Part 3: Changing of Physical Space; Change of Teaching Methods
- Paige Dersham
- May 17, 2016
- 3 min read
The long overdue next step, determining what you need in the way of furniture and technology and then figuring out how to pay for it all.
There are so many choices when it comes to furniture and technology that it is almost overwhelming. This is when the prices of your project starts to come together. When I started planning I decided to go big, get a quote, and then figure out what to cut out and how to get it paid for second. So I chose to go with a company that builds to suit your needs. I chose them because I could get exactly what I wanted and most of the stuff they sell has a lifetime warranty. This also meant it was not cheap, but it was well built and would last with fifth graders using it all day.
After I had an idea of cost, I had to figure out how to get it paid for. I began looking at grants, Donor’s Choose, and talking with businesses. I also went to our PTA for support. Ultimately, the PTA was so excited about the well researched and thought out plan, and they so wanted their kids to have the opportunity to have a different type of learning environment that they figured out a way to pay for two rooms. I also did use Donor’s Choose. That took care of almost everything. I got all new tables and chairs, a new teacher space, a group table,and a maker space table. I also got a Sharewall and with the help of Donors’ Choose a 3-D printer.
These are some of the great site I found when looking for furniture, they have some amazing forward thinking furniture:
Even if you cannot afford to go with these companies great products, you can get ideas that you might be able to use with either, existing furniture in the building, through a cheaper vendor, or maybe even make yourself. You might find that you have to take it in small pieces, get new tables this year, chairs next.
Walking into my room after it was finished was amazing. It looked and felt like a new era of teaching and learning. I realize I was very lucky to have people so willing to trust my vision and that they had the money to pay for it. If I had not been at school with the ability to fund my project I still think I would have thought big. It would have taken longer and would have involved more work as I would have been grant writing and talking with businesses about funding but the change to the room was worth and would be worth the work.
Why was it so worth it? It did what I mentioned in Part 1, it changed the way teaching and learning occurs in my room. We are more collaborative, kids have more choice, using technology seems more second nature, it feels like a fun and exciting place to learn. I don't feel like I am creating little factory drones. The change in the environment really changed how we utilized the room. Giving up my space and making the room our space gave a different kind of ownership to kids that left them free to make decision about how and where they learned and worked.
My next step is to change the technology from almost nonexistent to 1 to 1 because we realized with all of our new collaboration and choice, technology became that much more necessary.
*The tiny little head peeking over the desk is my daughter, she helped me get my room ready.
