"The Library Learning Commons is the heart of the school" One of our teachers said that to me recently. While I was overjoyed and full of pride that my intention was realized. It also took a lot of work and planning to make that happen. Regular meetings with admin to be sure that my vision was in line with the school plan took place. Each intentional space, was just that- intentionally created.
Flexible Furniture
.We have worked over the past few years to replace the static furniture with fun, kid centered, flexible furniture. We now have colorful tables on casters, chairs with casters, soft furniture for reading and working, rolling desks and wobble stools. We have also removed most of the large shelving units from the middle of the floor to allow for more movement and flexibility. The few shelves we have in the middle of the floor we have added casters to so they are also able to be moved when necessary. This year we have added our first browsing box, which is a big hit! We will definitely be ordering more! All students are drawn to the browsing boxes for the ease to find the books they like and by the colorful covers they can easily see. Flexible furniture impacts student learning in many ways. Students are engaged. They are excited to be there. They feel welcome and safe and enjoy the flexible furniture.
Maker Space
Our maker space is a bright colored room with lots of space and lots of materials. Students love to come for Maker Mornings or throughout the day. There are task cards that students can choose from to lead their making. Often, we use items from the space for whole group lessons, then students can return on their own time to continue working, or start a new project. As a recipient of the ARTS Now grant, Dowell's maker space is in the process of being improved to include more fine arts supplies and tools. This supports our focus of becoming STEAM certifed school as well. The instructional impact is that teachers and students have a place to work and create in a collaborative manner.
Collaborative Spaces
Throughout the Library Learning Commons there are many spaces dedicated to working together. We have tables on casters to allow various sizes of groups to work together. Students are invited to move the tables as they need them. There are two media scapes where students can connect multiple computers and all work off the same screen. With the increased use of O365, the demand for the media scapes has changed from writing to other more creative uses like working together to create something in Tinkercad to 3-D print. The collaborative spaces are used for team building activities, researching together, teachers working with small groups of students and much more.
Collaborative spaces continue to change as our ability to collaborate changes. With the pandemic, we have learned ways to work together on the same project without being in the same physical space. As our students have become more knowledgable with Microsoft and the ability to share their creations and peer edit within the programs, the media scapes have become a little bit obsolete. We now use those screens for small groups teaching and modeling. Our collaborative spaces are less defined and more "make it work for you at the time." Sometimes, that's moving chairs and tables to accomodate or just using computers next to one another to allow communication while work is being done.
The greatest thing about our collaborative spaces is that they are always changing to meet the needs of our students.
Collaborative spaces continue to change as our ability to collaborate changes. With the pandemic, we have learned ways to work together on the same project without being in the same physical space. As our students have become more knowledgable with Microsoft and the ability to share their creations and peer edit within the programs, the media scapes have become a little bit obsolete. We now use those screens for small groups teaching and modeling. Our collaborative spaces are less defined and more "make it work for you at the time." Sometimes, that's moving chairs and tables to accomodate or just using computers next to one another to allow communication while work is being done.
The greatest thing about our collaborative spaces is that they are always changing to meet the needs of our students.
Quiet Spaces
Sometimes, students need to go to the library learning commons for a quiet space. These spaces were actually created after a student survey showed that several students missed the quiet of the library. We now have dedicated quiet spaces. In these spaces, students are invited to read or work without the chatter that goes on throughout the rest of the Learning Commons. Students are taught that if they are in a "Quiet Zone" and they need to discuss or talk, to politely move to another area of the Learning Commons.
These areas have had a positive impact on our students by allowing them to have spaces to cool off, or refocus, as well as places to read or finsih work.
These areas have had a positive impact on our students by allowing them to have spaces to cool off, or refocus, as well as places to read or finsih work.
Larger Group Spaces
Other times call for the ability to house larger groups. When there are visiting authors or other large group activities, the ability to move furniture to accommodate everyone is a great feature of the learning commons. The rolling chairs and fun stools are a big hit for staff meetings, where teams want to sit together and enjoy the fun furniture. Getting rid of the books shelves in the middle of the space made this possible.