Some additional pictures

Edutopia contacted me about featuring my classroom in an upcoming post. So I took some new pictures of the classroom to send to them. I thought I would share them here as well.

 Using the space up front under my smartboard. Typically an area left empty in classrooms. I try to use all corners of my room. 

 Panorama of the room from the point of view of my desk.

 Corner near my desk. I turned it against the wall so there was more room.

 Back corner of the room.

 A favorite area. They love the wheelie chairs.

 Back corner with high top table.

 Some still like the desks, and enjoy being in a larger group table.

 Another grouping of desks but with two seats on a bench seat.

 High top table

Another panorama from the door.

Gum is my nemesis

Well I have neglected to update this year on how things are going with my flexible seating. The positives are out there.

• Kids are engaged and comfortable. 
• I have a lot more group seating options for projects and discussions. 
• Other students pass my room and I hear them make positive comments and wish they were in there for the seating options. 

But with the positives, come the negatives

• Gum... oh my gosh gum! How lazy do you have to be, that rather than throw away your gum, you take it and stick it to the furniture? I'm talking about under the cushion of a nice papasan chair... which is now covered in sticky gum. To the back of another fabric chair. Ugh... I don't want to be that teacher that says no gum, but seriously, be respectful of the furniture!!
• Beanbag chairs - They are great, but they wear out. I had to get some replacement beans halfway through the year because they flattened. And filling beanbag chairs are not an easy task. Little white styrofoam EVERYWHERE. I looked at the YouTube cheats to make it easier, but apparently mine were the only ones that had static electricity and did not easily pour into the chair opening. 
• Disc Chairs - We had a few of these break. The bolts would come out, and then students didn't tell me, and instead hid them behind another chair. By the time I figured it out, the bolts were long gone via the custodians. I had no way to fix the chairs. 
• My room smells a bit like feet. Less cloth chairs that soak up sweat, more vinyl or something that can easily be washed. Or maybe a couch cover over my papasan chairs that I can throw in the washing machine. I've been febreezing as much as I can. 
• My round table got very wobbly. Kids are rough on furniture. Don't bring in anything that you really care about, because it WILL get trashed. It's being used 7 hours a day by big high schoolers that are rough on furniture. 

Overall I'm happy with the risk I took this year and the changes. I don't want to go back to desks next year, but I do need to make some adjustments over the summer. Not sure what those will be, but they will be coming. 

Thanks for checking in.