School Design

Of all the things I think about in regards to education the actual design of a school building rarely crosses my mind.  Occasionally I will think a school is in need or repair, outdated, ugly, oppressive looking, or all of the above, but I don't linger on those thoughts.  Every school I have attended or worked at has fallen into one or  more of those categories.  That's just the way things are as far as I've been concerned.

Then the other day I stumbled across this article on Slate about school design. The article discussed the many positive effects of having a more innovative and attractively designed building.  The author of the article points out that many educators rarely think about school design, don't know much about school design, and don't have many resources available to them in the area of alternative designs - often times we're focused on cost and efficiency.  Even if educational leaders knew about alternative school designs they often feel they don't have the budget for them.

The author discusses several schools that have used innovative designs, which he says maximize learning space, and teacher communication and connection.  The main differences that are brought up are more open classrooms, more windows and fewer hallways.  Teachers claim that the more open and innovative designs have encouraged them to work together more and made them feel less isolated.  The article included one picture of a school the author discusses, upon visiting the schools' websites I was unable to find more pictures of the interior of the buildings. 

I find the idea of innovative school design to be fascinating.  I'm a bit hesitant to believe all the claims made in this article (especially when I have very few images to rely on), and would like to hear some feedback from students, but I do agree that traditional school design is not optimal.  The idea of reducing hallways intrigues me as well.  When I think about disciplinary issues that occur in school so many of them take place in the hallways.  Also the idea of clear walls or more windows between classrooms fascinates me as well.  Educators claim that it leads to them connecting with each other more because they don't feel so isolated, but is it a distraction to students?  Do students feel safer in that school? 

Reading this article made me wonder how my teaching would change if my classroom  had windows instead of walls separating it from the hallway.  If I knew I could easily be watched anytime someone walked by how would my teaching change?  Would it change?  What about my student's behavior?  These are the questions I've been asking myself (and would also have liked to have heard about in the article).  For a topic I never gave a second thought to I now find myself intrigued with.  I'll definitely be on the lookout for more school design related articles and information.