Classroom Spaces: Beautiful Opportunities

This week I had a chance to visit the classroom of my friend Nick Pippins. Nick is a HTWP alumni, and he works at a private Montessori school here in Austin. His classroom left me speechless! Gorgeous rugs. Framed art prints. Fossils and bones on display against wooden shelves. So many plants! Look!

Nick's classroom may seem like a dream for many of us, but I was inspired. The folks at Nick's school have clearly invested a lot of money and time into making school spaces gorgeous. I know many of us in public school also care deeply about making our classrooms beautiful and inviting, even with limited funds and resources. After all, doesn't a pleasing classroom space honor the important work students do? Doesn't an attractive space send a powerful message? 

I thought about this a lot when I taught reading at Akins HS and Travis HS. Kids came in feeling like reading was a punishment class. I wanted the room to feel special -- the coolest spot in the building. Here are some pics from my classroom at Akins. I still think about that space.

None of it was break-the-bank expensive -- a few dollars for colored chalk from Michael's, some thrift store furniture, bookshelves from the City of Austin's office furniture surplus spot on Bolm Road. African violets propagate easily and bloomed readily near my window. Once I bought some of those suction-cup sponge holders you can get at Target and converted them into bird feeders, stuck to the outside of the windows. Kids often gasped in wonder when a tiny bird stopped to eat. Those moments were magical... inspiring our minds further while we read, wrote, thought. As the year went on, the walls grew cozier with so much kid work -- drawings, charts, sticky notes, stories. We built the room together. 

 My friend Tracy Spruce has turned her classroom into a gorgeous, bohemian literacy salon. I know Tracy thrifts like I do, so I'm certain a lot of this came from scavenging Houston's best second-hand shops. Some of these pics are from this year; some are from her previous school in Houston. 

Tracy even has an old record player in her room, and kids can put on Miles Davis or John Coltrane or Charles Mingus for inspiring work music. Pretty sure they take turns as DJ each week. Who wouldn't want to be in this classroom? How could anyone turn down the invitation to read or write when the digs are this cool?

In an interview with The Paris Review, Toni Morrison spoke about the power of environment when writing. "What does the ideal room look like?" she asked. "What do I need in order to release my imagination?" 

The question deserves our attention. I know it takes time, money and extra work to create beauty within those cinder block walls, not to mention huge doses of creativity.  I think it also takes vision: to not settle for over-flowing recycling bins, broken mini-blinds, or corners with random jackets wadded up...or even gym socks that stay stuck in those corners for the entire semester.  Our rooms matter.  Maybe one day we'll all have enough funding to do this, like at Nick's school. Until then, I celebrate my friends and colleagues who continue to create beauty and warmth in their classrooms, no matter what.