Classrooms in the district’s three middle schools will attract more independent student-readers
If you build it, they will come. No one is more hopeful the recent transformation of 42 middle school English Language Arts classrooms in the district’s three middle schools will attract more independent student-readers than ELA supervisor Melissa Barnett.
Barnett used the subject’s recent adoption cycle to remove all the student desks and extra unneeded furniture and to outfit each room with eight collaborative tables, one small group table for small group work, one pub set with two tall stools for conferencing, two book shelves, a rug and four bean bag chairs for flexible seating. The resulting spaces are one that Barnett hopes are inviting and effective.
“Our teachers were so excited, and we were so happy to be able to create these spaces for them,” said Barnett, who also outfitted the special education ELA classrooms. “I had teachers tell me they have never looked so forward to a new school year. They are so inspired and so grateful for their new environments.”
Teachers were able to individualize their space by selecting the colors of rugs and beanbags they wanted in their classrooms. The improvements will give students a lot of different spaces within the classrooms for individual and group learning.
“Our goal was to foster 21st century learning in a flexible setting,” Barnett said. “In addition to the in-class libraries, students will have more room to spread out with their laptops. We will be utilizing the devices for all kinds of great things including lessons in Blackboard, electronic portfolios for writing, tools for research to improve their argumentative writing, and NEWSELA, an online reading program that gives our students access to current articles and supplemental texts.”
“These classrooms give our students a lot more options,” Chestnut Ridge Middle School eighth-grade teacher Amanda Wesh said. “Our students will be more comfortable. They have more variety and independence, more privacy for conferencing with teachers and more space to collaborate. I am so happy we have adopted this new model.”
“This joint effort, between ELA supervisor Melissa Barnett and her middle school teaching staff, will provide daily opportunities for students to pursue a more personalized approach to reading geared to their strengths, weaknesses, interests and preferences,” District Director of Secondary Education Dr. Steve Gregor said. “A lot of strategizing and planning went into the creation of these spaces.”
