Classroom Design
                                                                    By:  Luke Ambrose

Project at a Glance :

This project will be used at the beginning of the year in a 4th or 5th grade classroom. Through this project, students will design the layout of the classroom as well as create a class contract and norms to follow in their space. The project focuses on a variety of Social Emotional standards.
       
Driving Question:

How can we design a classroom space that works for ALL students in our class?            

Standards:

• Students will work on building empathy  and understanding while trying to design a learning space that works best for everyone in the classroom. 
• Skills4Success:  Teamwork, Collaboration, Communication, and Building Empathy.

Team / Culture Building:

• Use the Creative DNA and True Heroes protocols as a kick off/team building activity.  From these activities,  create “playing cards” that students will keep with them to use to create teams throughout the year. ​​​

Entry Event:

• As an entry event on the first day of school give students  5 minutes to move their seat wherever they want it. The timing aspect will allow them to make mistakes and not be able to think through the problem fully. They will then get to enjoy this seating arrangement until they come up with a new design. ​

Stakeholders:

• Students
  
• Teachers
  
• Principal
  
• Paraprofessionals

Empathy Building:

• Create a Stakeholder Map ensuring all stakeholders are considered during the project.
  
• Students will get the initial design, then  use the Empathy Map protocol after creating a stakeholder map to help students think about individual needs, as well as the needs of other people who will enter the room. Focusing on empathy to understand how we can make the space inviting to others. 

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• Use the AEIOU protocol and Need to Know protocol to help students understand the types of things we need to plan for and spaces we want in our room. The AEIOU protocol will help students plan ahead for activities and learning styles we would like to use in the classroom. 
• Conduct interviews with principal, paraprofessionals, etc. to gain further insights form multiple stakeholders.​

Incubation:

• Introduce the Idea Quota protocol to generate 100 solution ideas ​

• Followed by, groups of sharing out and synthesizing similar ideas.
• Small groups of students will share and discuss their solution ideas, followed by the Saturate and Group protocol.​​

Checking in:

• Use the How might we . . . protocol to check in with students/groups.

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Solution Building:

• After synthesizing data, students will get a chance to share initial ideas of combinations of other things they noticed. To do this, students will work in small groups again, and use two protocols. The first will be Top Ten. 
  
• Then, students will go back to the information gathering stages to determine as a group what their top focuses are for answering the question.  They will use the Filtering and Objectives protocol to relate the ideas that the class came up with, and the focuses that their group developed.

Critique and Revision: 

• Students will use Dot Voting to narrow down their ideas. The class will split into groups based on the ideas they may have voted for. These groups will work to design a prototype or blueprint of their ideas and then present them to the class.
  
• Following  presentations, students will  use the NUF Test on each idea before coming to an agreement on which will be most useful.​

Authentic Audience:

•  The authentic audience will actually be the students themselves, they will be the ones using their design daily. Also,  the interviewee’s will come back in the room to listen to their final design. 
• Students can choose how to design or present their information. They can use technology, pencil and paper, or whatever is best to present. The final solution, (with budgetary restrictions) will be implemented by the students themselves, physically moving desks and materials around as they see fit. 

Final Presentation:

•  Students will create a blueprint and any additional material to use for the pitch.​

Click here for teacher's full plan.

​Reflection and Feedback:

• The class will create a rubric in the beginning stages of the project based on our focus. This rubric will address the safety, individual students’ needs, and other stakeholder needs. The rubric will be based on a 1-3 point system, judging how well the design meets all three areas. ​
• ​Students will have the chance to receive feedback from their peers during their initial share-out of ideas. 
• Reflection will come at a later date, after the design has been used for awhile. They will have chances throughout the year to reflect, and change their original design. If they reflect and decide no changes are necessary, then no changes will be necessary. ​

Meet the Educator:
Luke Ambrose is a 5th Grade at North Holland Elementary, West Ottawa Public Schools.

     “I enjoy doing PBL projects in the classroom because it gives the kids engaging, authentic, and actionable ways to use information and skills that are already expected to be taught and practiced in school. The authenticity of the questions allows them to fully immerse themselves in the process, and acquire a plethora of knowledge and skills along the way.”