I teach at a high school and while some of these 8 appeal to me, I am suddenly thrust back into the reality of how some of the behaviors that I currently observe might just destroy or abuse to death some of these creature comforts. In fact, last year one of the classes that I traveled to was set up with round tables and a potpourri of chairs; some cushioned and some overstuffed, and some of the kids slumped down and went to sleep.
I realize that comfort can truly augment learning and creativity because I have made my at home work stations very comfortable. I am just a little skeptical about the extent of creature comforts to build into our school day. I like the cafe idea for upper classmen and women and I love the idea of gardens and project based learning areas. Naturally, the air needs to be healthy and climate control is of the utmost importance - temperature is a huge factor in the high school environment.
I'm open though and would love to see some of this in our new schools because I know that sometimes students surprise us with appreciation and maturity that we had assumed was absent. Maybe the real comfy chairs should be out of bounds until 9 or 9:30 though so the kids don't fall back to sleep in first period.
Comfort- how much and how soon?
Submitted by Anonymous on May 3, 2007 - 18:08.
I teach at a high school and while some of these 8 appeal to me, I am suddenly thrust back into the reality of how some of the behaviors that I currently observe might just destroy or abuse to death some of these creature comforts. In fact, last year one of the classes that I traveled to was set up with round tables and a potpourri of chairs; some cushioned and some overstuffed, and some of the kids slumped down and went to sleep.
I realize that comfort can truly augment learning and creativity because I have made my at home work stations very comfortable. I am just a little skeptical about the extent of creature comforts to build into our school day. I like the cafe idea for upper classmen and women and I love the idea of gardens and project based learning areas. Naturally, the air needs to be healthy and climate control is of the utmost importance - temperature is a huge factor in the high school environment.
I'm open though and would love to see some of this in our new schools because I know that sometimes students surprise us with appreciation and maturity that we had assumed was absent. Maybe the real comfy chairs should be out of bounds until 9 or 9:30 though so the kids don't fall back to sleep in first period.
Sue G.
Beverly MA