Essentials Magazine Essentials Fall 2018 | Page 37

Wellness Space
I
n a typical day, students
switch tasks every 3 minutes,
get interrupted every 11 min-
utes and take 23 minutes to get
back on task, according to re-
search by Steelcase Education.
With those statistics, we cannot
ignore the need for classroom
learning space to reflect the
demands of our Generation Z
students. The students entering
our classrooms today should
expect a highly collaborative
learning environment where
creativity is encouraged, and
their social, emotional well-be-
ing is recognized as a necessary
component before any possi-
bility of student outcomes are
achieved. The wellbeing of any
student should be our priority.
When individual student desks
continue to be the norm and class-
rooms look the same as they did 20
years ago, we have done a disservice
to our students and taken away their
ability to have choice in how they
learn best. Research commissioned
by the New Zealand Ministry of
Education on the impact of physical
design on student outcomes supports
the idea that space is as important as
the learning taking place. “It sug-
gests that the learning space must
be explicitly considered as part of
planning and delivery to leverage the
full potential of its impact on student
outcomes,” writes report author Dr.
Gabrielle Wall. Inadequate learning
spaces can have an adverse impact
on student engagement and achieve-
ment. The two should always be
mutually exclusive, especially as many
school/ districts further transform
their educational institutions into one
that fosters blended and personalized
learning.
As learning spaces continue to
transform, so too does the focus
on the whole child and their social
emotional needs. All too often, we
have seen much attention given to
learning spaces that directly impact
academics and little to those spac-
es that would directly affect their
social means. We must shift our
thinking and challenge the status
quo. Through the case study below,
you will see how one school tran-
sitioned away from the traditional
counseling office.
During the 2017-2018 school
year, the Lindbergh School District,
a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri was
in its 5th year of seeing significant
increases in enrollment. Long Ele-
mentary, 1 of 5 at the time, had a to-
tal enrollment of over 670 students.
A growth of 200 students in 5 years.
In a building that could adequately
accommodate 550 students, every
available space was being utilized,
including custodial closets and stair-
wells. That August, a relief valve
came, and a new elementary school
opened that August.
When the new elementary
opened, Long immediately lost
almost 200 students to redistrict-
ing. This provided them a unique
opportunity to not only redefine
who they were as a school commu-
nity, but also many of the spaces
they had previously lost to stu-
dent growth. This was not without
challenge. There were significant
budget constraints which meant
outside funding sources would have
to be found to assist with any major
redesign. As luck would have it, a
grant opportunity presented itself
and in May of 2017, Long Elemen-
tary and their school counselor, Kim
Maddock, became the recipient of
a $5,000 ITEF grant. ITEF is the
Innovation Technology Education
Fund, a St. Louis foundation that
empowers educators to embrace
innovative learning projects and
use technology in creative ways that
promote excellence in education.
Traditionally, school counselors
have a small room located near the
main office. In this traditional space,
because of the size, only a small
group of students could meet at best.
With an increase of students with
significant social emotional needs
and a desire to have a greater impact
on students, a plan was developed
that required moving to what had
always been a grade level classroom.
Maddock needed and wanted a space
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