Be True To Your School

Hello my fancy friends and thank you so much for tuning in! I’ve missed you and I hope you’ve been surviving and thriving through the end of the summer. As we transition into autumn, so many things change. For many of us, this time of year has and always will be linked to the phenomenon of going back-to-school. Whether you’re in school yourself, a teacher, or taking care of little students; when school is in session, everyone can sense a shift from the dog days of summer. 

The start of a new school year can have a lot of energy and emotions - excitement, nervousness, anticipation, and anxiety. And understandably so because as learners, we spend huge percentages of our lives in a classroom or some type of learning environment. To say that the way we learn and how subjects are taught has changed a lot over the past fifty, ten, and especially the last two years is really just the tip of the iceberg.  So today, we are going to look at how to create a learning space that promotes ease of understanding, allows for maximum attention span, prevents fatigue, and overall improves our educational JOY - all through the magic of interior design. This is important if you are setting up your own learning environment at home, if you’re a teacher adjusting your classroom, a home schooler, or even a student touring prospective campuses. Even if you take an online course over the weekend and you’re trying to decide where to sit in your home - this episode is for you. We are going to cover the basics and beyond, and it doesn’t require buying anything. Class is in session and today’s lesson is all about the art of learning environments.

But first, let’s talk about the Color of The Week. Summer is ending, but our flower celebration marches on, as we look at my favorite wild end-of-summer bloom, Goldenrod. This species is native to most places in North America and enriches the soil around it, making other plants blossom even more beautifully. You can spot it by looking for tall, leafy stalks with many stands of fluffy, feathery, tiny yellow flower clusters. This plant has been used in folk medicine to treat all kinds of inflammation. For interior design fans, we can look to Pantone color 14-0951 TCX Goldenrod for a deep, burnt yellow hue. Goldenrod is one of those magic, super bright and saturated colors that can work as a neutral if you pair it with the right palette. Look at adding super dark green, navy blue, deep teal, rust, gray, and even black to create a rich look that feels like an earthy variation on jewel tones. Avoid pairing this punchy color with pure white, as it creates a stark, stuffy, corporate vibe, unless that’s what you’re going for. Goldenrod will reflect on the surfaces around it, giving everything a warm, sunset style glow, so it’s great for rooms where you might be on camera often, like your home office or your home learning corner. With that, let’s talk more about creating the perfect space for learning and teaching.

The most important thing in any class room, lecture hall, lab, studio, or learning annex, is comfort. Being comfortable allows us to pay better attention to the instructor and absorb more information as we listen. Of course, comfort, doesn’t necessarily mean getting into silk pajamas with a mug of chamomile tea. How we define comfort in the classroom is through acoustics, temperature, posture, lighting, flexibility, and views. We’re going to go through each one of these and talk about how to calibrate your space for maximum results.

So, let’s start with acoustics. There's nothing more frustrating than sitting down to listen to a lecture or participate in a group discussion and hearing a siren blaring across the street or someone in your house decides to randomly burst into song. When interior designers are creating classrooms from scratch, we pay close attention to how the walls are constructed – what's inside of them, what’s outside of them - to create an acoustically buffered space. There are so many outside elements that we can’t control when it comes to sound, but try to select a room or area that has good privacy. And if that isn’t available - another option is to use a pair of noise cancelling headphones if you are learning remotely. You can also think about adding objects to your space, especially if you have to speak in the class, that will prevent sound from bouncing around in the room. This could be as simple as some noise reducing curtains. You can pick those up at Pottery Barn - they have a specific density and weave to them that helps to deaden any echo. You can also consider the art that hangs on your walls as an opportunity to buffer sound. Etsy has a great selection of acoustic artwork, from fabric or felt panels that look like pieces of modern sculpture, to wood block textured grids that serve as acoustics diffusers. The closer you can hang these to where you sit, the better they will work. And of course, there’s the freebie option of sitting in or next to your closet - the hanging clothes happen to make amazing acoustic insulation. If you’re curious what that sounds like, I’m recording this in a closet as we speak, an old DIY podcast trick.

Next, we have to address temperature. Everyone’s temperature preferences are super personal, so have a clear understanding of what you need to feel comfortable. This could be as simple as having access to drinking water, a fan aimed at you - but far enough away to not affect acoustics, or having an extra layer of clothing around if you tend to get cold. That might even mean investing in fingerless gloves if you get icy hands, and they’ll make you look like hacker, which is a stylish plus. When interior designers are creating world class learning environments, they make sure that every classroom has options when it comes to temperature control, from operable windows to individual thermostats. You can create lo-fi temperature control options for yourself with accessories. I personally get so hot from about June to September, and I have a freezable face mask that I will wrap around the the back my neck actually when I’m working on super hot days, because even the with AC, I’m burning up. That’s much more of a personal care tip than an interior design thing, but the point is -  make the space work for you. If you are too hot or too cold, you won’t be able to to focus.

