Setting the Scene

I am curious... I have spent most of last year exploring and building learning spaces including learning caves and collaborative spaces.

This was an on-going piece of personal inquiry following on from a role as lead teacher of an ICT and later, an ESHAS contract.  I have had the privilege of participating in workshops with Jenny Wilson several times, listening to James Nottingham about the place of philosophy in education and talking face to face with Kath Murdoch about our programmes. This has coincided and been extended with our physical building developing a magnificent learning atrium attached to most classrooms but not to ours...

In amongst all of this, my personal inquiry has centered around learning spaces and what they might look like within a four-walled classroom... I was so determined to explore this concept, I even funded my own classroom furniture.

At the end of the year, I asked for feedback - the children were unanimous that they enjoy selecting the space that they learn best in and recommended I continue with this. They did not like having a desk to keep things in or to go back to...

Based on this feedback, I have managed to super size their tote trays, reduced books to Term 1, 2, 3 and 4... and develop learning groups before we begin.

It has to be said that I am an advocate for learning spaces and students managing themselves within the learning context and want to continue with the idea in my new classroom. However, in my 20 years of teaching, I have never started the year with this focus...

The difference here is that the children come from cultures of desks... I am already thinking that I will tape of the doors on day one so that we "enter" together as a class group but I would be very keen for feedback, ideas and suggestions for starting the year with tables, not enough desks and tote trays when the children come from a desk personal space culture...