It’s that time of year…new beginnings, new ideas, new students and new classroom plans. CraftED is here to provide you with more tools for your classroom with this special Back to School Edition of setting up your classroom space. For the month of August I will be highlighting tips for creating a student-driven classroom, and ideas for rethinking your space to better support collaboration, student agency and tinkering.

Why the need for Student-Driven Classroom Space?

About six years ago I was given a nugget from one of my directors that I have never forgotten. At the end of a meeting she simply posed the question: “who holds power in your classroom?” That question still sits with me, in particular as it relates to classroom space. Traditionally when you enter a classroom it is obvious where the front of the room is, where a teachers’ space is, and where students sit and work. These arrangements are all deeply held traditions in our schooling system about the role of the teacher and student, and difficult to rethink. However, as our schools continue to evolve and ask our students to innovate, lead and collaborate, we must ensure that our classrooms are conducive to this type of learning.

Here are 3 ideas to get you started:

1. To get the biggest bang for your buck, begin by dreaming up your classroom without a front or back. What would it look like for learning to happen in all directions all the time? or perhaps it is easier for you to model your classroom off of an example from industry-I mean if we are asking our students to emulate thinking for a future career, why not set our classrooms up to further support this? Need more ideas? Steelcase does a great job of providing furniture and models for ideas, and I have been in a Pinning frenzy on CraftED’s board: Mindful Classroom Space. 

2. If you are feeling brave and adventurous, wrap up your summer with this read: Starting from Scratch by Steven Levy. This book was the inspiration for the project I started my classroom out with last year: Makin’ Space in which my students set up our classroom, from beginning to end. What better way to gain student ownership over their space then to facilitate the process of them designing it themselves!

3. I’m loving the new craze of classroom Genius Bars! Every year I had at least a few students who were a tech wiz and found such a boost of confidence when helping their peers with technology. Modeled after the Apple store, genius bars are a way to allow students to address peer tech challenges and remove the assumption that you as the teacher are the “end all be all” for help. Check out this read for more tips on setting one of these up in your classroom this year. 

Up next, setting up your classroom for collaboration. Stay tuned!