Welcome Back!

Welcome back to a great school year!  It is hard to believe that we are starting our second year in this amazing space.  We had the chance to show it off to new 6th grade families during our back-to-school open house, we heard praise and excitement.  However, most of all, it reminded us how lucky we are to have this space and how we need to utilize it to its fullest potential.  

Last year was such a great year for us, but more than anything, it was a learning year and we are finding notes all over the place reminding us of things we want to tweak.  So, we have outlined some goals for this fresh new school year.  

1. To allow for more student choice when using the various learning spaces within the room.
2. Better utilize technology in new and organic ways.  
3. Incorporate inquiry and provide opportunities for students to learn through their own curiosities.
4. As teachers, learn at least a few new pedagogical methods to use within our space.  
5. Continue to push our space on other teachers and allow others to experience with their own classes.

It Takes a lot of Trust

As mentioned above, a goal for our classroom this year is to provide more autonomy within our space.  We want to help the students to figure out how they learn best and to find a space within our room that best suits their learning.  However, this is no small task.  We have spent a great deal of time at the start of this school year to make our new students and parents a part of this environment.  We wanted them to really understand how much time, effort, research and money went into this transformation and we want them to appreciate all it has to offer.  As classes, we have created expectations for each of the spaces and the students have thought of ways to increase accountability and ownership.  As we break out into our working groups, we are excited to see students gravitate towards some of the non conventional spaces.  It is amazing to see the learning going on, even when lying on a couch!

Well Underway

Our first unit is well underway and it will be kicked off with a Hyperdoc.  What is a Hyperdoc you ask?  Check out more information here!

Students were provided with their learning target and were provided with multiple resources and tasks to guide them towards answering their targeted question.  Within this first one, students were given multiple checkpoints which required them to share a produce with a teacher.  These checkpoints help teachers to monitor their understanding as well as to guide students in their pacing, but HOLY COW were we impressed.  The hard work of our elementary predecessors is definitely shining through.  Students required little to no instruction on using the technology and have amazed us with their products.  So, this means that we, as teachers, had better step up our game.  Here are a few pics of the students hard at work!  

Partners working in the lounge

Using the counter space and white boards to brainstorm

Students Choose!

We have begun our last trimester of the year and have decided to involve the students more in the design, use and function of the classroom.  In previous posts we mentioned formations the students move into depending on the goal of the lesson. However, we found that the formations were not being used often enough.  And since the students have been using the room as long as we have, we decided to include them in our big brainstorm.  We created the room with students in mind, but just like the space, we needed to be more flexible!

We posed the questions, how can we use the classroom to better meet your needs?  We asked students to consider the following criteria while they worked.

• You must consider our class expectations for learning.  
• You must think about how 6th graders need to learn and what is best, not what is best for socialization.
• You must work together as a group to come up with great new plans.

Students came up with great ideas, sketched new layouts and discussed the furniture in ways we didn’t anticipate.  It was wonderful!  

Last week we tried out new layouts and designs and plan to model success and failure with each.  It was nice to encourage students to experiment and reassure them that if it didn’t work, we can always try another design.  This was once again a reminder that this classroom is designed with student learning in mind and, at times, that means change to fit the learners!! 

Below are the designs they came up with. We tried several and they just didn't fit. The students want to rotate designs and try each for a week. We love that they're excited about the room and the layout of furniture. We'll keep you posted with what worked best!!

We've been busy!!

We’ve been busy!  Forgive us for not updating the blog sooner.  We have thrown ourselves full force into the school year and learning about our environment. We received a career service grant through the district and flew to Austin, Texas in October to attend the AMLE Annual Conference (Association of Middle Level Educators).  We learned a lot at the conference and spent the rest of October implementing new strategies for the active learning space and our unique learners.

On December 1st, we presented at the AIMS (Association of Illinois Middle Schools) S.T.A.R.S Re-connect Conference.  Our presentation was about the active learning environment and we promoted transforming classrooms into flexible and visual learning spaces (without all the fancy furniture).  We’ve discovered so much about student learning and curriculum over the past three months, we were excited to share with other teachers in the area.

Lastly, we were interviewed by the Park-Ridge Herald Advocate about our grant and learning space. We’re excited to be featured and hope this brings awareness to the community about the awesome things happening in room 211!

Presenting at AIMS S.T.A.R.S conference 

As we head to winter break, we’re also busy working on adapting future units (Greece and Rome) into inquiry based lessons.  No rest for us in this Active Learning Environment!

AMLE conference in Austin Texas with Lincoln teachers

A month gone by...and learning is hard!

It’s been a month into our school year and we have learned so much already about flexible learning spaces, but we still have so much learning to do.   The biggest discovery is how much our curriculum must change now that we have the furniture and the ability to move flexibly throughout a space.  Over the summer, we spent a great deal of time in different professional growth classes.  One favorite is using HyperDocs within our classroom.  If you aren’t familiar, HyperDoc is a term used to describe a Google Doc that contains an innovative lesson and the interactive resources needed to learn; consider it an interactive worksheet for our modern learners.  This method and term was coined by teachers Sarah Landis and Lisa Highfill.  Students are presented with their target learning objective and are provided with all the necessary learning resources: videos, websites, discussion questions, and/or graphic organizers.  Checkpoints and formative assessments are embedded throughout so we, as teachers, are able to monitor their progress and check in on their understanding. At the completion of our first doc, we were shocked at how well they understood the material and how well they worked cooperatively and learned as self-guided learners.  

