Modern Learning Spaces v Flexible Learning Spaces

I love that moment when you realise your thinking has been challenged and, at the time - you didn't even recognise it. All of a sudden the penny drops and the fog clears.

A new colleague and leader said to me "So you have an interest in Modern Learning Environments." "Yeeeeeeah............ yip...........yip," I nodded and the conversation continued forming many question marks on my own philosophy. As I reflect on that now, I realise that my interest is not necessarily just on MLE but more about Flexible Learning Space.

I should note, that I tend to have the impression that the current view of a MLE to be an Open Learning Space. Whereas, a FLS is more about using or adapting a space you have to suit different situations.


Chris Bradbeer: Learning spaces from EDtalks on Vimeo.


I currently work in an 'old fashioned' single cell classroom with poor ventilation, poor acoustics and it's not all that attractive. I'm not complaining - it's workable, and we can't all have bright, shiny and new. I have some experience working in very collaborative and a not-so-collaborative school environment, and at my first school we used to do a class interchange for maths.

Within my single cell classroom, I use some Modern Learning strategies. E.g. Must-dos, Can-dos; no named desks; a variety of work surfaces such as standing desks, collaborative tables, cushions, partitioned areas etc.; opt-in workshops and many others. Some have worked better than others depending on the students in the class.

I actually really like working in my own class. I like that I know all my children personally and academically in all areas. I like that my timetable can be flexible enough to take advantage of teachable moments, without having to worry about any other teachers timetable. I like that the design accommodates a smaller number of people so it feels homely and the children have some ownership. I like that I know all of my students can achieve using the strategies WE (it's not all about me!) have put into place.

Aside from thinking noise and distraction would become a big factor not only for me personally, but also for the students, what would concern me in a shared teaching space is that when one teacher is ready to move from reading to writing, then that is when a lesson has to stop. It would concern me that although a student may be in my 'home-group' I may only see them during writing on a particular day. It would concern me that a student may get lost in a space and not feel that they have any one place that they feel truly comfortable in. It would concern me that some students would not handle the transitions and the lack of structure and possibly accountability.

I say that because of a student I know who demonstrates strong traits of autism. They came to my single-cell classroom (where at the beginning of the year, I was running a more rigid structure and slowly broke it down) from a MLE. This student was expected to cause some disruption within the classroom, which they did for a little while. With some support, high expectation and encouragement this student soon settled and I believe it largely had something to do with a tighter community-feel within the smaller space. In this case, ML Strategies within a single-cell classroom was the best learning experience for this student.

In a large, shared MLE I can see huge learning and development potential for myself, as all teachers that you work with have strengths and strategies. But, on the other hand, if you didn't share a philosophy it's going to make things difficult. It would work in the favour of the children, because as long as the school was big enough, and the children continued to move through, then they would have more exposure to a wider range of skills and strengths. There are also say 2-3 teachers who are putting their heads together for planning, delivery and assessment (In particular OTJs) of curriculum.

As happy as I am in my current classroom, I would like my students to have more opportunity to engage in more interactive learning activities with others. I would like our single-cell classrooms to have a joined breakout space/s and bi-fold doors so that the two classrooms can come together as one.


Anne Kenneally: Creating learning spaces from EDtalks on Vimeo.

A successful classroom is one where ALL students are engaged and ALL students are learning.

What experience do you have? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

My classroom 2013

This year, I have decided to take a small step backward (at least to start with) and give each student their own desk. I have done this for a couple of reasons. In their desk they will keep their pencil case, sunhat and any other personal belongings. Their books, as you will see from the photos, will be kept together. They will still have some freedom to roam at times, however, my intention is to break them slowly into Flexible Spaces after first learning about expectations and routines, and building the skills they need to work effectively as individuals and teams.

I have set my room up quite differently this year - still placing an emphasis on having a shared space for the whole class, an 'empty' table space for group work (desk groups can also be used), and also pockets for purpose - such as an office where the computers are, a maths area, a literacy area and a creative design (art) area. It will be interesting to see how the layout works and how the children respond to it.

Take a look at the pics,

Classroom January 2013 on PhotoPeach

Reflection upon term 3

Well, we've now had two full weeks in our changed classroom and it seems to be ticking along quite nicely. I'm enjoying having the freedom of literacy workshops - it feels more flexible and that if I need to spend a little more time with a group, or a particular child I can do that. I feel I have better tabs on where everyone is at and where they are going. I would say though, that all of my targeted workshops are based on hard assessment and I think that is important.

The six page plan is actually working very well and as long I have a direction in mind for the week, it's not hard to whip up the formalities throughout the week. I usually try to plan Monday-Tuesday/Wednesday, then revisit the needs for the second part of the week.

One thing that I have noticed is that the children are often choosing diffferent places to sit, but not neccessarily different people. I have started taking short videos around the class so I can analyse them a bit more - but my first step is to give more direction about choosing sensible people to sit beside. Many of the children have identified this as an area of need for them.

I think the children are enjoying more responsibility and are generally stepping up to the mark (today was hopefully a one-off!). We are doing a Friday review for both literacy and numeracy, in the form of a WOW factor - something postive, and a Hot-Tip - something to work on. I make an effort to take those home and read them over the weekend so I clearly know where the childrens heads are at, then we re-read and remind on Monday when they glue them into their books.

The first week, the children really didn't have too much direction. So we looked at what a good reflection and goal setting was. This week, I'm blown away! (Although we still need to work on adding 'because..')

