The design of a classroom space can make a big difference in student behavior and learning. The use of color, sound, light, furniture arrangements and more can help foster community and culture and promote understanding. Dillon discusses some easy ways to transform the classroom space that can help with classroom management.

At a Monday evening monthly meeting of school administrators, discussion ensued about how to improve the administrators' schools. Ideas such as increasing student achievement, energizing teachers, and engaging parents were offered. One principal suggested focus should be turned to the students' restrooms, "because lots of problems emerge…

When U.S. educators first hear that Japanese teacher preparation programs require only four weeks of formal student teaching at the end of the credential program, they're appalled: How can this be? More surprising still, few new teachers in Japan (1.35 percent) leave the profession during their first year. So where are these beginning teachers…

The library at George C. Marshall High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, needed an update to better meet the needs of 21st century students. A major renovation was in the works, but head librarian Graboyes wanted to do something to make the library useful and appealing for current students. With careful budgeting and donations of time and money,…

Many of our greatest joys in life are related to our learning, but, unfortunately, most of that learning takes place outside of school. Educators can put more joy into the experience of going to school and get more joy out of working inside school by focusing on several essentials. Help students find pleasure in learning by giving them the freedom…

The organization of space profoundly affects learning. Students feel better connected to a building that anticipates their needs and respects them as individuals. Built in 1971, Crow Island School, in Winnetka, Illinois, is a prize-winning facility that has provided generations of children with windowed classrooms, skylights, adjacent workrooms,…

A fourth-grade teacher describes educational uses of a loft he constructed in his classroom. After drafting a constitution, the children brainstormed possible uses as reading/writing nook, small-group work area, and time-out space. The loft also serves as a minilibrary, private conference room, test makeup room, and staging area. (MLH)

The Center for the Analysis of Commercialism in Schools found that the number of press citations from 1990 to 2000 discussing seven types of commercializing activities (program sponsorship, exclusive agreements, incentive programs, appropriation of space, sponsored educational materials, electronic marketing, privatization, and fund raising)…

The two students who won commercial sponsorship for their college education embody entrepreneurialism's darker side-the growing commercialism of schools and conscious targeting of students as lifelong consumers. This update discusses developments in program, activity, and materials sponsorships; exclusive agreements; electronic marketing;…

Reflecting new visions of learning, educators and architects are creating "three-dimensional textbooks" that use the learning environment as a teaching tool. In a planning process called architectural programing, the community and those who will occupy the building are consulted concerning developmental needs, aesthetic preferences, and…

The most valued means of support and learning cited by new teachers at Poland Regional High School in rural Maine are the collegial interactions that common workspace, common planning time, and common tasks make possible. The school has used these everyday structures to enable new and veteran teachers to converse about curricular and pedagogical…

Orem (Utah) High School is a suburban, predominantly white high school that consciously strives to create a welcoming atmosphere, where students are treated with respect, programs are varied and innovative, and fun and participative decision making are highly valued. The school's participation in the National Network for Educational Renewal has…

School buildings ideally would have few exterior access points, no isolated hallways, and sunlit classrooms. A safety checklist recommends locating offices near main doors, monitoring hallway traffic, enhancing communications, updating crisis-management plans, teaching coping skills, standardizing dismissal policies, and ensuring legal compliance…