Interior design

When I saw that we were going to be working on looking at the design of houses and structures, both interior and exterior I was so excited. I always wanted to be an interior designer, but chose to go the teaching route instead. As I have been reading the articles, Susanka does a great job for setting up what it entails to make a "house a home". When I think of this mentality in the classroom, I think of how to make my lessons matter to my kids and be meaningful to them. For example, we have to think about differentiation for each child and examine how to make the experiences compelling for each child. Every house is different, and as Susanka says, "the ways things are arranged give it an identity all it's own". I think this is true for our classrooms and lessons as well. You can teach a lesson one way, but you may need to teach the same lesson concept to a different child who benefits better from a different approach. Just as interior designers and architects are trying to design buildings and rooms that are appealing and interesting to the eye, they have to change it based on the audience. I doubt you will go into a farm town with one country store, and try to build a brand new modern home. It wouldn't work that way. However, you could build a new home and try to make it "fit in" with the neighborhood, as Susanka said she had to do for a new home that was being built in an old neighborhood. This same concept needs to be taken into the classroom. Every child has a different "eye" and a different way for learning. Part of designing compelling experiences for them is figuring out what makes each student tick and using this to guide instruction and allow them to be successful. I think this is a great concept to live by! It may seem like a lot of work, but there will be less "remodeling" if you take the time to get to know your audience and how to reach them academically so that they don't need to be retaught information because the way that you taught wasn't for them. They would pass on that house and you would end up showing them many more.