Flexible spaces: facilitating learning through room design

“Widen the space of your tent, extend the curtains of your home, do not hold back! Lengthen your ropes, make your tent-pegs firm.” Isaiah 54:2

Some things to consider when organising learning spaces:

o carefully consider the cognitive stage of students, the skills being developed, the curriculum content and the teaching strategies employed;

o learning spaces aim to facilitate the gathering of students to communicate about a topic and focus on it. Spaces should be conducive to learning, working together in small group settings and supportive to learning, e.g. easy access to knowledge and time in the day to practise what the student is learning with someone they know and trust;

o display work created by and of interest to the students: it serves as a reminder to recall what has been learnt and prompts reflecting on what has been achieved. It also leads to ideas being expanded and interests being pursued;

o displays communicate to visiting teachers and parents and assist them to know what is happening in the learning lives of the class;

o spaces should accommodate different energy levels. Physical space and time should include places and time for quiet independent learning as well as the buzz of explaining and discussing;

o student materials, equipment and books should be stored in an orderly way which is easily accessed;

o the repetitive appearance of the same resource material promotes in-depth exploration, e.g. Maths equipment, reading books and “Godly Play” resources should be a regular part of group rotations in the respective learning area;

o some other materials are used periodically so as to expand the learning experiences. Reintroducing equipment from the students’ past e.g. MAB can also inspire fresh uses;

o allow students opportunities to explore ideas, to remember, to transform understanding, discuss thoughts, socially interact and imagine;

o as it is also the teachers main work space it should be welcoming to the teacher and inspiring even a place that you can enjoy being in.

Reciprocal learning: a process of agility

For reciprocal learning to occur students talk and listen with the teacher and each other about mathematics, scripture, a good book - so as to develop the skills of predicting, clarifying, questioning and summarising. The teacher commences by modeling the four processes (explicitly naming each step) and works with the students until they are confident enough to move through the steps independently. These skills are foundation strategies for efficient learners to gain understanding, i.e. participation in reciprocal groups support the development of comprehension skills.

- Predicting: the anticipation of what will come next. Students draw on prior knowledge and on structure and content. This step encourages remembering and thinking ahead. As students get use to the process, predictions become more thoughtful. It can involve talking and listening, drawing, dramatising, writing or in Maths and Science physically testing.

- Clarifying: students become aware that something may be difficult to understand. It may be because of new words, something unfamiliar or a difficult concept. Students are taught ways, based on their strengths, to restore meaning, e.g. asking questions, re-reading or teacher rephrasing.

- Questioning: students have the opportunity to ask questions of the teacher as well as each other. To seek solutions they find relevant information to help them understand.

- Summarising: this is the opportunity for identifying and integrating the most important information. Students identify the things of importance and express it in a way that indicates understanding. In reading it may at first be a sentence, next a paragraph and then a larger concept as they become more proficient.

With the facilitator’s persistence, and consideration to providing worthwhile content, the practise of reciprocal learning supports students with agility for life long learning.

“Widen the space of your tent, extend the curtains of your home, do not hold back! Lengthen your ropes, make your tent-pegs firm.” Isaiah 54:2

What's "IN" for pedagogy.

“Widen the space of your tent, extend the curtains of your home, do not hold back! Lengthen your ropes, make your tent-pegs firm.” Isaiah 54:2


Being purposeful as a teacher:
- A learning space is a space where teachers act with intention - for students to be learning. It is a space where learners and teachers are conscious that learning is taking place.
- Teacher questioning stimulates thought and assists insight for students.
- Engaging activities are likely to actually be so when the activities capture interest and are within the learner's zone of proximal development.
- Teachers who expect students to learn well will deliberately engage the students in instructional and relational activities to enhance student knowledge, skills and experiences.
- Teachers create a schematic plan to introduce new content and sequence the learning in such a manner that the learner has ownership of the learning.
- Feedback is when you know when and how to give it! Regularly pose the question: "What if?" And deliver non-judgemental statements in a positive sense to encourage and give courage, e.g. say: "I like the way you had a good go at that. It didn't come out too well, before you move on what did you learn? How do you feel? What's the next thing you are going to do? Your definitely moving in the right direction."
- When teaching, there has to be preparation, however, the needs of the learner has to be taken into account and these regularly change. Lessons can be over-structured: be prepared with a structure and be flexible when it comes to playing it out. Learning is the purpose.