ENGAGING CLASSROOM DESIGN THAT PROMOTES STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT 1

Engaging Classroom Design That Promotes Student Achievement

Leanne M Richel

Colorado Mountain College

In my classroom, there will be several elements in place that set it apart from

one’s thought of a traditional classroom that make it inviting, yet structured with rules

and procedures. Long gone are the days of a stuffy, cluttered room containing a

blackboard, single rows of desks, linoleum tile flooring and a teacher up front while

students are glued to their seats. This standard thinking to what a classroom looks like,

and has for centuries could not be farther from what lies beyond my door. My

classroom will be innovative, collaborative, and flexible based on what my students

need. Where rules are simple expectations for all students to follow when we go about

our day; norms are the set routine and space that we use day in and day out; and

procedures are a clear and set way we go about doing all of our daily tasks, all of which

we work as a class family to accomplish smoothly and seamlessly every day.

For starters, for class procedures I naturally follow many of the same theories

as Lev Vygotsky in my pedagogical practice. Vygotsky's (1962) theory is based on the

thoughts that “knowledge construction occurs within the social context that involves

student-student and expert-student collaboration on real-world problems or tasks that

build on each person's language, skills, and experience shaped by each individual's

culture" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 102). He also came up with many of the different names for

community learning environments such as Community of learners, collaborative

learning, and discussion-based learning. All of these practices bring students together,
ENGAGING CLASSROOM DESIGN THAT PROMOTES STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT 3

to work and learn together in order to reach the learning target. Not only do these

practices have students interacting with each other to learn, but all this interaction

essentially forces the students to stay on task and pull their weight. These practices

also help to expand and develop language for all students, but it also promotes

purposeful discourse that has meaning and a deeper thinking requirement.

In my classroom, which will surely have several EBS students, this model of

student-led discussion will only help them excel in their language acquisition. With that

being said, when observers walk into my classroom, you will not see me leading the

students in a one-sided lecture. Instead, they will see students situated into cooperative

groupings, with a job for the task assigned to each child so that they all have a role in

the learning that will surely be occurring. Students will be collaborating together in order

to help each other reach the learning target, or check that they are meeting the

requirements of the rubric. Visitors to my room will see that the students are not the

only ones learning, and I am not the only one teaching, but that I will be learning from

them as much as they are me, as a community of learners.

In following Vygotsky’s theory, I am merely a facilitator in the classroom as my

role, making sure that student discourse is taking place and asking questions to

promote deeper thinking. This can be seen in the layout of my classroom, as the bulk of

the furniture is for students to work together. There is a purposeful absence of the

teacher desk, as one is not needed because I will be constantly circulating the tables to

guide and listen to discussions led by students. My control as a teacher is merely

keeping the kids on target and task, and making sure their basic needs are being met

inside my four walls to prevent behavior issues.

Of course, there will be times that students will be off task or misbehaving. At

that point, I will have a role as disciplinarian of some sort. I believe my thoughts and

views about discipline follow the Progressive theory produced by John Dewey. Dewey

believed that constant change is the only truth within our universe and that as we alter

our environments and relationships within that environment we in turn change. All of

these philosophies and practices that I will have in place, will create the kind of

classroom environment that some educators never knew could exist. Parents will be

proud to have their child in my class, a place where the students and myself are even

more proud that we are there. My classroom will not be a room with teacher and

students, but rather a place where the magic happens and we are a family that creates

that magic together.

My classroom layout is sure make following procedures easy for students, but

also meet the six functions: security and shelter, social contact, symbolic identification,

task instrumentality, pleasure and growth that Carol Weinstein (2015) says are essential

to the classroom (Appendix A). To meet the function of security and shelter, my class

will be a welcoming and safe place for all of my students. This will be accomplished in

how we establish a tight-knit climate and culture as a norm in our room by using the

open floor space to have intimate discussions or to conduct “Roses and Thorns”. To

establish social contact, I have the students sitting at round tables situated in a

semi-circle, so that there is no ‘head of the tables’, and the semi-circle allows for the
ENGAGING CLASSROOM DESIGN THAT PROMOTES STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT 5

students to be within close quarters of the other table groups. Symbolic identification