I will admit my posture is not amazing, especially when I’m focusing and concentrating intently on something. But luckily, there are so many great ways to support how we sit when we are learning. The way to find good ergonomic posture is to find a chair and table that allow your body to be seated in a series of 90 degree angles. So you knees should be at 90 degrees, meaning your thighs a perfectly horizontal, your shins are vertical. Your arms should rest on your keyboard or mouse with your elbows at 90 degrees, and your upper body should rest above your lower body at 90 degrees. How this is achieved will vary based on your height and body proportions, but so much of this is dependent on the chair you use. You want to look for a chair that has an adjustable seat - one that can go up and down. A chair that supports your lower back or lumbar and will allow you to sit back fully and still be sitting completely upright. 

For some people, having a chair with arms to support the elbows will be helpful. I tend to feel better when my arms are free, but that is personal preference. Other common modifications include having a small  foot rest on the floor if your legs are shorter. The goal is to have your feet flat on the floor, ankles at 90 degrees, even if that means bringing the floor up to you. Make sure you have enough space under your desk for your knees, and your screen should be about arms length away. Your shoulders should be relaxed. Now for some us, a better option is actually standing. If you have a high counter you can move your computer there, or you can invest in either an adjustable height desk accessory, where you put your computer and keyboard on to a mechanism that lifts up or down; or a fully adjustable height desk. If you don’t have space for a dedicated desk set up and you find yourself sitting on a cozy chair or sofa, try putting a thick pillow under your laptop or tablet to raise it closer to you. These ideas apply to an analog experiences as well, if you’re writing notes on a sheet of paper for examples.

Now this might sound like a lot of little things to pay attention to, but the whole point is that these adjustments help prevent body fatigue, which will distract you from the subject matter you’re trying to absorb. I remember the old stiff, metal and wood desks I sat in as a child in school. They didn’t feel particularly comfortable all of the time, but there were some things they were doing right. They usually had some kind of L shaped desk top that unfairly favored the right-handed, but this was intended to support the arm as we furiously wrote our notes. And there was always a silver cage looking shelf below each seat that could have stored books and supplies, but also served (whether intentionally or not) as a foot rest for the person behind you. That’s part of why sitting in the from row was less comfortable for us short folks.

I mentioned that some of you may find standing is the best posture for you, but another important factor to incorporate into any learning environment is flexibility and variety. No matter how expertly arranged your ergonomic set up is, what really makes it work is taking breaks and giving yourself a variety of places and ways to sit or perch while you are learning. We talk about this in the episode “Workin’ It From Home,” and what applies in the office environment applies for learning as well. Shifting between sitting, standing, and lounging postures will prevent body fatigue and help keep you interested and alert. So this may look like having three distinct places that you can use for your learning set up, or it can even be as simple as having a mobile desk with wheels that allows you to move to different places in your home. If you’re in a school environment, having a class that can be reconfigured allows the room to be set up for all kinds of activities, from traditional lecture style to pushing desks together for group discussions.

An added benefit of a flexible learning environment is that you can position yourself to have access to good natural light and views to the outside. Daylight, sunlight, or natural light; has been proven in multiple studies to improve cognitive function and lower stress. There are a few rooms in the school where I teach that don’t have any direct windows outside and those classes always have students that are more stressed out consistently. When I was a student, I had a few classes in rooms without windows. These classes were consistently less interesting, less engaging, and I learned less in them. Some rooms are set up that way intentionally because they are auditoriums or lecture halls. But I promise you, if you are touring a school and you see classrooms without windows, this is a big problem. It will affect your ability to stay comfortable and focus. Being able to see outside gives us a connection to the world and helps us feel grounded when we are being given lots of new information.

In fact, views outside are so important, you should take steps to double the ones you have. You can place a mirror directly across from there main window in your space. This will not only increase the surfaces in the room with views of nature, but it will also give you more options for layouts and desk placement that are close to these great views.  

If you’re access to the outside world is limited, either through a window with a not-so-awesome view or lack of windows altogether, the other tool in our kit is electric lighting. Make sure to have multiple light sources around you, from general overhead lighting to adjustable desk lamps. This will allow you to adjust and customize the level of light you have to work with in any daylight condition and any time of day.

That being said, you don’t necessarily want to have a desk set up directly next to a window either, because being too immersed in what’s going on outside can be a distraction. We want proximity to the outside world, not to necessarily be in it. Visual distractions can come for all kinds of sources, but the window is a big one. So give yourself at a step or two away from the window so you have a little breathing room. While you’re at it, try and keep your learning space as clear and clean as possible. Unfinished assignments, notes, and supplies can grab your attention away from a single task at hand, so find another place to store them. 

Having a view outside is actually a part of a larger concept, which is openness. Being able to see what is going on around you as you learn will help you feel a sense of safety and control. You’re able to survey the action around you, and if you’re in a learning environment with other people, then you have the opportunity to connect with those people, who are most likely learning the same subject as you. Nothing builds camaraderie like a little wide-eye, eye brow lift or eye roll if the teacher says something you don’t love!

So there we have it - the building blocks of a great learning space, so the next time you settle it for a great Zoom lecture or if you’re in a collective in-person classroom, you know what you need your space to do to give you the best learning experience. I hope you are learning so many wonderful new things this week, and I will talk to you in the next episode.