If you had walked into my classroom five years ago, you would have seen cabinets and shelves stuffed to the brim, storage bins overflowing with materials, walls covered from top to bottom with posters and displays, artwork dangling from the ceiling, a teacher’s desk piled high with papers, various large worktables, and twenty-four desks and chairs. All this in a very small classroom left little room for moving about.

Then I attended a workshop one spring and did a simple exercise that really hit home with me. In this exercise, known as the "shopping exercise," you think of a store you dislike shopping in and list all the elements that make it frustrating and unpleasant. Then you think of a store you like to shop in and list all the elements that make it pleasing.

As you might guess, most participants liked stores that were spacious, uncluttered, and well organized, stores that gave them a feeling of freedom, ease, and calm. They disliked stores that were messy, hard to maneuver in, and packed with "stuff," stores that felt restrictive or chaotic.

The next step was to apply this thinking to our classrooms. What are the behaviors you want to encourage in the classroom? What are the behaviors you hope to discourage? How does the physical environment affect students’ behavior? How does it affect their learning?

After doing this exercise, it became obvious to me that the physical environment in my classroom was not conducive to learning. There was way too much "stuff" in my classroom, making it hard for students to move around, find materials, or focus on their work. It was confusing and confining and probably made students feel tense and overwhelmed rather than calm and engaged. I knew I needed to make a change.

Out with the old, in with the new

Equipped with a better understanding of the connection between the physical environment and learning, I returned to my classroom and took a good hard look around. It instantly became clear to me what needed to be done.

I began by taking down the displays I had plastered all over the walls since the beginning of the year: the acrostic on grandparents from September, the word web about spiders from October, the "gummy bear" graph from November, the Venn diagram from a book we read in December, and the list could go on and on. While my intention was to celebrate students’ efforts and accomplishments, there were so many displays on the walls that most of them just faded into the background and became part of the clutter.

As soon as I took down the old displays—leaving just those that were related to current studies—I immediately noticed a difference. The room felt less cluttered and students paid more attention to the displays that were left.

Opening it up

Encouraged, I began making more changes, determined to get the most from the limited space I had. I swapped various large tables in the room for smaller ones and did away with some of the tables altogether. I arranged the children’s desks in clusters and left an area in the front of the room large enough for a meeting circle.

I reorganized materials to make better use of the storage space I had and more clearly separated materials that were available to students from materials that were off limits. In a large bookcase bolted to the wall, for instance, I designated the lower shelves for the children’s library (see photo, far left) and the top shelves for my books and materials. Covering the top shelves with colorful fabric made the reading area attractive while keeping my materials out of sight. Gradually, the room began to open up.

Getting rid of my desk

As each new school year began, I looked for ways to improve on the changes I had made the previous year. The year I decided to get rid of my teacher’s desk was a defining moment for me. When you really think about it, what primary school teacher ever sits at his or her desk during the school day? Most of us spend our days interacting with students, standing near their desks or sitting on the floor, and our desks just become a place to stack papers.

I always asked students to keep their desks clean and orderly, yet mine was anything but, not to mention how much space it consumed. I don’t miss having a teacher’s desk. I still have a place for my paperwork, but it’s now located on top of a shelf and is organized using various filing baskets.

The difference is amazing

The changes I’ve made are considered "drastic" by friends and colleagues who know me well—a pack rat who likes to save everything! For those looking to make a change, my advice is to take a good look around and see if you can live without that desk or table or rolling cart or bookshelf. It’s likely that the extra space opened up will be well worth any inconvenience.

Several years ago, a parent volunteer from the previous year stopped by my classroom in the fall. She took one look around and said, "Wow, what did you do in here? This room looks so much bigger than last year. The difference is amazing!" I just nodded my head and smiled.

From Morning Meeting to small group instruction, from activity time to quiet time, the changes in the physical environment have made a significant difference in the classroom. Transitions are smoother because there is more room to move around, clean up is improved because materials are more clearly labeled and organized, and there is ample space in the various work areas for students to spread out. The physical environment is now roomy and uncluttered, welcoming and engaging. It is one in which our best learning can take place.

To learn more about setting up the physical classroom, see Classroom Spaces That Work.

Gayle Robert is a first grade teacher at New Sarpy Elementary in Destrehan, Louisiana, a school near New Orleans with 460 children, grades first through third. Gayle has a BA in Elementary Education from Nicholls State University and is currently in her twenty-second year of teaching. She has been using the Responsive Classroom approach in her classroom for five years. "This approach to teaching has made a big impact on my career," says Gayle. "It’s helped me to create an atmosphere where students are challenged academically while learning the life skills necessary to become successful, productive citizens." Gayle is a consulting teacher certified in the Responsive Classroom approach. She offers training in her district and through Northeast Foundation for Children.