When working with limited tools, it is important to be creative with how you use them. My personal tool box, in this case, is my extremely tiny room that I teach in. In Image 1, you can truly see JUST how tiny I mean. For context, my room is one of 5 in the same shared space, each of our “rooms” being separated into spaces flanked on one side by a bookshelf and the other side by a “office space divider” much like you would find with a cubicle. To say that it is cramped is putting it mildly, with my own space only being about 15 feet long and about 9 feet wide. I am expected to teach at least 4 kids for each session, with the other teachers in the space also teaching at the same time. Barrett says that, depending on classroom design, student learning results can drastically increase or decrease. In particular, he stresses the areas of proper movement space, purpose designed furniture, wide corridors, areas for alternative learning assignments, and the ability of the teacher to change the configuration of their room easily (Barrett, 2013). It is not a stretch to say that my room lacks all of these. 

If redesigning it was a possibility, I would change it like I did in Image 3. I used Roomstyler, a 3D room designing website to help facilitate the changes in design.  The overall idea behind my thought experiment here was to keep it the exact same size, but to change the furniture drastically. As shown in Image 1, my real room has a smaller rectangle table that sits up to five students at one time. The main issues with this is the fact that, while standing in front of the white board for instruction, I cannot maneuver out of the way easily for students to take notes, I have trouble squeezing around to properly circulate while students work, and the students themselves struggle to focus with so many of them sharing the same workspace. With my redesign, I have changed a few things. 

First, I swapped the single table holding five students out for 2 semi-circle tables able to hold three students each. This switch was for a few reasons. One is that, with this design, I would be able add an additional student to each of my lessons, expanding the amount of students I would be able to help. Additionally, with these new tables, I would be more easily able to circulate amongst my students and I would be able to move out of the way when they are taking notes. Finally, my students would have to share space with less students, even being able to spread out more if there are less students in a particular group. 

Additionally, I have moved the white board from the width side of the wall to the length side, also for students, so they could see the board easier without having  to crane around their peers or move around to see the board. I also find this design more aesthetically pleasing, as in my original design, feels like I am more constrained in my space, but this design gives me more freedom of movement and makes me feel far less cramped. 

It is pleasant to imagine how I would be able to change my room if price, resources, and time was not an object. While I do not think that I will be able to make every change I have done here, I do hope that, with my school's support, I may be able to adjust the design of my learning space to better help and support my students. 

References: 

Barrett, P., Zhang, Y., Moffat, J., & Kobbacy, K. (2013). A holistic, multi-level analysis identifying the impact of classroom design on pupils’ learning. Building and Environment, 59, 678–689.

NightCafe Studios (2023). Expanding Learning with A Better Classroom. by NightCafe Studios, 2023 (https://creator.nightcafe.studio/ 

Roomstyler - design, style and remodel your home. 3D room planning tool. Plan your room layout in 3D at roomstyler. (n.d.). https://roomstyler.com/3dplanner