Another highlight of this space is our ability to react to the instant needs of our learners.  As teachers, we are all aware of the facial expressions of our students, we know when we are losing our audience and when we need to shift our teaching.  We really love the ability to instantly get all students out of their chairs and into another location.  Depending on the needs of the students, we will have them turn and share a thought/question with a peer, or find a space on the wall to record any learning or questions.  What used to be a teacher led lesson, can instantly change depending on their needs.  We must admit that these rapid changes are a bonus when co-teaching!  We find that the second teacher is often able to really observe the faces of the students and is able to brainstorm on the fly.  Either way, both teachers are required to flex in their thinking and change quickly, but we find this to be fun.

We have included some screenshots from our recent HyperDoc as well as some other pictures from our spaces.  

   

First weeks of School

August 26, 2016

First weeks of School

Well, we just finished the first two weeks of school and they was awesome but also a BIG learning experience.  The students LOVE the room and the furniture but we’re learning that mobile furniture takes some getting used to!  We marvel at the concept that before the students moved TO the furniture and now the students move WITH the furniture.  Because of that change, everything has to be accounted for.  We now have formations that we get the students in. Below are the four examples and some architect specs for them.  And the students have really responded to the formations and the routines around them.  We started a project this week with small groups enjoying and utilizing the idea lounge area, counter space, tables and Node chairs.  It was awesome to see them writing on the walls to brainstorm, swivel to collaborate and stay engaged during the task.  It’s working!!!

The other thing we’ve been dealing with is half of the furniture has not been delivered yet, so students have been sitting on stools and other chairs instead of the selected furniture for them.  We’re supposed to have it next week so we’re excited to have the room in the exact way we intended.  

Lastly, the enthusiasm from other teachers has been surprising.  Initially teachers reacted to the “mobile” part of furniture as a prediction of disaster for students rolling into each other. Then when they stopped to talk to us or look around, we heard more “I want that for my students” and “these walls are amazing”.  We’re excited to spread the word about how awesome this space is, but word of mouth is working and people keep stopping in, some with whole classes of students to see it!

We’ll post more when we get the newest shipment of furniture!

 

Ms. Dabe leads a discussion in whole group (formation 1)

Students working at the counter

Working in small groups

GRAND OPENING!! Friday, August 12th @12:30

Today was awesome!  We finished the room and invited the students and families to come and see it in a grand opening.  This has truly been a bumpy road to ride to get to the finished room, but it has been worth it. As we cut the red ribbon and students entered the room, "ooohs" and "ahhhs" were all that we heard.  Students made comments like “I can’t wait to learn in here” and “I’m so lucky to be in this class!”. Students wrote on the walls, swiveled in the chairs and chattered together excitedly! It was so amazing to watch the excitement!

We’re so glad that many of the people who helped us create and build this room were able to be at the grand opening as well.  The room was funded by our district Elementary Learning Foundation and we’re glad several representatives came to see the awesomeness their grant created!  ELF does amazing things for our district and this is yet another example of how dedicated they are to making our schools awesome!  

The district built us a countertop that allows students to work in stools, they repaired the walls, painted the walls and installed new technology.  The maintenance staff has been amazing and we’re so thankful.  We’ve also been supported 100% by the administration in district 64 and Lincoln so we’re thankful to them as well. And we couldn't have made this dream a reality without the help of FGM architects who have helped us with our vision, ideas and plans. So many people to thank!!

So the room is finished and now the real work begins! Learning and experiencing the active learning space with students.  We’ll keep you posted on our learning experience as we use it to inspire, motivate and assist students in learning their way!

Ms. Dabe and Mrs. Johnson ready to reveal room!

Thanks to all for making this dream a reality!
Mr. Prim (Head Custodian @Lincoln), Ms. Wright (FGM Architects), MJ Warden (Director Technology and Innovation), (Ms. Dabe, Mrs. Johnson) Mr. DeGeorge (Director Facility Management)

View of the room

Students enjoying the new chairs

Writing on the walls!

Thanks ELF!

 

The Idea Lounge area

Progress! Nearing the home stretch...

August 2, 2016

Summer is winding down and the room is taking shape. The bulletin boards, whiteboard and chalkboard have been removed.  This was no easy task as the walls were crumbling beneath the boards and needed to be repaired.  The SMARTboard was taken down and was replaced with a mounted projector onto a new whiteboard. Underneath the bulletin boards and whiteboard was a mess and repairs had to be made. They even had to go down to the brick to repair the wall!

Kara and I have been checking in periodically and the walls have now been painted. The dry erase paint has been added and the walls are fully interactive too!  We’re waiting on furniture to make the room complete. In the meantime, we’ve been busy planning how to adapt our curriculum to the mobile environment.  That’s right. We know we’ll need to teach differently, and we’re busy planning!  We've also picked up some furniture that needed to be built, so we've pulled out the tools and started assembling. The excitement is mounting!

No more bulletin boards!

Big repair needed to this wall!

No more chalkboard!

Our painter is awesome!

Ms. Dabe hard at work building shelves!

Our new whiteboard! And the shelves built by Ms. Dabe!