Recently, Chad and I ran three days of professional development at United World College Maastricht.

Every session had a different focus: we wanted to provoke different types of thinking; we wanted people to collaborate (or not) differently; we wanted people to experience different emotions and sensations; we wanted people to move (or not) in different ways.

Over the course of three days, we must have changed the physical set-up of the space more than 10 times. We moved, changed, found, borrowed, adapted and replaced furniture, lighting, display boards, music, scents and resources over and over again to try and achieve the desired effect.

This is not something we just do for teachers. It has become a natural part of our pedagogy. If we want students to think, feel or act in a particular way – which we always do – then we take the time to set up for that. We don’t just assume it will happen and then get all disappointed (or, worse still, blame students) when it doesn’t happen.

So:

• when we want students to focus on one thing, we set up a space in which all other distractions are removed
• when we want students to be calm, we set up a calm atmosphere with lighting and music
• when we want students to create, we set up a studio space that promotes creativity
• when we want students to collaborate, we set up furniture that encourages togetherness
• when we want students to be able to access materials easily, we set up so that everything is accessible quickly and easily
• when we want students to…

I could go on… but I think you’re getting the point! The only time we don’t set things up for students is when we want them to set things up for themselves, when that is the focus of the learning. But, come to think of it, that involves some setting up too!

The scary thing about setting up for learning is that there are many educators out there who don’t do it, who don’t see the purpose or the power of it, who don’t take the time to ensure that their students are thinking, feeling or acting in a way that maximises their potential in each learning situation. Then, when their students are fidgety, when their students misbehave, when their students don’t produce what they’re capable of, when their students’ thinking doesn’t go as deep as it could, when their students make thoughtless choices, when their students struggle to find the materials they need, when their students become irritable… they point the finger at their students, not the fact that they didn’t spend 30 minutes setting up.

Think of the classroom, or learning space, as a series of dinner parties. Take the time to create environments and atmospheres according to the purpose.

It works.