With all this talk about Starbucking your classroom, we need to make sure the pedagogy shifts with the redesigned spaces.
Flexible seating, whiteboard desks, and wiggle stools are the latest trend in education, and for good reason. Students are more engaged, and are given more choice in the classroom. But, classrooms still have a long way to go.
Classrooms should become studios.
If you hear a colleague say, “I’m off to go work in the studio,” you probably think “Nice,” or “Rad.” But, if you hear a colleague say, “I’m off to go work in the classroom,” you probably think “Ugh.” It’s time for that to change.
Learning spaces should be studios. They should be:
Less teacher-driven
Less sitting
Less listening
Less independent work
More making
More projects
More student-driven
More collaboration
More creation
More publishing
We need to reclaim our spaces.
