Meredith Williams - Principal NRHS
The Design Charette (see details in Designing Our Design Labs) hosted in preparation for our design lab redesign uncovered several interesting expectations from our students. Of most peculiar note was the students’ strong desire for a stage. We knew that typical classrooms consisted almost solely of campfires, where the teacher provided direct instruction for students. In introducing charrette participants to the alternative spaces for learning - the watering hole, cave, and life – we anticipated that students would seize the opportunity to obliterate the age-old campfire classroom model where students sat compliantly engaged. Including school board members, school district leaders, students, parents and community leaders, the three charrette teams developing prototypes were most certainly heterogeneous. Interestingly, the students quickly took the lead in managing the materials and directional focus of each prototype. The design leaders of the charrette noted that each team quickly created some form of a stage early on in their work. From a moveable stage centered in the room to a Murphy bed style hidden stage, each team’s work included a very iconic campfire space. Initially, we were somewhat disappointed. Were our participants not grasping the divergent thinking of the task? Did they not understand the potential for the shift in learning being offered? In the book intention: critical creativity in the classroom, the authors point out that “in the explanation of intent, a student’s seemingly unsuccessful product...may actually prove its value” (Burvall and Ryder, 84). Such value was seen as the students also led the sharing and explanation of their prototypes at the charrette’s conclusion. One-by-one the students pointed to their group’s version of a stage and suggested its necessity in giving the students a place for presentations of their work. In the students’ explanations we learned the presence of the iconic campfire structure was not to maintain the teacher’s role as “sage on the stage” but rather to promote the student as presenter of knowledge. The design team went to work to find options for a stage. Desiring flexibility for all furniture pieces in the design lab, the choice was made to construct Bleacher Blocks like those featured in Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration (Doorley and Witthoft, 180). A team of volunteers, sponsored by our area’s United Way Day of Caring project, set about constructing blocks, which could be arranged as a stage, individual seats, or risers within the lab. In less than 5 hours 24 single blocks and 12 double blocks had been created by our generous volunteers. A quick coat of polyurethane gave the blocks an informal finish. The stage was set for the showcase of student work! Works Cited: Burvall, Amy, and Dan Ryder. intention: critical creativity in the classroom. EdTechTeam Press, 2017. Doorley, Scott, and Scott Witthoft. Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012.
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AuthorMeredith Williams is the principal at NRHS. A graduate of NRHS and an community member, Mrs. Williams is invested in the success of the NRHS student population. ArchivesCategories |