January 18th Fishbowl Live Blogging Participants:
8:25 am- 9:24 am MST
Dean Shareski:
Dean is a Digital Learning Consultant with the Prairie South School Division in Moose Jaw, SK, Canada. He specializes in the use of technology in the classroom. He holds a Masters of Education in Communications and Technology through the University of Saskatchewan. He is also a sessional lecturer for the University of Regina. He considers himself a digital learning specialist.
Darren Draper:
Darren is a technology Curriculum Specialist for the Jordan School District in Salt Lake City, UT. He is an avid educational technology enthusiast who loves technology, when it works...
Julie Lindsay:
Julie is the head of Information Technology at Qatar Academy in Doha.
235 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 235 of 235I have heard that if a space is painted a light color like taupe or peach, the person in that room is more relaxed and able to concentrate. It's the same way about the windows. I think if we were able to see the sunshine and the sky, we would be able to relax then concentrate on our given task.
I guess they've just left the pretty part of classroom design up to the teachers.
No pressure, teachers...
julie lindsay-
I think that a lot of the time classroom designs are determined by budget, but I think that every individual teacher should put their own touch to it.
julie-i think that budget does play a huge role in the design of schools. but what students have to think about is that would we rather have a cool room with beanbag chairs, or wi-fi and laptops? i think its just what we see as important in education.
shareski-
I'd probably get more natural lighting in the school, and make it more interesting. It is so dull, it needs to be more at home, more open space, more just like places to chill so that it doesn't feel like you are trapped.
As for classes, I agree with what nicole is saying right now about getting ideas from all of the other students. In classes, you usually only get two opinions. The teachers, and your own. But if everyone shares their opinion then you have the teachers, yours, and all of the other students.
Nicole made a good point. What's the point of even coming to school if we can't intereact with other students? We might as well stay home all day and do our work by ourselves. Since we do spend our days with other kids, we should have the chance to be able to intereact and talk with one another.
Last year, my school was halfway underground so it was pretty dark in places. And the paint colors were bad; they looked like they'd bought the paint from one of those sale paint carts you can find at paint stores. And a lot of the teachers kept the blinds closed too. I know I think better when the paint colors go together and there's lots of light and windows; I'm probably not the only one.
Alyssa, we do need fresh air! Did you know that an average person's mind changes its trail of thought every 20 minutes? Teachers who sit in a blank classroom and show a power point for the entire hour, lose over half of the students' attentions. If we were allowed to have classes outside, or at least have windows, we can let our minds drift to what's going on outside, and then turn our attention back to class. People have trouble concentrating on something for a while; that's just natural.
The ultimate school should include all types of education. We should be allowed to create our own class rooms. We could learn by coming to the idea ourselves that we remember it. Clases could be seperated into different learning styles. But everyone could try all of it to see what best suits them.
I agree with what Molly is talking about on the inner circle. In our school, we have way too much reptition and routine for me. We go to school every week with the same schedule and we do the same things. I think we need to mix it up in school to help students become more excited about their education.
I think schools should be designed so everyone can see INTO the other classrooms...learning should be transparent and open, not stuck behind closed doors and blocked out windows. Can people see into your classroom now??
If they were to change school design - by painting the walls red, for example - how would that affect student behavior?
I would go with beanbags and a good teacher like Mrs. Smith than a mediocre teacher with laptops and wi-fi.
Good teachers can work with anything to shape minds. If that "anything" is well designed, it's just a bonus.
darren you're very right: I'm sitting at home rilght now because of sickness and I'm watching the tutorial on it... If only I had about 2-grand :)
@serenal....you're right on about your idea of limited ideas in most classrooms. How often do you get a chance to hear from 2 experts from Qatar and Utah? That's pretty cool but actually quite simple to do.
I agree with what the inner circle was saying. I think I would learn better with different colored walls. The white probably distracts me more than any other color would.
Anybody got a bucket of paint?
:)
julie-
yep theres a small windo next to the door where people in the hall can see in
Shareski-
I looked at that website that you commented about worksheets. That is really awesome. I never ever thought about a worksheet as being a design but your right! I saw the differences in the worksheets and I would much rather have the one with the design element along with the learning element.
If anyone hasn't looked at the website. Do it, its cool!
What if we could petition the school, and ask for colors on the walls, so we could make a difference in our learning. I think we should take up Mr. Fisch on his proposition. Think about how popular our class would be!
Nick-
I disagree. I think that all classrooms should be different colors because at our school teachers switch classrooms so we may end up going to the same colored room if there were only certain colors for certain types of classes.
I like that idea, Julie.
I worked for 7 years in a classroom that had no windows.
To summarize: Gloomy.
I like the idea that Chelsea brought up. Many people think that they shouldn't let students be in control of their enviroments and learning, but we have never been given the chance to try it out, so how do they know that that is what we would do?
When you're working with large projects like a classroom redesign you need many people to collaborate since ideas of utility and significance are very complex and requires many voices and thought.
Amy W- I remember that. Our school had like purple and orange paint on the walls and then the floors had white, grey and blue tiles. It was so ugly!
BTW, Do all your classrooms have such intelligent good looking students? ;)
Caitlin---That's a great idea. I think it would be a lot better with colors!
@kristenw OK, so they have to look into one small window..how would you feel about a wall of glass so all passing people could see everything?
darren-
I think we shouldn't need as many gym credits. People in their own time walk around and if they are interested in doing a sport, they should do it outside of school. I think that everyone knows that fitness is important and should do it on their own time. I have to walk like a mile to get to school and back, and I am in karate/kickboxing because it is something I am interested in and I like to work out and learn self defense.
I think we should paint individual classrooms, but not the hallways, because we would fight over territory, and if you're sick of your classrooms' colors, at least you have a nice neutral color in the halls. Then we could have a vote every year for the new classroom.
I wonder if we painted each classroom a different color, if we would change our brains to think that when we enter the specific classroom, then our brain would tell us what we're learning. Maybe we would remember more. Who knows?...
shareski- maybe my other classes :)
Thanks for blogging with our class, guys!
Well done everyone
hey the bell probably just rang
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