Featuring Freshmen: It’s Not a Hallway

Parents, when you were here, did you see the furniture in the hallway of Jefferson High School? I stared at it all summer wondering how in the world does this work. After nine weeks, it suddenly hit me: The hallway is not a hallway. The hallway is actually an extension of the classroom. That’s why there are couches and chairs and tables. And it seems to be working. 

As I wander the hallways . . . nope, the open spaces of JHS during class, there are students sitting on the furniture talking, writing, typing on their Chromebooks, or huddled over a whiteboard. 

Instruction usually happens in the classrooms. As practice begins, some of the students head for the furniture. Many love it out there. 

But what about supervision? Does anyone know what these students are doing? I would say, “Yes.” That’s where the glass walls come in. Teachers are watching those students. And when teachers head into those furnitured spaces, they can look back into their classrooms and monitor what’s going on there. Those glass classroom walls worried me when I first walked through the building. Now I see their purpose. 

The goal of all this glass and extra places to sit is learning. We want students engaged in dialogue that fosters thought. We want those cell phones in their backpacks so they can be present with their friends and classmates. 

Learning is better when we are present. I am learning that Jefferson High School is built in a new way that echoes back to the old way of gathering around a problem and figuring it out together. 

People walk into our school and marvel at its size. It is amazing, but maybe the true measure of a great school is how many small groups of students it can gather together for learning. I think JHS is beginning to figure out how to do just that.