Changing a classroom culture – Part 3 – A 2015 Reflection

One of the aspects of our classroom culture that students said they’d like to change was the desk arrangements. Some students said that the current arrangement “… did not make them feel part of the class.”

Whilst conducting their collaborative research, a couple of students found a variety of different arrangements for us to try. As a class, we decided to trial each arrangement per day for a week and evaluate the arrangements at the end of each day. Students voted on the order in which we should trial the arrangements. I created a Google Form using criteria our class had discussed and posted it on Edmodo at the end of the day.

Day 1

Here are the results for the first arrangement:

Students used a Google Survey for their responses.

As you can see, the data was quite varied. However, we can see that this arrangement is generally not flexible but quite helpful for students to feel connected to the rest of the class. I was surprised that so many students rated this formation quite high for collaboration but then realised that many of them didn’t know what collaboration actually was.

Day 2

It’s important to note that, I actually arranged the desks after students had left of an afternoon. I tried to place students with at least 1 other person they were comfortable with. Here is the second arrangement we trialled and the subsequent survey results:

Concentration, flexibility and practicality all ranked highly in this formation. Results for Ability to stay on task were mixed as they were in the pervious arrangement.

Day 3

By day 3, students were commenting about how they looked forward to the change each day. Here’s the next arrangement and survey results: (NOTE: I was more strategic about student placement this time)

Students voted again on Wednesday

From these results, we can see that students rated flexibility and collaboration lower which is surprising given that the design is quite collaborative. There were mixed results for practicality as in the previous survey.

Day 4

On Day 4, I was a little more thoughtful about the large groups we had and arranged students accordingly. We didn’t have much time in class on the first day so this arrangement was held over 2 days.

This arrangement carried over 2 days.

I was surprised a how low students rated this arrangement overall as they seemed much more collaborative and on-task over that time. Students did feel more connected to the class though.

Day 5

I think we were all ready for the final arrangement – me = for my arm muscles and students= they were over the survey. For the final day, I asked students to arrange the desks themselves. They needed to choose one person who they hadn’t sat next to yet and mark the spot they were choosing on the plan.

Finally – the last one.

The final survey results

This arrangement rated the mostly highly out of all of the configurations. Concentration and collaboration were both rated highly as was practicality.

Only one question now remains – what do we decide to do with this data?

Changing a Classroom Culture – Part 2 – A 2015 reflection

An aspect of the classroom culture that I wanted to improve was student agency. I decided on a 4-pronged approach:

1. Ensure students set personal goals and requested regular feedback for those goals
2. Help students to learn feedback protocols in order to give effective peer feedback
3. Have a no-hands-up climate
4. Ensure there are opportunities in which students have to problem solve

On day 1, I set the stage. In the middle of the day, once we had a bit of an idea about each other, I set a SOLE-based task using Google Advanced Power Search. I implored to myself that I would allow students to get stuck and that I wouldn’t rescue them when they were. Research shows that when people are able to problem-solve themselves out of sticky situations, their self-esteem improves. You can see the break-down of that Day 1 Lesson.

Also on the first day, I showed my new class Austin’s Butterfly and we discussed how a growth mindset would influence our work. The Austin’s Butterfly clip also provides examples of helpful and effective peer feedback.

I have been doing ‘no hands-up’ for about 7 years. However, I decided to use a random-name-picker app to choose the students who would respond. This ensured (for the most part) that students would have something to contribute to the lesson. I also integrated the phrase “If you did know, what would you say?” for those who couldn’t formulate a response.

We began to do Drop Everything and Write (DEW) a couple of times a week. During DEW time, students write silently for 10-15 minutes and then share with peers. I provide students with a stimulus they can use but, essentially, they can write about whatever they want. The most important aspect of DEW is that students set a goal for themselves and then ask their peers to SHOW them where in their writing they have achieved that goal. This has also helped students to really pay attention to each other.

All of these strategies have been so effective thus far. Any other suggestions?

Changing a Classroom Culture – Part 1 – A 2015 reflection

At the moment, I’m spending the remainder of 2015 on contract and filling in for other teachers who are going on long-service leave. It’s very interesting to spend a significant amount of time in a variety of different learning spaces with in the one school.

On Day One of this term, I sat down with my new upper primary class and went through some important information for the week. When I mentioned that one of the things we’d be doing was setting up Edmodo, audible groans filled our learning space. When I enquired into this response, one student spoke on behalf of the class; “We don’t like Edmodo,” he said. I was naturally curious; I had never encountered a group of students who didn’t like Edmodo.

As they’d just returned from holidays and possibly because I’m a new teacher to these students, there was an atmosphere of demotivation and a serious lack of agency. As expected on day 1, students found it difficult that I (someone new) expected them to initiate their learning and be engaged and I was finding the current classroom climate was stopping deep learning from occurring.

As is my practice, I put it to my new, albeit temporary class. We sat together in a circle and discussed the current classroom culture and the learning blocks. Of course, students brought up the usual blocks to learning; not being on-task, disrespect, silliness, etc. What was interesting were some of the comments that I hadn’t heard before…

“I don’t feel like we’re a class with this current furniture set-up.”

“I would feel more on-task if we could have fitness first thing in the morning.”

“I’d like to start the day with circle time.”

I was thrilled to receive such helpful feedback. But, I knew this wouldn’t be enough. I allocated 30 mins in clock partners to research Effective Learning Environments further and present it back to our class. The results were interesting.