399: #evolvingEDdesign: Crafting a Flexible Classroom

My first classroom was a little blue trailer on the edge of the soccer field. Every morning, I got my shoes clogged with mud hiking across the field, but I loved my corner of campus, and I felt pretty free to design it to work best for my students.

And it turned out that what really worked best was constant change. Our desks were attached to our chairs, so to move one was to move both. And move them I did, frequently working up a sweat between classes as I threw them around the room as quickly as I could, moving from circular discussion seating in one class to desks pushed against the walls for a visiting theater artist in another, station seating for book clubs in one back to circular discussion seating in another.

I wanted the room to work for the task, not the task to conform to the room. And that meant staying flexible, even though I hadn't yet heard the phrase "flexible seating" and certainly didn't have any couches, yoga balls, or beanbags. I didn't even know I wanted those yet.

These days, it's that word "flexible" that defines so much that is helpful in modern classroom design. Flexible seating, flexible displays, flexible resources. I want your students to be able to collaborate with you from day to day to create the environment that will help them shine.

So what might that look like these days? Let's dig in.

Throughout this podcast, and the ones to come in this series, I'll be showcasing graphics and displays from the #evolvingEDdesign Toolkit, a vast free resource I made for you.

You can grab it here: https://sparkcreativity.kartra.com/page/evolvingEDdesign

Please share your classroom design stories, questions, photos and ideas with the #evolvingEDdesign hashtag across platforms so we can continue the conversation off the pod!

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