Classrooms with only 3 walls?

No door to the classrooms?

These are some features of an open-classroom school. These features were very surprising to Lorenzo Arredondo as he first applied at Daffron Elementary, as they probably are to you. The idea behind an open-classroom setting is that grade levels, as a whole, have teachers that work together and students that work together. The classrooms have windows that allow teachers to see into other classrooms so that teaching styles can be shared. The district believes that students also feel a greater sense of community when their classroom is not closed off and they can hear the same lessons and material being presented to their peers just down the hall.

The map to the right is a demonstration of the layout for Daffron Elementary’s open-classroom setting, as it was during Lorenzo’s second year teaching in the fourth grade (2003-2004).

Move your mouse over the dots to see a photograph taken from that location in the grade-level.

Yes, being in this type of environment, even as an observer, is unusual. After two years of teaching without doors and seeing some teachers in a room with no third wall, Lorenzo has come to the conclusion that the benefits of such an idea are little, if there any benefits at all. The teachers have all commented on the level of noise that carries over from classroom to classroom, but also appreciate the ability to observe different teaching styles so readily. Teachers who like to play soft music as children write will also find that even the softest volume could create a disturbance in an adjacent room. One thing is definitely clear to Lorenzo after teaching in an open-classroom setting: you will have a teaching experience unlike any other!