How can Flexibility Support Innovative Pandemic Responses in Classrooms?

The school is located in a lower-income community that had long been underserved by the city and school district facilities. Parents, students, and educators, however, had high expectations and standards for student learning. The school is organized into separate wings of major activity and academic spaces, joined together by a central, open library. The classrooms are clustered into three learning neighbourhoods, each with nine classrooms and two smaller group collaboration rooms and a central open learning area (OLA). This versatile space is designed for a variety of uses, including hands-on makerspace activities, large gatherings and presentations. Both individuals and groups can learn and explore subjects as diverse as art, science, and technology, as well as basic learning skills.

One wall of each classroom is connected to these central OLAs by way of a folding glass NanaWall®. When closed, its glass surface provides transparency for the teacher to feel comfortable supervising students who venture outside of the classroom. This supports a co-teaching model, wherein teachers in adjacent classrooms can see each other and coordinate activities between their rooms. This also allows students to be inspired by what other classes are doing, and teachers have attested that this level of interaction has not made distraction a problem. The glass wall also provides suitable surfaces for displaying instructional material and inspiring posters while maintaining some transparency.

The increased visibility supports safety, with adult eyes able to monitor, and be seen monitoring, the central space, as well as anyone who enters this protected zone. During lockdown situations, this space can be easily isolated and a fabric curtain can be quickly drawn across the folding glass wall. This semi-intimate and controllable engagement supports a sense of community among the students, with their combined population well within the minimum physical distance allowed. When the glass panels are opened, the lines between classroom and open learning area all but disappear.

It was into this engaging environment that students moved in September 2019, only to have to move out when school was closed a few months later. In September 2020, several teachers utilized the flexibility of the space to create an innovative social distancing solution to protect students. First, the folding glass walls were opened and the classrooms expanded approximately four feet into the OLAs. Second, all but the most essential furniture was removed from the classrooms, enabling the OLAs to retain their function as flexible adjuncts to the classrooms.

These changes support student exploration and collaboration, and enable students to display their work in a semi-public realm that is within sight of the classroom as well as common circulation areas. Finally, movable cubbies and shelves placed on casters were used to separate the circulation routes between the OLAs and the expanded classrooms. This has allowed classrooms to re-open safely, with students spaced safely six feet apart within their expanded classrooms.