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Inservice 23The Ten-Minute Classroom

Makeover

PURPOSEIt is difficult to flip through the channels on your television and not happen upon

several programs about home, yard, or work space makeovers. Most people like

their surroundings to look nice, but many of them need guidance in doing so. If

that werent the case, these makeover programs would quickly die. Instead,

theyre gaining steam.

Our living and working spaces say a lot to others about who we are as

people. When you walk into a teachers classroom (a teacher of any grade level

and any subject area), you can instantly know a lot about that teacher. This is due

to the fact that peoples physical environments tend to be mirrors of their innerselves.

A disorganized, messy, or cluttered classroom expresses those exact traits in

that teacher. A well-organized, cheery, colorful environment expresses those traits

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in that teacher. Students pick up on these subtleties (or not-so-subtleties), though

not usually at a conscious level. We wont delve into any more detail in regard to

the psychological meanings behind the environments in which people live and

work. Instead, well focus on the fact that all students deserve to spend their days

in neat, organized, cheerful, welcoming classroom environments.You dont have to spend lots of money to create a nice, pleasant, welcoming

environment. Thats good news, as most teachers arent (financially) wealthy

people. Some teachers on your faculty have created beautiful, welcoming envir-

onments for their students. Some display traits of hoarding, and we wont go

there, figuratively or literally. Others have neat environments, but those envir-

onments appear and feel cold and sterile and unfriendly. Other environments are

colorful, cheery, and well organized, yet they display only the teachers person-

ality, as they lack any evidence of student work. Shouldnt all classrooms be a

reflection of teachers and students? Thats the ideal! And thats the kind ofclassroom you are going to help all your teachers create today. Nothing fancy,

nothing expensive, and nothing time-consuming. Well, okay, your hoarders are

going to have to spend some time getting rid of all that stuff. But that purging is

long overdue, isnt it?

INSERVICE

Begin your inservice today with the following questions and the discussion they

prompt:

Would you agree that peoples physical environments reveal a lot about their

personalities?

Is it true that you can walk into someones home and learn a lot about that

person just by viewing his or her physical surroundings?

Knowing your students, do you think you could predict, with a high degree of

accuracy, what their bedrooms at home look like?

What do our classrooms say about us, as teachers and as people?

Next, give them the following multiple-choice questions and have them answer

as a group:

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1. Which environment do you think students would prefer:

a. One with signs of welcome

b. One with no signs of welcome

2. Which environment is more conducive to learning?a. One that is organized

b. One that is disorganized

3. Which environment would help students feel a sense of ownership?

a. One with student work displayed

b. One with no student work displayed

4. Which environment would feel more welcoming to students?

a. One that is colorfulb. One that lacks color

Although the teachers dont know this yet, they have just agreed, by correctly

answering the questions on the multiple-choice quiz you just gave, that class-

rooms should be welcoming, should be organized, should display student work,

and should be colorful. So now you say, I agree with all of your answers. I agree

that in every classroom in this school, we should see evidence of the following:

(1) signs of welcome, (2) basic organization, (3) displays of student work, and

(4) color.Discuss the fact that people dont have to be neat freaks to have well-

organized environments. You dont have to have seventeen signs of welcome,

either. One sign that says Welcome to Our Classroom will sufficeand that

sign is free if you allow the students to make it. You dont have to have wall-to-

wall student work displayed, but you should always have at least one piece of

each students best work displayed. For some teachers, its as simple as having

a bulletin board titled Our Best Work. To cover this board, students choose a

piece of work they would like to have displayed. And how difficult is it to add

a little color to the room? You dont have to paint the room. A plant adds color.

Student artwork adds color. Colorful signs add color. And remember, color is not

just for elementary classrooms.

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IMPLEMENTATION

Now say, We all agree on the kind of classroom environment our students deserve at

school. So now lets make sure we are providing that environment in every classroom.

Were going to make this fun by turning it into a contest. Well all be competing for

[name the prize, and make it a good one]. Ill give you all two weeks to get your

classrooms ready, though many of you will only need thirty minutes. At the end of two

weeks, we will have a drawing for the [prize]. In order to get your name into the

drawing, your classroom simply has to have these four elements: (1) at least one sign of

welcome, (2) evidence of organization, (3) display of student work, and (4) color.

At the end of the two-week period, walk through all of the teachers class-

rooms looking for those four criteria. Remember that you are not looking for

perfection. And this is not a contest for the most beautiful or best-decorated

classroom. The purpose of this activity is simply for everyone to provide stu-

dents with environments conducive to learningand this is the quickest, sim-

plest way we know of to get that accomplished. Now put all eligible names into a

drawing and proclaim a winner. For those who did not meet the eligibility cri-

teria, a private conference might be in order. Be sure that that conference is held

in your well-organized, colorful, welcoming office.

Notes

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