In a previous post, we discussed three key characteristics that shape the classroom environment: the physical space, the psychological environment, and the emotional environment. These three things working in harmony can have a huge impact on your students’ learning and lives.
As the school year winds down, teachers are just a week or two away from quiet. No more funky lunchbox smells or the squeak of shoes on the linoleum floor. It’s time for a very earned break.
And it’s the perfect time to consider how you want your physical classroom environment to be for the upcoming school year. In this post, we want to focus on the physical environment of your classrooms.
Tips to Improve Your Physical Classroom Environment:
It’s not uncommon for teachers to recreate the same classroom design year after year. It makes sense. We get comfortable with ‘what works’. But is it working?
Spaces change the way we learn and think and interact. This TED Talk from David Byrne, former lead singer of the Talking Heads, discusses how architecture helped music evolve.
We don’t expect you to build a cathedral, but there are some simple ways to improve your physical classroom environment to improve student learning.
Lighting:
Oh, the hum of the ghastly fluorescent bulb. And when they start to flit on and off, we’re just a John Carpenter score away from a horror scene.
- Turn off the lights: If you have natural lighting and can do without the fluorescent bulbs, do!
- Cloud cloths and other fluorescent light filters can help dim the glare.
- Consider floor lamps with warm lighting: If you have a budget to get floor lamps, you can use them in your reading corner and other quieter spaces. It’s a great way to turn down the volume in the classroom.
Wall Space:
All those blank walls invite colors and posters and artwork! AND WHITE SPACE. Kerri Godwin, a development psychologist, has spent years studying classroom environments. In this interview with Edutopia, she says, “ One of the central ideas in our research is that the visual environment can create competition for attention. Attention is a limited cognitive resource—we can only focus on one thing at a time, and it also gradually depletes.”
Based on her work and an overwhelming amount of research regarding classroom environments, here are some tips to improve student learning.
Do your walls need a paint job? Dingy, dirty walls are demoralizing and can turn an otherwise healthy environment into Gotham City. Choose calming, cool colors (put away that bright yellow paint).
Beware of a glut of posters. Too much stuff on the walls can be really hard for students to sift through. Research supports between 20 – 50% of wall space being clear. Godwin advocates for up to 75% of wall space being clear. Sift through the clutter and ensure every single poster or image or piece of artwork has a purpose. Your classroom walls can support executive function, routines, and student learning.
- Keep a space for daily, weekly, and/or monthly planning to help students learn to manage homework due dates, prepare for field trips, remember when to turn in parent permission slips, and more. This helps students get oriented. It also helps teachers nip these questions in the bud: Are we doing anything today? Did we do anything yesterday? Is this for a grade? Can you give me all my missing work?
- For younger children, use picture prompts for routines. Go over them often. Use visual prompts to clue students in on what they should be doing. This cuts down on teachers repeating instructions.
- Consider dry-erase boards on easels around the room for when students are working through chemistry, biology, grammar, and/or math problems. Make thinking visible. AND, when you’re done, you can put them away, clearing the clutter.
Shelves and supplies, oh my!
“Teacher, where can I get a crayon?”
It’s June, and they still ask. Inhale, exhale, and point to the shelves.
Organized supply shelves: This is a great way to make sure all students have access to needed supplies. Some are forgetful. Some simply can’t afford supplies. So creating a communal shelf space for students will save you a lot of time, and it can save some students embarrassment.
Sound:
The physical space also includes sounds. There’s no arguing that schools were not built to mute screechy sounds – everything from metal chairs scraping across the floor to the echo of students’ laughter and shouts in a classroom.
- Manage Acoustics: With all the hard metal and linoleum surfaces, it’s difficult to manage sounds. Bring in soft materials, like throw rugs, for the reading nook or quiet-time area. Use tennis balls on the feet of chairs. Turn off unused media (fans, computers, etc) to dim the hum.
- Keep it Instrumental: Some students love background noise. Our world is a glut of noise pollution. Nevertheless, studies show that music with lyrics can interfere with reading, especially complicated passages. Consider using nature sounds in the classroom to keep things calm. OR, turn off the tunes!
Keep it Cool:
Hot classrooms are miserable, and they affect learning outcomes. So, when you’re considering your budget for equipping your classroom, include:
- Fans! No explanation necessary.
- Crack open the windows if you can. (Even in winter). Fresh air does wonders to keep students alert and engaged!
Other ways to improve your classroom environment include seating, bringing in plants, and reducing color variation (keeping with the same color tones or color family). While you decompress over the summer and gear up for your next school year, consider the ways you can best support student learning and your own well-being through how you create the physical classroom environment.
“The environment becomes a silent teacher.” — Temitope Christopher
