Strategic Classroom Design: Creating an Environment for Flexible Learning

Imagine each aspect of your classroom environment fine-tuned to meet the needs of your students. In Strategic Classroom Design, Jessica Martin explains how to get started.

This book explores how carefully designed classrooms lead to greater engagement and learning.

• Classroom setups that cultivate curiosity, belonging, and academic growth
• Design elements that make the greatest impact on teaching and learning
• Routines that help students move, transition, and interact in ways that maximize learning and minimize distraction
• Budget-friendly ideas for reorganizing your classroom

Photographs from a range of classroom environments are used to examine the different design choices teachers make. You’ll also find sample lessons detailing how to introduce your students to different areas in your classroom, a look at challenges many teachers face in a series of if/then questions throughout the book, and a photo-essay of one teacher’s journey with strategic classroom design.

Jessica reminds us, “The attention you give to the layout of your classroom provides everyone with a greater sense of belonging and more opportunities to become an engaged, focused, and collaborative community of learners.”

Jessica Martin (@growingjessica, @groweducators) is a former classroom teacher, a former resident advisor at UCLA’s Teacher Education Program Center X, and a former staff developer at Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University. Jessica now leads a small consulting team that partners with K-12 schools in English Language Arts (ELA), Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) math, and inquiry-based content-area instruction. She is grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with educators and learning communities committed to co-creating incredible spaces, amplifying student voices, and implementing equitable learning opportunities for all learners. When she is not in schools, you can usually find her with her family on a basketball court shooting hoops.