Bring In The Noise!

"Is everything quiet?"

While reading Ayers' "To Teach: the Journey of a Teacher," I honed in on this question. Superintendents ask the principals, the principals ask the teachers, the teachers ask the children, "Is everything quiet?" (64). It caused me to go back, far back, through my educational experience, back through high school and middle school and elementary school, even back into preschool and after-school care. My most profound learning experiences have never been quiet. They’ve been filled with nose, with splendor, and with clangor: test tubes banging against each other, loud chattering about The Indian in the Cupboard, screaming in joy through the playground with wildflower-induced rashes all over my hands.

Why does there have to be quiet? I have seen teachers lecture on the properties of the periodic table while table clusters chat with each other, pens still jotting down notes and students still look up toward the SmartBoard to see what she was writing down. But I’ve also experienced those quiet, dour rooms, where the teacher shushes students any time they make a noise, command for stillness, and leave their students looking downcast throughout their lessons. It may be seen as the latter case is the optimal way for a teacher to perform their lesson plans, but it may not be the optimal way for a student to learn.

So, I say bring in the noise! Bring in the funk!

Beyond the topic of noise, there was so much about what Ayers talked about in chapter three that really spoke to me. As part of an exhibit, I’m developing a presentation about what is my ideal classroom--what is the space like, what is the emotional environment like, what are some of the visual features that will make it feel right. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted my exhibit to look like, what details did I want to offer, but as I read through Ayers, I was struck with a million different ideas, and I feel as though our class on Wednesday will only further bring those ideas into reality. I want to share with people why I think the traditional classroom doesn’t work, why there isn’t a need for the teacher’s desk to be a heavy, stalwart piece of furniture at the front of the room, that students’ desks do not need to be lined up in rows, or that there even needs to be the classic four-desk clusters. There are ways to build a classroom where learning happens regardless of the seating configuration. I want bean bag chairs and lap desks, and reading nooks and makerspaces. I can only imagine asking for all of my desks in my classroom to be stored somewhere else because I have other thoughts in mind. I’m going to be one strange first year teacher...