will be established in the display of student art on the outside wall into my room, which

will be a self-portrait of the children as they see themselves. This gives the students the

sense of pride knowing everyone will see their work, but also that individualism that they

need. My room will also house many shelves and cupboards along 2 of the walls, so

that our supplies, books, and belongings are all within reach, yet tucked away for ease

of movement throughout the rest of the room. Pleasure will be met by letting the kids

help place anchor charts, choose colors for bulletin boards, and such. Allowing them to

give input into the layout of the room will surely fulfill their needs to have the room be

pleasurable and appealing to them. All of these elements will only help in fulfilling the

function of growth, by allowing the students to have a say in placements and colors of

decor, have their work on display and have a space that harbors such a collaborative

working environment.

The layout follows along with the classroom theory posed by Alfie Kohn. Kohn

“believes in classrooms where the student is at the center of everything.”(Hussung,

2018). The layout I will have will surely keep students at the center of their entire

educational experience.

As far as rules in my classroom go, the philosopher for behavior management I

relate to, Dewey proposed a five-step method for solving problems: Become aware of

the problem; Define it; Propose various hypotheses to solve it; Examine the

consequences of each hypothesis in the light of previous Experience; Test the most

likely solution.
ENGAGING CLASSROOM DESIGN THAT PROMOTES STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT 6

This behavior theory by Dewey goes right along with what we have been reading

in Smith’s(2015) book in regards to restorative classroom practices for behavior and

classroom management. Where a student is not ridiculed, singled out, belittled, and

punished for their actions, but instead they are asked to think about, reflect and come

up with a solution that will restore the balance of the classroom environment again for

all the students, not just those directly affected and the acting student. I think that this

model will also help habitual behavior kids, but I know that with the six functions of a

classroom in place, students who might be persistent behavior kids will likely not be

such when they are welcome, safe, secure, and proud to be in that classroom. Allowing

students to take the five steps to reflect on their actions, and then come up with a

solution to produce restoration, the student will be nurtured and will grow from their

actions, not want to retaliate and repeat them again.

As a guide to help define what few expectations I have for students, I will have 3

posters placed where they can be seen at all times, likely right under the whiteboard

(Appendix B). The expectations are as follows: Make smart choices; Raise your hand

to speak; Follow directions quickly. These three rules or expectations will help establish

the norms for our classroom of being mindful of others by not speaking out, respecting

others by not wasting time, and making sure our actions are mindful and respectful of

others at all times.

In the establishment of procedures, that will be done by guidance and modeling

on my part from the very beginning of the year. I will have students assigned to jobs

that are done daily around the classroom, to give them a sense of responsibility and
ENGAGING CLASSROOM DESIGN THAT PROMOTES STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT 7

respect for our space as we go about our daily procedures. I think it is very important to

let the kids feel like it is their space to care for just as much as it is mine. Along with job

tasks for students as a daily procedure, I will definitely be implementing the MindUP

(2011) curriculum as part of my teaching practice. Making mindfulness a priority

procedure daily will not only help students gather themselves to focus on the task, but it

can really help some of those kids with behavior issues that rise because they don’t

know how to refocus on their own.

References

Hussung, T. (2018, April 06). Understanding Three Key Classroom Management

Theories. Retrieved September 20, 2018, from

https://online.husson.edu/classroom-management-theories/

Paris, N. (2005, June 14). 5 Educational Philosophies. Retrieved September 20, 2018,

from http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~nparis/educ7700/EDUCATIONAL

PHILOSOPHIES (Major)_.doc

The MindUp curriculum. brain-focused strategies for learning-and living​. (2011). New

York, NY: Scholastic.

Smith, D., Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2015). ​Better than carrots or sticks: Restorative

practices for positive classroom management​. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in Society: The development of higher psychological

processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1962). Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Original

work published in 1934).

Weinstein, C. S., & Romano, M. E. (2015). ​Elementary classroom management:

Lessons from research and practice.​ New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
ENGAGING CLASSROOM DESIGN THAT PROMOTES STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT 9

Appendix A
ENGAGING CLASSROOM DESIGN THAT PROMOTES STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT 10

Appendix B