Collaborative space engages Wheaton calculus students

Every student is standing up in Cindy Budzikowski and Kyle Eller's AP Calculus class, each armed with a dry-erase marker.

They start writing complicated formulas on the whiteboards, plastic sheets and a SMART Board that cover all four walls in the Wheaton Warrenville South High School classroom.

Not one inch of space is wasted. There's even a group standing around a window, drawing on the glass.

"When they're all standing, my favorite part is I can stand in the middle of the room and look around and you get all those different errors that kids make, the good, the bad," Budzikowski said. "You can have discussion. It's super easy because it's there, it's in front of everybody."

The unique setup is one that Budzikowski proposed to Principal Dave Claypool about three years ago. She was hoping to get her room equipped with light and mobile collaborative desks, tall standing desks and whiteboard - lots of whiteboard.

"It's really important, I feel like, to get the kids up and moving," she said. "The cool thing about the boards all over the room is that you'll see when they're having a conversation and they have this 'ah-ha!' moment, you'll see them go over to a board next to them and they'll start sketching something. You'll see them now become teachers to the rest of the group, just naturally."

With the help of funds from Target, Budzikowski got her wish. She says the changes she has seen since then are "amazing."

The new desks are small, with an almost heart-shaped writing area. The chairs rest on wheels. Everything is easy to lift and turn, and the furniture can quickly be pushed together into groups of two, three or four.

"I know it seems like it's a little thing, but just being able to have (a classmate) right there and being able to point (to something on the desk) without having to shift your whole body, it makes a difference," Budzikowski said. "You can put your hands underneath and just turn your chair and you set it down."

The setup, she said, results in students vocalizing their questions to each other instead of keeping them in their head.

"Getting the room set up where you can collaborate comfortably and move in and out of different collaboration setups comfortably is key," Budzikowski said. "Teachers are trying to do it with other furniture. It's doable, but it's just not as smooth and natural and the kids aren't as close."

Standing desks at the back of the room are "really great for kids who are sitting all day," Budzikowski added. A swing bar on the bottom of the desk gives students a place to rest their foot and swing it back and forth

"They have that energy that they need to get out, and they can still focus, but still have part of their body moving," she said.

All the updated furniture and the arrangement of the room can cause "a little bit of chaos," especially when the class fills up with as many as 36 students, but Budzikowski believes "as long as its organized chatter, it's a good thing."

"It promotes more student engagement, which is where we're going," she said. "We're trying to get them to do more work than us and it allows you to do that a lot easier."