How can you Redesign your Classroom’s Ambiance?

I reshuffle my home every now and then.

For instance, I re-arrange my furniture, change the position of the wall hangings and decorate my room with plants that otherwise adorn my balcony. At times, I believe in stacking my study desk with a few of my favorite bedtime books, though most of the time, I like my table to be free.

A trace of variety adds spice to my interiors leaving behind a breath of fresh air at home.

Similarly, your classrooms deserve a makeover.

Why do Classrooms Require a Makeover?

The very sight of the desks and chairs of students, arranged neatly in front of a large ‘teacher’s table’ in the middle of the classroom, might appear monotonous.

Your students might be turned off by the same classroom scene right from Monday to Friday – a calendar fixed on the wall near the blackboard, a poster portraying the different parts of a brain, and a motivational quote on the importance of ‘hard work’ pinned up on the display board.

I bet this sort of a traditional classroom design will also irritate the most patient teachers!

Youngsters must also be granted the opportunity to ‘enjoy their lessons’.

Quite unfortunately, they are denied the excitement to learn anything new, being compelled to focus on lectures confined to the four walls of a constricting classroom where creativity is doomed to die. Redesigning learning spaces is one of the most promising ways of assuring student engagement within classrooms!

How Can You Redesign Classrooms?

So, how to get started with your classroom redesigning goals?

First of all, you must check out on the seating style of your learners. Follow it with de-cluttering your classroom space.

Read on to discover some of the best tricks to redesign the classroom ambiance.

#1. Focus on the Seating Arrangement

First of all, teachers must consider modifying the seating style of students.

Remember that the seating posture of students complement the alertness of their minds. In other words, students should be seated in a way that permits their brains to be effective through school hours.

You can click photographs of classrooms from different schools, to gain an idea about your seating format. Or, just revisit your school-days for a while.

What kind of a seating arrangement did you crave for during different stages of your learning process?

It reminds me of my personal thoughts about the ‘looks’ of my classroom, as a high school student. Sometimes, I wished that the tables and chairs of students would be arranged in a circular manner, surrounding the teacher’s desk and chair. This way, even the back-benchers would be capable of seeing the blackboard clearly and get to hear the lectures distinctly.

#2. Select Seats Wisely

Now that you have decided upon altering the seating style of your learners, I have compiled a list of ‘seat selection secrets’ exclusively for you. As teachers, you must be wise enough in choosing the classroom seats. Depending on your objectives, you might prefer any of the following seating techniques.

• Bean bag chairs: I agree you cannot accommodate seventy bean bagsin your classroom, but you can at least use some of them. They are easy to drag across the room and are comfortable as well.

• Buoy chairs: Inexpensive and really ‘cool’, these wobbly chairs are durable. Since it does not possess a backrest, it would check the tendency of students to doze off during your lectures.

• Video game chairs: Did you know how popular video game chairs are? Your students would be happy to relax in those chairs, rocking to and fro as they work on their tasks! You can try introducing those in your class, for a change.

• Standing desks: You cannot forget your kinesthetic learners in your classroom who depend on bodily movements to learn their lessons. Standing desks will encourage such students to concentrate on their assignments better.

#3. Go for Visual Stimulation

There are times when nothing works better than a generous dosage of visual stimulation.

So, request the friends, colleagues, and parents of your students for a wide variety of magazines. Convince your learners to collect interesting magazines, especially those enriched with beautifully decorated ‘spaces’. And, of course, the spaces do not necessarily have to belong to classrooms.

The idea is just to usher in a sense of visual appeal to educate you about how spaces can be utilized effectively.

The pictures might depict the interiors of homes or office areas or any other kind of space. While you are choosing the pictures, remember that your students must be attracted to the visual elements.

Instruct your students to highlight the places that appear prominent in those magazines.

For instance, they can specify the places that stand out as attractive, according to them.

You can even turn to ‘Pinterest’ for accessing the images that portray the usage of spaces intelligently. You can then have your students comment on the images that you share or post on this social media platform.

#4. Use Word Association Games

Another unique procedure of deciding upon re-creating the classroom environment is making your students participate in word association games. Organize these games from time to time.

I will show you how this works.

Place a few papers on different tables in your classroom. Divide your students into several teams and make sure each group occupies a table.

Write a word at the center. Make sure each team gets a different word. Now, based on these words, your pupils must jot down the first term that comes to their mind. Ask them to repeat the entire process for all the words.

Let them indulge in this game for a minimum of fifteen minutes.

Every group member must contribute to this list of words. After the game is completed, ask your students to indicate their favorite words. These words would give you a fair idea about the urgent requirements of your classroom.

#5. Use Sticky Notes

Are you done with your research on the best ideas to renovate your classroom space, dear teachers?

If yes, it is high time you think about additional ways and means to make learning zones more interesting for your students. One such way is to use ‘sticky notes’. But before you move on with this idea, you must first identify the portions of your classroom that immediately require your attention. Is it the teacher’s workspace, the common space utilized by your learners or the clutter that needs to be cleared?

You can easily receive the answer of these questions through a simple technique.

Just instruct your students to write down any idea on a sticky note. Each student must make the effort to write down her idea. Once this is done, paste the notes on a white-board or the display board that is present inside the classroom. So, now you are ready with some of the best classroom redesigning ideas!

#6. Clear the Clutter

Most classrooms are a little cluttered. There might be unused pens in the pen-stand on the teacher’s desk or a pile of exercise books on a table in the corner of a classroom, waiting to be evaluated by a teacher.

How can you adorn your classroom if you do not get rid of all the unnecessary items in it?

Therefore, you should promise to make your classrooms clutter-free without delay. One of the simplest ways to go about it is to remove each and every unnecessary object consuming your classroom space. Put the pens, highlighter, and pencils in an orderly manner in your pen-stand, and arrange the desks and chairs appropriately. Next, you should stack the pile of exercise books in the cupboard, after cleaning it.

Organize the drawer of your desk and check if it contains any unnecessary items.

#7. Observe Movement in the Class

Last but definitely not the least, you must observe how you and your students move about inside the classroom. And unfortunately, you would not be capable of observing it all on your own.

Let me give you an idea.

Just find a student or colleague who might be having a free period while you are teaching in your class. Request him to be a part of your classroom session and closely observe how you as well as your pupils move around in the classroom. You can also try printing out a diagram of your classroom.

Now ask him to point out the places to specify the areas of movement.

This would help clarifying the regions that have the maximum movement, and would aid you in re-organizing your classroom, so as to make those areas free for easy movement.

These are some of the most effectual and smart ways in which educators can consider redesigning their classrooms.

Are you ready to start your journey as a teacher afresh by rejuvenating yourself with a classroom makeover? If yes, the right time is NOW.