Middle school model RR: the space

As I’d hoped, the Inglenook demonstrated that my students found at least some of the general dynamics of a model railroad to be engaging. Anticipating that that might be the case I had given some thought to how it might be extended, and one strategy I considered was to simply keep building additional modules, starting with a laddered yard to feed and receive new consists (I didn’t end up following that strategy). Working out where to locate a growing set of modules led to a careful consideration of the “givens” imposed by my particular space: an active middle school math classroom.

Our building was built in the 1920’s as an elder care facility and was converted to school use a few years ago. My room is at the end of a wing and has windows on three sides and includes the original west-facing solarium. It’s wonderfully light and airy, but has three very inconvenient columns that obstruct sightlines so that there are very few arrangements of students that give everyone a good view of any one wall, so it’s hard to use teaching aids like blackboards, whiteboards and projector screens effectively. Here’s a sketch showing the general arrangement of the room:

I usually find it best to use tables facing and clustered close to the north wall, where a whiteboard and my roll-up projector screen are easy to see. But since my class sizes are fairly small, 16 to 20 students, they usually only occupy three or four of the eight square “bays” formed by the columns and walls, so I have a fair amount of extra space. Other than that long blackboard wall, I’ve got big windows all along the perimeter.

With students coming and going all the time the area near the entrance is always pretty congested. Students use the floor along the south wall to drop their backpacks when they don’t need them in classes. The emergency exit is rarely opened, but access to it is essential.

Although the room is assigned to me, there are many school functions that need space so I also have to consider the reality of a constant flow of meetings, evening adult classes, and other special events that need minimal restrictions. The most significant of these is the use of my room during the summer by a special day camp program. It has to be completely emptied out at the end of every school year – bare walls.

And, even though it’s “my room” it’s not my room. I don’t want to leave any scars.

The other given is that, heck, I need to teach these kids some math. Whether they can learn effectively through a model railroad experience or not, at the end of the day they need to move forward in their proficiencies and understandings of a rather densely prescribed academic discipline. I see them in groups for less than an hour a day, maybe an hour per week more if they take any elective options I offer. And they have a raft of other classes, homework, after school sports, families, Twitter, etc. to deal with.

That’s pretty much it for givens. How about druthers?

Jeff