A huge aspect of teaching, much like when presenting, is how well one can utilize the space. A great website that preservice teachers and current teachers can use is to create a virtual model of their current or future classroom is www.floorplanner.com. With this website one can place various common objects in the classroom, change dimensions and object sizes ,and even see a three dimensional model of the room! When creating my floor plan I took the most valuable aspects of all of the previous enjoyable classroom environments that I have been in to create my optimal classroom for a history class in a high school, if I could change one thing I wish I could have contacted my high school to see what their dimensions were, in order to create a classroom to size.
After creating an account, it is very simple to work Floorplanner. Once the account is created one will automatically be taken to the page named "My Dashboard". Here the user should click "Create new project", and then select the desired use of Floorplanner. Since "Classroom" is not a desired room setting "Other" will do fine. Once that is done the user just needs to plot the room's dimensions and place the desired objects found in the left side tools.
Floorplanner can be used as an artifact for Component 2E, which delves into the organization of physical space. By being able to place any desk, chair, or board virtually anywhere the was in which one's classroom is accessed by people in wheel chairs, crutches, or with heavy back packs is infinite! This way a Growth Mindset can truly be achieved.
Coming fresh out of the environment that I designed it for, I believe that students in high school NEED to have environments that encourage and enhance their discussion skills and abilities. This was the main reasoning behind why the optimal classroom in my belief is one where the desks are "U" shaped. I also placed a desk in the front of the room for presentations, there is a white flower on the debating table to represent peace between the opposing sides. Also, this creates a single unit out of all of the students, instead of breaking them up into little pods or placing them in various teams.
Placed along the far right wall one will notice a two book shelves that will be full of historical literature, primary sources, and even historical fiction that is deemed credible by reliable sources. To encourage the use of this area is a nice lounge couch and carpet. In the two right corners tables can be noticed, the top corner there will be a dedication to a key figure of the time period that we are learning about, while in the bottom corner the country that we are focusing on will be high-lighted.
A great source to use to aid with the set up with the room is Debbie Diller's "Spaces & Places". Her major steps from this book, that I mentioned in my page on Component 2E, 1. Thinking about instruction first, and making the structure follow accordingly, 2. How to link structure, organization, and effective instruction, 3. Look around, and 4. Make a Map. All of these steps can be noticed in this process.
* ALL answers are based off of: Danielson, C. (2007). Enhancing professional practice a framework for teaching (2nd ed.). Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
* Diller, Debbie. Spaces & Places. Portland: Stenhouse, n.d. 13-35. Print.
After creating an account, it is very simple to work Floorplanner. Once the account is created one will automatically be taken to the page named "My Dashboard". Here the user should click "Create new project", and then select the desired use of Floorplanner. Since "Classroom" is not a desired room setting "Other" will do fine. Once that is done the user just needs to plot the room's dimensions and place the desired objects found in the left side tools.
Floorplanner can be used as an artifact for Component 2E, which delves into the organization of physical space. By being able to place any desk, chair, or board virtually anywhere the was in which one's classroom is accessed by people in wheel chairs, crutches, or with heavy back packs is infinite! This way a Growth Mindset can truly be achieved.
Coming fresh out of the environment that I designed it for, I believe that students in high school NEED to have environments that encourage and enhance their discussion skills and abilities. This was the main reasoning behind why the optimal classroom in my belief is one where the desks are "U" shaped. I also placed a desk in the front of the room for presentations, there is a white flower on the debating table to represent peace between the opposing sides. Also, this creates a single unit out of all of the students, instead of breaking them up into little pods or placing them in various teams.
Placed along the far right wall one will notice a two book shelves that will be full of historical literature, primary sources, and even historical fiction that is deemed credible by reliable sources. To encourage the use of this area is a nice lounge couch and carpet. In the two right corners tables can be noticed, the top corner there will be a dedication to a key figure of the time period that we are learning about, while in the bottom corner the country that we are focusing on will be high-lighted.
A great source to use to aid with the set up with the room is Debbie Diller's "Spaces & Places". Her major steps from this book, that I mentioned in my page on Component 2E, 1. Thinking about instruction first, and making the structure follow accordingly, 2. How to link structure, organization, and effective instruction, 3. Look around, and 4. Make a Map. All of these steps can be noticed in this process.
* ALL answers are based off of: Danielson, C. (2007). Enhancing professional practice a framework for teaching (2nd ed.). Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
* Diller, Debbie. Spaces & Places. Portland: Stenhouse, n.d. 13-35. Print.