Tiny ants wriggling about

Space the final frontier

            My ideal classroom space is in the form of a house.  Learning occurs in communities and houses and people are the basic units of these communities. I learned as much at home, on vacation, and at camps as I did in school.  So it seems obvious that my ideal class is not a class at all but a family.  A small group of learners with common goals.

            It goes without saying that my class (which I have none of my own) is nothing like a house.  More of a pay by the hour hotel.  Anyone who enters has their won agenda and rarely works toward helping others to learn.  It has been my job to see  to it that each student gains something from being present daily.  Most times this is relatively easy, but can be a chore if I do not take an active role.

            It would be nice to form small groups to complete every activity.  This helps balance out learning styles when students are engaged in conversation, research, and application of new information.  MY role in this would be as advisor and facilitator.  I am ultimately in charge, but each student will, for the most part, be responsible for his/her own learning.

            As for spaces, it would be nice for each group to have private and quiet space in which to work.  I need solitude and quite to complete tasks and it is unreasonable to think that students do not require this for at least a portion of the day.