I recently polled on Instagram asking students at Lakeville South what their favorite classrooms are. Although I got limited answers, the top two most selected classrooms were Mr. Woollen’s and Ms. Hedin’s room. I went to each classroom and asked questions related to their rooms to gauge how they were set up and what things they had in the room.
First, I ventured to Mr. Woollen’s room in C307 to find out more. What students like about his room is his cool music decor, and how his room is both colorful and entertaining to look at. One student in particular liked how he puts up past art to remember his previous students. I asked him what he thinks is unique about his room and he gave an insight into the art from past students. He said that he “tries to put things up that people have done over the years that are remarkable.” If you were to visit his room, you would see that scattered across the white walls are postcards with many art pieces on them. Woollen said that when he traveled to different places, like Mexico, Europe, and America, he would collect postcards from the museums he visited to remember each place. His room has lots of pieces of art and random items scattered throughout, and when asked if he designed the room in any particular way he said that it was “haphazard” and “not an organized arrangement.” He told me that he likes to have lots of stuff on the walls for students to escape into the art using their imagination if they are bored with what he is teaching. Contrary to what people would believe, his favorite part of his room is not all of his mementos on the wall – it is his books. All of the books he has in his room, mostly on the bookshelf, are things he has read. He said that he “uses the books in some instructional way” because teaching is “about incorporating information beyond the textbook.” Overall, his room shows his interests in (mainly) art history, but also some aspects of psychology and the music of social justice.
Next, I went down to C209 to visit Hedin’s room. Students like how her room is welcoming, entertaining to look at, and how they can tell that she likes to teach her subjects based on her decor around the room. When you look at Hedin’s walls, there’s a mix of “inspirational posters and things that students have made for [her] over the years.” She has plaques that line the window sill with sayings that “promote kindness, self-love, and joy.” There are buttons and gadgets scattered throughout her room which add to the “fun and weirdness” of her room, which she says creates a good break between “just going to classes and listening to teachers talk!” Every day she turns on and off an OPEN sign, she has a disco ball, a paper chain that counts down the remaining days of school, and lots of other things. All of these pleasant things contribute to why students love her room. She also told me that she did not have a specific way of designing her room, but that it was more of an attempt to create a welcoming and “homey” environment for her and her students. She believes that people like her room because she promotes the idea that she cares about her students – outside of their in-class success. Her favorite part of her room is the items, posters, and thank-you cards she collects from her students.
Both Mr. Woollen and Ms. Hedin have made efforts to make their classrooms as welcoming and as fun as possible. They have both created safe spaces for students to come to, not only in class, but also as hangout spaces. The rooms are spaces that break up the boredom of learning every day to create a positive learning environment. Make sure to take some time to stop by either of these teachers’ rooms to check out all of their decor!
