Once the reflecting process and planning for your classroom environment is complete (or you are just tired of thinking about it and want your room changed RIGHT NOW) - these 7 steps may be just what you need to get started.

When reconfiguring a classroom or moving into a new one, it can be tricky to see the space through new eyes. Some of the phrases that we hear or have used ourselves that interfere with change are, "I have to have the room set up this way because it's how I always do it." Or "My desk has to go over there."

To begin with a clear head we move everything out of the room. "Really?" you say. "Absolutely!", and for exactly the reasons listed above! We can come up with a variety of excuses to not move the location of our desk, our gathering space, classroom library, or whatever..... However if we really want a change, it often requires creating a clean slate and looking with new eyes. Once everything is out of the room, we use the form below, which has prioritized the order with which we place items back in the room.

In the past, we always started with placing student desks in the room first. However, we found they took up so much space that we were left with little real estate to add the pieces or sections we really valued and craved, such as a cozy library and a whole group gathering space. We looked at what we deemed was most important, what we coveted the most and the message we wanted to send to our students and the adults who came into our room, and started there. (See the link to the article, Reflection on Classroom Environments, below) We tend to place things we value first, and tuck everything else around them.

If you are ready for a room change and need some help thinking differently, try using the form below. If you follow the sequence, we think it will help you achieve the classroom design and feel you are hoping for.

The 7 Steps to Designing Physical Space