Classroom Design and Management

Designing a Classroom
The way a classroom is designed can impact the way students learn (Gray & Feldman, 2004). When designing a classroom, a number of factors are important to consider, such as the diversity of the class; the development of students’ moral, social and cognitive skills; learning theories; and how misbehavior can best be managed. This paper will provide a description of a classroom design that incorporates these factors into the planning and development of the classroom.
One of the challenges of a diverse class of students is that a teacher is likely to have to deal with attempting to close the achievement gap. Schools that are poorly-funded and overcrowded present a major obstacle to closing this gap. However, designing a classroom to address it can help to mitigate the risk of the gap widening. By personalizing learning and allowing students to decorate their own spaces in their classroom, teachers can make the classroom more like an authentic, lived-space environment in which the student takes ownership of his or her space, feels actively engaged with it, and is thus motivated to be more involved in the learning acquisition process. This type of design or personalization of students’ spaces is only possible in a self-contained classroom, however; so if a school has implemented departmentalized classes, students will be moving from room to room, which makes personalization of one’s space impossible. Personalization also facilitates providing educative experiences tailored to individual needs. This means that in a classroom design where personalization is a key attribute, various work stations can be developed and arranged that meet the needs of particular students in a diverse class.
For my classroom, I would ensure that it is situated in a self-contained room, where students have their own designated spaces that they are allowed to personalize and “make their own.” This would give them a sense of ownership of their space and make them feel like they belong while simultaneously giving me an idea of what motivates them and what they are interested in, as the personalization of their space will reflect their attitudes, beliefs and interests. I could observe these and then tie them into teaching instruction by incorporating the backgrounds of the various students into the exercises.
Cognitive, social and moral development is also crucial and a classroom design can take these aspects of learning into consideration in numerous ways. For instance, a classroom can be designed to facilitate exploration and problem-solving using technological aids and devices. Creating a learning environment in which students have space to read, explore, investigate and use interactive computer devices to obtain knowledge is a great way to augment a classroom design to bolster cognitive development (McGuinness, 1999). Providing sketch pads, personal computers in a designated space, exploratory microworlds in another part of the classroom and video or multi-media technology space in another section can ensure that students are engaged in active learning throughout the day, which will facilitate social development as well. Moral development can come about by having a space in the classroom designated for teacher-student interactive time in which teachers can ask students questions and students can ask teachers questions in a kind of Socratic back-and-forth, which helps students to discover, learn and acquire moral principles that they can apply to their own lives through a spirit of reflection fostered by the design of the classroom. As Piaget noted that children are not really capable of abstract thought until they are 11 years old, the Socratic corner would include the use of concrete objects, pictures, and other tools to help bring moral ideas to life for the students so that they can physically see and understand what we are discussing.
For my classroom, I would move beyond the personalization of the students’ own areas by dividing the four corners of the classroom into their own microworlds. In one corner would go the digital media learning lab for interactive work that students can do for exploratory learning. In another corner would go the old media microworld—books, magazines, pens, pencils, notepads, learning games and other activities. In a third corner would be the teacher-student interactivity microworld, where we could engage in Socratic types of dialogue to build their moral development. In the fourth corner would go a space for individual learning for students who require it (typically students suffering from behavioral challenges).
Various learning theories can also play a part in how the classroom is designed. Vygotsky’s theory of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) has helped to show how students learn from others and not just from what teachers do or say. For instance, the ZPD occurs when learners have the opportunity to observe others engaging in a skill or action. The use of the computer would be a way for the theory of ZPD to be effective: students who have had knowledge of computer usage could serve as the example for other students who are not familiar with how they are used; by examining the knowledgeable students and observing their use of the personal computer, or just by interacting with them during periods of play, the students could engage in ZPD to their benefit (Gray & Feldman, 2004). Another theory is that of Bandura, who has shown that students learn best when able to observe others, engage in retention exercises, reproduce knowledge they have learned individually, and have sufficient motivation to succeed in learning acquisition (McLeod, 2016). The four corners of the classroom would each be a microcosm of Bandura’s theory, essentially, for my classroom, allowing students to be engaged through observation, interaction, repetition, reproduction and retention.
The classroom design will also be effective in managing behavior by making sure everything is organized, lighted properly, that there is adequate air flow in the classroom, and that all students have access to the things they need in the classroom. As Guardino and Fullerton (2010) point out, “arranging classroom furniture to define learning areas, improving accessibility and availability of materials, delineating traffic patterns and improving organization of materials” (p. 10) are all ways for teachers to prevent behavior disruptions in the classroom. Preventing disturbances through design is the best way to handle behavior management in the classroom. Some students may, however, require their own personal learning spaces from time to time—and that is where the personal learning space corner can come into play and be an effective remedy for behavioral issues that need to be managed.
In conclusion, my classroom design would be oriented towards developing children’s cognitive, moral and social skills by having corners of the classroom designed into their own unique microworlds where students can interact with digital media, engage in ZPD, explore and create independently, and interact with the teacher and other students in the Socratic section. The classroom would be designed to address diversity and the closure of the achievement gap through the use of personalization of students’ own spaces, which can help me to bring in students’ backgrounds into lessons and engage them more frequently; and it would be designed to prevent behavioral issues by being properly lighted, ventilated, opened and organized.

References
Gray, P. & Feldman, J. (2004). Playing in the zone of proximal development: Qualities
of self-directed age mixing between adolescents and young children at a democratic school. American Journal of Education, 110(2), 108-146.
Guardino, C. A., & Fullerton, E. (2010). Changing behaviors by changing the classroom
environment. Teaching Exceptional Children, 42(6), 8-13.
McGuinness, C. (1999). From thinking skills to thinking classrooms. Research Brief, No.
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McLeod, S. (2016). Bandura—Social learning theory. Retrieved from
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Parker, A., Rakes, L., & Arndt, K. (2017, July). Departmentalized, Self-Contained, or
Somewhere in Between: Understanding Elementary Grade-Level Organizational Decision-Making. The Educational Forum, 81(3), 236-255.