Designing a "good classroom"

Hello! 

For my 2021 student orientation, we had to design a classroom within our school building. In our internal investigation, we learned about the history of classrooms in the US and explored what we thought made up a good classroom and learning environment. For our external investigation, we learned about different types of classrooms and visited a soundscape experience in Millennium Park to experience what made an outdoor place a productive learning space. Now to wrap up this orientation, we are tasked with designing and executing a plan for our assigned classroom that follows both COVID protocols and our group set standards of a “good classroom”.

CH. "Cabin Blueprint." 2021.

My group was assigned the Cabin. My group thought that it would be best to arrange our tables in a horseshoe. We did this so that everyone could see the whiteboard, speaker, and each other. We made sure to distance each chair at least 3ft apart. We also placed chairs in each desk that is built into the wall. For the two bookcases in the back of the room, we proposed getting plants to line the top row. The cabin currently does not have whiteboards, so we also proposed getting two big whiteboards to put on the wall. In the picture below you can see how the room should be set up at the beginning of the day and reset to at the end of the day. 

CH. "Cabin." 2021. 

In order to make our learning space productive and safe, we came up with a social contract. We believe that students should work in a timely fashion, be curious, be encouraging, and be patient. We also believe that in a good classroom setting, students should pay attention to their work, teacher, and their classmates. Next, we looked at what qualities of a good teacher help make a classroom a more productive learning environment. We believe that these teachers should be able to accept feedback, be patient, understanding, and accommodating when necessary, and allow students to schedule 1:1 time. Most importantly we believed that good teachers should be excited to teach! 

 This student orientation helped me learn that many different places can be a classroom and a great space for learning. It also helped me understand what qualities make up a GCE student and teacher. I had fun designing a classroom space within my school. Thinking about this challenges me to see how many ways a space can transform in order to become a productive learning space. 

Thank you for reading my AP!