beyond that to manipulate the furniture to suit their needs. The wigglers find the green stools and the chairs on castors. Some of them position the chair backward so they can lean forward on the chair rest. Their one caveat, however, is along the same lines of what I've been thinking as I've been moving the furniture around the room, or straightening the room before I leave: the regular student chairs are more difficult to move around. The rubber piece on the bottom is great for not marking the floor, but it doesn't slide quite as well. However, I think if that's the only mild complaint, we are in good shape! I have had some comments about preferring that I have the wheel locks on, but I've spoken with them about it and the necessity to keep the locks off so that we don't break the locks.
Okay, so I couldn't leave the desks in the lecture format. It was way too boring! Not to mention, my roster size has grown and I need to accommodate the class sizes. It was fun puzzling the desks into this layout! There were plenty of great options of ways to shape the desks for collaborative groups, but I wanted to make sure each desk could see the projector screen for the first week activities.
What an exciting day! The old furniture left the room a little after 8 am, and I wasn't sad to part with it. In came a round table, 20 desks, 2 rectangular-ish tables, a moveable storage cart, a teacher desk, and lots of chairs. I did end up keeping one long brown table for extra surface area, and hesitantly parted with my big, teacher desk. I had a lot of fun with visitors as many people stopped by for what I've dubbed "the goldilocks experience" of sitting in the various types of chairs at the different desks. Here's the initial take:
Standard student chair: Students should find these much more comfortable to sit in. The flexible back is world's away from the rigid orange chairs I had before. The flexibility in the back should alleviate the desire to lean back on two legs. Although it is more difficult to lean back on two legs, it is still possible. The bottom is somehow designed with more cushion and seems like it would be easier on the spine when sitting for long periods of time. I also noted later that these chairs are lacking the silver buttons that my old orange chairs had. Often my girls would complain their hair was caught and pulled by the buttons on the chair. Structurally, the circular hole in the backing makes it super easy to grab and move the chair. The rubber on the bottoms was designed to prevent marking the floors, which is great. It does, however, add resistance when trying to move the chair. This difficulty is only a small issue when trying to move a stack of 5 chairs to a different location in the room. Standard student desks: It's a good thing I enjoy puzzling because it will come in handy when arranging the desks into various configurations. Kelly showed me a few examples of how to arrange them, and I gave me a *laminated* key with a lot of options. I really liked the pinwheel and as soon as we are past the first week formalities, I'll be moving the desks into the pinwheel pods. They're in more a lecture mode right now to set the tone for the first week of school. As Kelly suggested, I do not have the wheel locks in place because I don't want the wheels to break if they're forced in a direction. Locking them into place also seems a bit counterproductive if the goal is to provide students with a little more movement in the classroom. It's also very handy that they stack and move out of the way. Chairs on castors: Again, these provide a lot more freedom of movement. Interesting to note, when weight is applied to the chair, the wheels automatically stop moving for safety. The bottom foot rung has a button that allows it to spin for a preferred foot rest position. The backing on these is also flexible. They adjust in height to work with any of the desks, and the round table. I have one for my teacher desk, and it is very comfortable. I also like that it's not fabric, and won't trap moisture. Round table: This seems to be everyone's favorite feature when they visit and the hostess in me is half-tempted to set up some pub snacks on it! It fits three chairs comfortably; four is a little cramped. I'm hoping my class rosters don't exceed a number where I would need to put the fourth chair at the table. I am worried about the lever that adjusts the table height because it's a two-step process. I think I will be incorporating some tutorials the first week of school so that the students don't smash on the outer piece of the lever and break it. White tables: These might be my favorite. I love that these aren't a straight and boring rectangle, they have a dry-erase surface, and they flip forward so that the dry-erase surface can be shared/presented (and for storage). I do have these locked into place for now because of the way they're set up flush with one another. The green seats: I was, and still am, a bit worried that the benches will be treated like couches and set the wrong tone in an educational atmosphere. As of now, the way I'm approaching them is to seat more academically-serious students there initially, and then use them as incentives. It was also suggested that I approach the round-top this way as well. The stools are another of my favorite pieces. They are really lightweight which has me wondering about their durability, but they allow so much movement I can't wait to test them out on my fidgeters! Moving teacher pieces: I haven't done too much with these yet. I really like that the cart moves around the room. This could be handy for the heavy textbooks. There is a piece that attaches to the back as an extra dry erase surface that sounds neat, especially if it were moving around the classroom a bit. Since I eliminated the big desk, and lost some drawer space, I'm working on figuring out the best place to arrange some things. The jury is still out on this one! The moving teacher station appears to be handy. I won't be limited to the computer mounting station for navigating through powerpoints, etc. I did invest in a wireless mouse and keyboard so that I can move this thing around the room. The compartment underneath is, I think, meant for books or storage. For my purposes, it would be helpful if it had a sliding keyboard tray. This remains to be determined. Time flew by, and before I knew it they were locking up the school and setting alarms. I'm looking forward to going back and trying out more configurations! Stay tuned :-) |
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December 2016
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