Reflection 2 

Everything about the design of the school and classrooms at this location are unique. The library is the center of the whole school and everything is positioned around this central location. Coming out from the library is a series of eight pods, the cafeteria, the cafeteria, and the auditorium. Each pod is a giant room with their own bathrooms. This room is divided out by 4 or five classrooms. There are no walls separating the classrooms only bookshelves, tables, and small dividers. The pod which I observed contains three kindergarten classrooms and art where all grades come for art special. 

 Some advantages of this classroom design are that they do a lot of activities as a pod. One major advantage comes when they need to do leveled reading or math instruction because they divide the whole class up by level and each teacher is then assigned a group. The pod has their own full time teacher’s assistant. I think that the atmosphere is very much that of a community. The pods create a collaborative and shared feel to the school. I like that each pod has their own bathroom, so students are not out roaming the halls.

The disadvantage of this system is the possibility of distractions. Since there are no walls dividing the classrooms in a pod, you have to get used to the noise coming from the other classrooms. Sometimes, I found myself watching what was going on in the other classrooms. This is something that I will have to work on while student teaching. I will also have to remember to keep the noise level of my own classroom down so that the other classes do not get disrupted. Another disadvantage would be the lack of wall space since you are not in your own room and may therefore only have one actual wall.

When you watch the children in the classroom, you notice that they do not get distracted by the other classes in their pod. They have become conditioned to that environment and can therefore stay engaged and focused despite the unique set-up of the classroom. The students stay on-task as much as you would expect kindergarteners to stay on-task.