We arrive at school around 7 a.m. and quickly start a fire in the woodburning stove to warm the room before students arrive. Though this sounds like the classroom of a century ago, we're describing the school we teach in right now.
Lowman Elementary is 1 of 19 one-room schools in Idaho. It is located in the central mountains, northeast of the capital city of Boise. The area has a population of about 150, and most students' parents are employed by the U.S. Forest Service.
We have 18 students this year, from kindergarten to grade 6. To account for their various learning strengths, disabilities, and differences, we use the learning styles model developed by Rita Dunn and Ken Dunn.
We have redesigned our 19 × 30 ft. space, bringing in individual desk lamps, room dividers, milk crates, bean bag chairs, a couch, and tables. Students who work best in bright light are encouraged to sit near a desk lamp. Students who prefer a warm area are encouraged to sit by the wood stove or wear a sweater. Those who need sound are given headsets and audiocassette tapes that play wordless music. Students who need quiet wear ear plugs or earphones with no music.
We found an astounding change in the work of one student whose inventory indicated that he preferred to work alone, liked it warm, would rather have natural light, and wanted a formal design (desk and chair). He found a place located by the windows and the wood stove, and he made it private by hanging a large piece of cardboard from the ceiling. With the cardboard on his right, the wall and windows in front of him, and the wood stove on his left, he isolated himself enough so he wasn't distracted. Now he completes work on time, disrupts the class less, and earns higher grades.
Furthermore, we started to allow the children to eat or drink nutritional snacks whenever they wanted (vegetables, fruit, crackers, juice). Of course, everyone was eating in the beginning, but that tapered off after about three weeks. Now, only those who need the food eat.
While changes in the learning environment were easiest to implement, it is much more difficult to plan and prepare for students' perceptual strengths and the time of day when each child learns the best. Designing tactual and kinesthetic materials and lessons takes time, but with parents and students we are developing a library of lesson plans and activities. We allow children to take tests during their best learning time (for example, scheduling the Iowa Test of Basic Skills at different times for different students). We also allow children to eat, sit on a couch or bean bag chair, or sit by the stove as they take a test—whatever works best for them.
Our students seem to enjoy our approach. When asked to write new spelling words for the first time, Mary, a 4th grader, said she was a tactual learner and wanted to use string to shape the letters before she used paper and pencil. Ken always sat at a desk to do his work, and one day we asked him to sit on the couch because we needed the chairs and desks for another activity. He answered us, “But I can't do my best work when I sit on the couch.”
Of course, all of our work is a waste if there is no improvement in students' work or grades. We have found that our students have had an average gain of 1.4 years on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. All students achieved gains of a year or more on their composite score. While our little red schoolhouse may look like a school of 100 years ago outside, we believe it shows the way to the future inside.
