Classrooms as Studios

David Warlick through Richard Florida has hit upon the idea of classroom as studio.

While not a new idea, it has the potential to be much more important now then in the past. In these times where we want kids to be self - directed / self - driven learners who develop a creative sense of scholarship, the classroom as studio has great potential. Studios are busy places where activity hums. Studios are places of study, of thought, of creation and creativity. Studios are places where teams of people act together to create something of high - quality. Studios throughout history have been homes for artists, creators, scientists, architects and engineers. Studios are comfortable places with flexible furniture arrangements where people work though projects. Projects are brainstormed, created, evaluated, torn apart, and re - created in ways that are better.

Studios often don't run on the clock. Studios ebb and flow with a rhythm of their own. People often work intensively for long periods of time and then break before returning to what they were working on before. As I begin working this week much more intensively on podcasting and vlogging with the kids in my class, the classroom as studio has a lot going for it. It is an intense, team - oriented,  creative space where people are driven to create high - quality products. Studios are focused areas, and unfortunately in the case of the classroom, they may be too much so. In our splintered systems where kids need to "cover" hundreds of outcomes in a single school year, the studio may provide too much depth and not enough breadth to make legislators happy. Make no mistake about it, kids can focus and be creative for long periods of time if they are working on issues they are concerned with and about.

I've always liked to think of the idea of my classroom as a studio. A place where kids are comfortable, hard - working, involved, and organized. It bears more thought.

 

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Comments

[marcopolo47]

the classroom as studio has great potential. In other words, where people are engaged in doing something meaningful. It's about the people and what they are doing; not the "studio" or "projects". When the focus is in the right place - the people - then a lot of other things fall into place.

[Jeremy]

Love this post...it sounds to me like you're doing fantastic work in a system that isn't really built for fantastic work.