Santa Maria High School’s new classroom building will potentially reap the benefits of the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District’s recent attempts to test out the classrooms of the future. Moveable whiteboard walls, mounted big screen televisions with the capacity to display from the teacher’s tablet, desks and bright-colored chairs that are separate and easy to form into different arrangements, and lots of things on wheels is what could make up the district’s future classrooms.
At least that’s what was on display for students, staff, and community members to check out on Feb. 25 in one of Ernest Righetti High School’s classrooms. The furniture was demonstrated by a company called HON, and it was one of four different companies that brought new furniture to the school over the past two months.
“It’s experimental,” district spokesperson Kenny Klein said, pointing to a tablet sitting on top of a rolling podium. “It’s all about the technology; look at the tablet—everything’s going to be displayed.”
Klein said the district wants to revitalize classrooms and change the way things look and feel, because although technology continues to evolve, the actual classroom isn’t evolving. Students still sit at L-shaped desks in rows, just as they have for as long as anyone can remember.
Teacher Jenn Sportsman got to check out all four demos, and said her favorite was the first one, from a company called V/S, because you could move the desks and chairs around into different configurations with ease. Meanwhile, on Feb. 25, the kids were rolling around the classroom on neon green, dark blue, and teal chairs.
“We want to let them move around a little bit because studies show that … they’re more productive,” Sportsman said, adding that new teaching philosophies call for two minutes of processing time for every 10 minutes of teaching. “I wouldn’t mind allowing them to process for two minutes and think or talk and move around.”
Future classrooms would enable groups of students to be working on several different assignments in the same class, as well as be beneficial to students with varied needs, Sportsman said.
Sophomore Alyssa Hernandez liked the rolling chairs that HON brought in, but the furniture she liked best was from KI, which demoed several styles of furniture.
“There were cushion chairs that would be awesome for English,” Hernandez said. “They still had the desk attached to them, but I felt like I could see myself in Socratic seminar.”
Principal Karen Rotondi said KI’s demo was a favorite among students.
“The kids are loving the college feel, and they love the rollers,” she said.
Junior Jacob Norlind said that his year of students probably wouldn’t see the benefits of the experiment, but added that he thinks it’s a good idea.“Maybe we would rise to the occasion if they got better stuff for us.”
Fellow junior Kyler Corral said the current desks at the school are tiny and confining, hard to move in and out of, while junior Shanelle McCallie said, “When we grow up, this [technology] is going to be everywhere, so we need to be trained. … It’s not your conventional classroom, and it’s better for everyone.”
District spokesperson Klein said that while the future classroom’s needs weren’t configured into the original construction plans for the new building at Santa Maria High, things like whiteboard walls and the ability to mount televisions are something the district is working with the contractor to try and incorporate. He said the district isn’t sure yet what it’ll be able to accomplish.
This article appears in Mar 5-12, 2015.
