The document outlines an action plan to improve classroom conditions. It identifies 5 key points of focus: 1) Replace desks and chairs with movable, collaborative workspaces; 2) Create collaborative working spaces by removing unused items; 3) Replace blackboards with whiteboards and add a dry-erase brainstorming wall; 4) Add a "genius bar" area with laptops and mount a TV for presentations; 5) Transform an unused teaching area into a reading lounge with bean bag chairs and bookshelves. The overall goal is to revolutionize classrooms into student-focused, collaborative learning spaces.

1. What’s Cool for School? The Action Plan
December 5, 2013

2. The State of Our Classrooms
The Voyager Lab
The Terrace
The Dunes
Look at what our students are dealing
with now!
How can we revolutionize the way we
utilize our classrooms? How can the
“Third Teacher” better serve our
students’ needs?
.

3. The State of Our Classrooms
The Voyager Lab
The Terrace
The Dunes
Look at what our students are dealing
with now!
Students are working in poor
conditions. They need proper
lighting and alternatives to broken
chairs that are uncomfortable and
workspaces that are too small.
.

4. The State of Our Classrooms
The Voyager Lab
The Terrace
The Dunes
Look at what our students are dealing
with now!
The walls of the classroom need to
be painted. The classroom should
be an inviting and colourful space
that encourages learning, not a
lackluster space with damaged
walls.
.

5. Action Plan
The Voyager Lab
Point #1: Desk and Chairs
Students want to revolutionize their chairs
and desks. They want to sit on
medicine/exercise ball chairs on wheels and
perform their activities on desks that provide
more workspace. These revolutionized desks
must have the capability to move easily
The
around the room on wheels to connect to Dunes
other desks for the purpose of collaborative
learning.
Students also want hooks to be installed on
their desks so they can easily hang their bags
.
to keep them away from the aisles.
Action Plan
The Terrace

6. Action Plan
The Voyager Lab
Point #2: Collaborative Workspace
The students want collaborative working
spaces where they can share descriptive
feedback with their peers and teacher. This
area of the classroom could be used for that
purpose. The students would like to remove
the old filing cabinets, “mystery closet” with
The
no key, and overhead projector that are not Dunes
being used anymore, and create a
“collaborative working space” in this zone of
the room. This zone would house at least
three larger desks on wheels that are topped
with dry-erase paint for group brainstorming
.
activities.
Action Plan
The Terrace

7. Action Plan
The Voyager Lab
Point #3: Brainstorming Walls
The Terrace
The students want to replace the old
blackboards with whiteboards, and, on the
opposite side of the room (bottom picture),
the students want to create a “brainstorming
wall located in the “collaborative working
space” zone of the classroom. This wall will
The
be created using a large piece of medium- Dunes
density fiberboard. The MDF will be painted
with dry-erase paint and placed against the
wall using brackets to secure it.
.
Action Plan

8. Action Plan
The Voyager Lab
Point #4: Genius Bar and a Mounted TV
The Terrace
The students want to replace the old
clock with a digital clock, and secure
high-shelving on this wall to create a
“genius bar”. The genius bar will house
laptops that can be used for research
purposes once Wi-Fi is available in the
portables. Above the “genius bar”, the The Dunes
students want a mounted TV that can be
connected to a DVD player or a laptop so
that students can project their
presentations, videos, blogs, etc.
.
Action Plan

9. Action Plan
The Voyager Lab
Point #5: Reading Lounge Zone
The Terrace
Instead of having this unsightly
teacher’s desk, the students want to
have a reading lounge placed in this
zone of the classroom. They want
shelving to be secured on the walls by
the window to house books and
magazines. They also want bean bag The Dunes
chairs on which they can sit and read
in comfort. This is a student-focused
classroom of collaborative learning,
therefore there is no need for this
clunky desk.
.
Action Plan

10. Let’s make it happen!
December 19 and 20, 2013