At SSSAS, renovation for the school is already in progress, and the learning cottages have been put on the grass and baseball field to supply space for the classrooms that have been knocked down.
The learning cottages are temporary areas that hold our Science, English and one History and Health class. The structure had to be placed based on its accessibility to water, electricity, and internet connectivity, and it had to be convenient for firetrucks and ambulances to get into if needed. These temporary classrooms have been successful overall and the school has heard some good feedback from the students and teachers.
Art History teacher, Kara Sandoval shared her experience in the learning cottages. Referring to the upsides of the cottages, she says, “We’re allowed to have seamless programming…We didn’t have to cut any classes out of the curriculum because we didn’t have the space which I think is really great and important.” She says she is proud of the way SSSAS is handling the construction, especially compared to other schools going under renovation.
“Sometimes when schools have construction, they have to limit what kind of courses they can offer because of space, and we haven’t had to do that, and so I think that’s really huge.” She says she believes in flexibility about the cottages, knowing that this isn’t permanent. Though despite the positive ways the learning cottages have helped SSSAS, its teachers and students still face negative effects.
When asked if she thinks the students’ learning are strongly affected by the tight space, she said she can’t speak for the students but it does affect her learning and ability to try to actively participate with each student. “It was tight and I wasn’t able to interact as much,” said Ms. Sandoval. She plans to try to re-arrange the desks to see if she can engage better with the students and move around the room, but finds it difficult when she can’t move around the room.
Another one of our well known teachers, Dr. Klein, works for the English department and spends most of her time teaching in the learning cottages. When asked how her experiences have been with the learning cottages, Dr. Klein said that she’s had a very positive and productive time in the temporary cottages. She likes how all the departments are in the same vicinity (English classrooms in the same area, Science classrooms in the same area, etc).
“It’s been great having all the English classrooms so close together so I can see how other teachers have decorated their classrooms.” Dr. Klein liked re-decorating her classroom because she said that her classroom last year, in the main building, was getting old and hasn’t been changed in a while, “it’s fun seeing everyone’s personalities go into their own classrooms in the learning cottages. It’s also an easy way to still talk to my colleagues since we’re all near each other.”
Dr. Klein also explained that she has had experience with going from building to building to teach, because she has worked at a college before coming to SSSAS that had buildings very far from each other, so she isn’t foreign to the concept. Although this gives her time to get fresh air from her busy workday, Dr. Klein has to leave the main building earlier to get to class on time, which can be a hassle. “But, on the other hand, there aren’t any distractions
from the main building.” Dr. Klein shared, “sometimes students can wander around the halls during class time and meet up with friends, but with the learning cottages being so enclosed, students don’t have much power to do that anymore.”
One downside of the learning cottages is that the English department classrooms are very long horizontally, and lack length vertically. Dr. Klein wishes they could extend some feet backwards so that students have some space to move desks around freely, especially during assessments so students have more space to themselves. Dr. Klein seems to be pleased and impressed with how nice the learning cottages are, and is so far enjoying her time teaching her English students in the space.
Students have also given their opinion of the learning cottages and what their experiences are. One freshman, Reem Elbazouni, has Physics, English, and advisory in the cottages. She says her learning is not affected or changed in the cottages vs. main building. She has so far enjoyed physics because of its spaciousness and the ability to work on labs in a large room. However, when referring to the History and English classrooms, Reem says, “It’s really cramped, all the desks are right next to each other, and it’s really hard to get up or get a tissue.” Additionally, discussing English class, she says, “When she’s assigning seats to every single class, she would have to move around the desks and that would take a really long time.”
English classrooms are significantly smaller than the physics classrooms, which makes it harder for the students to transition after working in the larger classrooms. While Reem is content with the size of the Physics classroom
s, she wishes that the English and History classes were larger, to allow more freedom to move around and save time in class when sw
itching seats. When hypothetically asking if SSSAS were to go under renovations again, are the learning cottages a good way to make up for the lost space, Reem responds that they are a good option, but next time, expand the space.
Overall, these students and faculty are happy with the learning cottages, and wish for larger English and History classrooms to more freely move and interact with the people around them. The cottages have significantly impacted SSSAS and have strongly benefited them through supplying many more classrooms to make up for the lost space under renovation.
