Days of Wonder

Today has been a wonderful day. Yesterday was Veteran's Day, and we got it off even though it fell on a Tuesday. This meant, for me, that I had one day off, a single, precious day that was unscheduled and un-spoken-for, in which to catch up on those things which need doing but don't fit in my regular schedule.

In this case, among other things, that meant getting two couches to put in my classroom, and a metric dumpton of food and snacks for the kids. So... well, naturally it was a good day :)

I like the idea of making the room comfortable for my kids. I feel that it's easier to learn if your basic needs are met--food and physical comfort. Sleep too, but I can't do much about that. (The couches are not for sleeping--at least not during classtime.) Previously, I had the two soft armchairs, but with them in the back of the room around a little table, that area became a magnet for students to gather and socialize--sometimes at the expense of class focus.

What I'm doing instead, this time, is lining up all the best seats, the two couches and the two armchairs, in a broad curve as the front row of seats in the room. Behind them are a couple cool little tables, and then the very last row is composed entirely of the least-desireable conjoined seat/desk hybrids that are so ubiquitous--and so unpleasant--in classrooms. The experiment now is to set the class up this way, so that the most desireable seats are in the front, and offer open seating. If all goes according to plan, this will draw students to fill up the front row of their own volition, without me having to either assign seats or crack the whip to explicitly call students to move forward.

I also had my master's class tonight, and instead of the usual exhaustion, I felt happy, even buoyant. When I'm not drained and braindead, this class is so wonderful for sparking ideas. Something about getting together, hearing other teacher's perspectives, and bouncing ideas around really gets the old brain juices flowing. But... in the spirit of trying to stick to one idea per blog post, I'll save those for future posts!