Across the US, schools are creating “open classrooms,” complete with wobbly chairs and rolling desks to improve performance and encourage collaboration. Learn more:
According to the Miami-Dade Office of School Facilities, MAST is one of 329 schools out of 392 in the district — the nation’s fourth largest, with 345,000 students — getting some kind of overhaul. For seven years, the district has been renovating classrooms, along with cafeterias, gyms, athletic fields and just about every other aspect of school infrastructure. District leaders have used the redesign as a chance to rethink how students learn best.
“Kids stopped raising their hands to ask for bathroom breaks,” Markle said. “There were fewer breaks in learning. That was a pleasant surprise.” At Thomas Hooker Elementary School in Meriden, Connecticut, two second grade teachers ditched the desks in their classrooms two years ago. On a recent morning in one of those revamped rooms, Melissa Sciarretto worked with a few students on their reading at a table, while the rest of the class sat on beanbag chairs and floor cushions, clicking through a game-based math program on their laptops.
There are rules. Katie Somerset, 8, kneeled on a stability ball, balancing herself precariously as she worked. Sciarretto told Katie to sit correctly a few times, before sending her to a cushion on the floor. “I know I’m not supposed to kneel,” Katie said, “because it’s hard to control the ball. I could fall over.”It’s those types of distractions that drive some teachers crazy. Shaina Ramos, a second grade bilingual special education teacher at P.S. 257 in Brooklyn, knows the feeling well.
“They weren’t just confined to their desks, forced to sit still and stare at a blank page,” Ramos said. “Eventually, I just told them, ‘As long as I see you’re working, go for it — rock, bounce, stand or move around.’”
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