Sample Initiative

Pedagogy of Space:

Enhancing Teaching & Learning Through Space & Place Transformations

Summary:

Beginning in 2013, I co-led an initiative to maximize the pedagogical impact of a series of campus physical transformations at Convent & Stuart Hall. Not content to renovate classrooms, we aimed to encourage a complete re-examination of the physical elements of all spaces throughout our very complex K-12 campus. 

Developing a Leadership Team — I worked closely with our Head of School (“President”) and Director of Facilities on all aspects, including complex multi-year budgets, choosing and working with architects and designers, interviewing several multi-constituent user groups, and eventually making dozens of micro and macro design decisions. All the while, we had to struggle against the advocacy of individual faculty wanting to maintain the status quo of their classrooms and teaching styles.

Building Self-Knowledge — I had no background in learning space design, architecture, color pallets, furniture, or related topics. I quickly developed knowledge and confidence through immersion. But the most impactful growth came from workshops and discussions with experts – including an outstanding conference in Germany hosted for a small number of U.S. educators, architects, and designers. I realized that my backgrounds in teaching, school leadership, technology, and design thinking all came together – infused with my constant curiosity – to pave the way to new expert-level learning.

Principles of Design — We developed a succinct guide to all the common elements and rationales for various changes. For example, one of the nearly 50 elements was eliminating the front of the room, i.e., with flexible furniture. Coupled with a growth mindset, teachers began to see new possibilities that eventually freed them to change the physicality of their spaces. The guide became a critical component in helping our faculty (and parents) to see the broad rationality of change, all in the context together.

Recruiting and Training Cohort Partners — Pedagogy of Space Catalyst In Action Team (POSCAT) — It was critically important that our faculty not feel that space changes were simply imposed on them. We worked with cohorts of teachers, students, and parents early on in the design process. But we quickly realized that the implementation process was missing a critical serious faculty study component. Thus, we designed the POSCAT concept: teacher practitioners working together to test new products, provide critical feedback for future renovations, and more serious study together to develop an aspirational Pedagogy of Space. This became embedded within our strategic plan.

Becoming a Market Leader & Telling Our Story — Early on, we recognized that our process and the work product greatly interested other educators throughout the country. We codified this into the developing strategic plan: to present nationally and become a market leader in the pedagogy of space. Subsequently, I’ve led or co-led multiple extended sessions at the national conferences of NAIS and ATLIS and hosted SparkPlaces, a 2-day immersive salon experience for school leaders from around the country. We have also hosted dozens of visitors from around the world who traveled to our school to learn about our program.

The Context for Prospective Schools — I’ve purposefully chosen a non-tech-related initiative to demonstrate personal agility. As I contemplate a potential professional shift, the greater challenges will lie outside the technology-specific implementation and more directly on crafting new strategic visions to transform how technology is fully integrated throughout the curriculum. I have implemented several 1:1 device programs and multiple BYOD transitions. I have led many tech-centered professional development programs and created tech-oriented workshops and conferences for tech and non-tech leaders. I’ve managed the transformation of traditional computer labs to full-fledged maker spaces and studios to foster design thinking. The greater challenge facing schools of the future is to work with a growing variety of non-tech professionals to infuse developmentally appropriate technology use throughout the curriculum and, in the process, help to grow the school’s reputation as a trendsetter in independent school education.