Some examples of WOW factors:

• I enjoyed sitting by other people because it helped me learn.
• I learnt to subtract by slitting numbers into parts so I could use tidy numbers.
• I enjoyed learning the three rules of speech marks.
• This week I enjoyed soing to group sessions.
• I thought my recount was cool because I used language features.
• I learnt how to jump the number line two different ways.
• I think that I made a good choice of book becasue it was very similar to the kind of person I am.

Some examples of Hot Tips:

• I need to choose to sit by myself sometimes so I can get my work done.
• I need to move onto my next times tables level.
• I need to use a ruler to rule my lines. (!!!!)
• I need to use more language features.
• I want to be more involved in reading.
• I need to sometimes sit beside a boy. (???? less distraction?)
• I need to help others by not telling them the answer.

The ultimate planning template

I'm always on the quest to find/develop the best template for planning.

Alongside the changes with flexible spaces in the classroom I wanted to run more workshop based learning as I'm aware of the diverse range of needs across the classroom - in particular within the area of literacy.

This meant I really wanted to run my weekly reading and writing plans together along with personalised learning options. (Previously I had been running my personalised learning tasks as week long tasks but found most students needed more scaffolding so I changed them to daily.)

This is what I've come up with so far. It is a work in progress and I will reassess the managibility of it as I go. My biggest issue that I can already see - but not sure how to get around - is that it will be 6 pages long each week. One page for the overview plus one page per day.

What do you think?

I've just had a middle of the night thought! Theoretically, I could just put the day part of the plan up on the board and the children "sign in" directly onto the plan if they're going to participate in a workshop. They will also be able to see their must-dos and can-dos, saving me the time to re-rewrite them....

A journey of learning spaces begins

Learning Spaces Term 3 2012 on PhotoPeach

I've been thinking a lot about learning spaces and creating an environment in my classroom where children can make choices and gain independence over the spaces they choose to work in for different tasks. I've been working on independent/personalised learning for a little while and now the routines and expectations are in place I think it's time to work through this stage.

I'm ready to begin attempt one(!) starting in the new term. No doubt this will be a journey and there will be tweaks and changes to come, especially when the children arrive - their input will be vital in this becoming their space.

Personalised/Independent Learning

I've been trialing with my Year 4/5 students independent learning. Many other teachers call this personalised learning, as I did too when I first started using the concept. I'm still not sure that independent or personalised are the best words to describe how this looks in my class. I'm still working on the ultimate name..... differentiated, specialised, customised, individualised..... self-directed, targeted....

At the moment, I'm running this time during my reading block. While I'm teaching my reading groups, the rest of the children are completing word study, handwriting, journal writing and blogging tasks. At the beginning of the week I present the children with a list of must-dos and can dos. I have found that many of the children in the class can successfully manage thier time and begin completing the can-do tasks. However, some don't even get half of their must-dos done because they don't yet have the concept of time-management.

The other problem I was having was that often things would crop up during the week and they would not be on the list, and by the following week the idea was 'out of date.' This was temporalily fixed by leaving space on the list for tasks to be added to. Or, school events and class tasks for specific students would crop up and by Friday there was not enough time for many of the tasks to be completed. This left the students feeling like they had underachieved and not rewarded for their hard work because they had not got to the can-do activities. What to do.?.?.?.

Fortunately, a very timely opportunity came up for me to go and listen to some interesting 10 minute presentations at a CAGE (gifted education) meeting. Here, I heard the amazing reports of year 2 students successfully completing daily timetables. These students were then spending time each Friday to reflect upon thier time coming up with a WOW factor, and a Hot Tip (next step). Then they would set a goal and write a letter home informing their parents of thier goal.

A year 3-4 teacher was doing something very similar with her students. Each day she presents must-dos and WILDs (What I'd Like to Do) to her students via Edmodo. The students were then able to upload their work the site and parents could access it via home as. This teacher also talked about James Nottingham's Learning Pit. Her class instead, had a Tightrope for Learning which was represented by a string across part of the room where each child had thier photo joined to a body. By pegging themselves upright the teacher could clearly see who was finding things too easy and could then approach the student to put them in the wobbling zone - pegged sideways. If the child was upside-down the teacher could clearly see they had fallen off, again, indicating to the teacher she needed to make time to catch up with that student. I love this idea and I think it would effectively within a classroom.

Next steps...

• Build in a Friday reflection and goal setting
• Utilise our school Ultranet site to present daily tasks
• Include more 'fun' personal experience can-dos

Awesome Learning Spaces

Sweden
http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/swedens-classroom-free-school-the-future-of-education.html

On the quest to be the best for 2012

http://www.vln.school.nz/mod/threaded_forums/topicposts.php?topic=232181&group_guid=53307

The Virtual Learning Network is a 'facebook' for teachers - setting up groups about things that interest you and commenting/disscussing with others about teaching topics. Here I have posed a question and have asked for help on Personalised Learning and Flexible Learning Spaces.

Thanks to all the good folk who have been helping out!

On the road to providing outstanding personalized learning with flexible learning spaces

Although an advert for furniture, it poses some good questions that need some thought before I dive right in!

What  type of learning do you want to encouage?

Who should use the spaces?

How will furniture and ICT be used and configured?

Can staff visualise what it will be like to work in the spaces?

Although many of these videos are aimed at older levels, I believe the principles still transfer to primary school level. I'm excited to get this project going and to modify and adapt as I need to.

I think it is so important to recognise childrens needs, wants and styles (to achieve as well rounded citizens who can take on the world at anything they desire!) We don't expect adults to fit one mould, and we should never expect children too.