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Spaces & Places (text only) Spi edition by D. Diller
Spaces & Designing Classrooms for Literacy [Spiral-bound]Debbie Diller (Author)
Spiral-bound
First published June 25, 2008
6 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 15, 2011
This book is a great tool for creating a literacy driven classroom. The photographs were very helpful for visualizing an organized, student-friendly classroom, but the writing is extremely repetitive.
January 3, 2010
I like to make a New Year's Resolution each year . . . in June! I tend to mark my new year according to the school calendar, so when summer begins, I find an area in my personal and professional life to focus and improve upon. This past summer, I decided it was time to do something about the organization in my classroom. I was spending so much time cleaning up after myself and my students, something had to give. I needed a more efficient way to deal with the "stuff" in my classroom.
I came across this book, Spaces & Places , and I knew it was just what I had been looking for. Although it is a bit pricey, I thought it was worth it. It is a spiral bound book (which I found very helpful when wanting to keep it open to a certain page), and has MANY colored photos of real classrooms. One of the things Diller notes is that the majority of the pictures showcase small classrooms that are set in old buildings, portables, and awkward spaces. It was helpful to see how different teachers across the country that were struggling with the same space issues as I am use their space most efficiently. There was nothing earth-shattering in the book about how to stay organized that may not have crossed your mind before, but the format of thinking through your decisions was really helpful for me. I did a complete classroom makeover, and it has never felt so good! It is now January, and after 6 months my room is still organized and runs efficiently. I have more time to spend on the things that are really important (lesson plans, grading papers, making it home for dinner . . . ) , and it makes for many less late nights! Who could ask for more?
One downside to this book is that not all the classroom makeover suggestions are brain research friendly in terms of color schemes, etc., but it is an easy thing to tweak for yourself. Now I have to figure out how to keep my house less cluttered and to run more efficiently because I haven't mastered that yet! I may have to check out one of those makeover TV shows for that . . . :)
I came across this book, Spaces & Places , and I knew it was just what I had been looking for. Although it is a bit pricey, I thought it was worth it. It is a spiral bound book (which I found very helpful when wanting to keep it open to a certain page), and has MANY colored photos of real classrooms. One of the things Diller notes is that the majority of the pictures showcase small classrooms that are set in old buildings, portables, and awkward spaces. It was helpful to see how different teachers across the country that were struggling with the same space issues as I am use their space most efficiently. There was nothing earth-shattering in the book about how to stay organized that may not have crossed your mind before, but the format of thinking through your decisions was really helpful for me. I did a complete classroom makeover, and it has never felt so good! It is now January, and after 6 months my room is still organized and runs efficiently. I have more time to spend on the things that are really important (lesson plans, grading papers, making it home for dinner . . . ) , and it makes for many less late nights! Who could ask for more?
One downside to this book is that not all the classroom makeover suggestions are brain research friendly in terms of color schemes, etc., but it is an easy thing to tweak for yourself. Now I have to figure out how to keep my house less cluttered and to run more efficiently because I haven't mastered that yet! I may have to check out one of those makeover TV shows for that . . . :)
March 29, 2010
This is a fun book to read and then share with fellow teachers. Personally, I am always thinking of better ways to arrange (and rearrange) my classroom. I particularly enjoyed how she designs and arranges classrooms according to the priority of the spaces you need in the classroom. I like how Diller got me thinking about what is important in my teaching and therefore what is necessary and unnecessary in my room.
January 24, 2012
Debbie Diller gives some great classroom organizational tips in this book. I purchased it off of amazon, I probably could have just flipped through it at the bookstore and gotten the ideas I want to use. It's picture heavy and it address a major issue for many teachers, new and seasoned. More stuff does not always make the classroom a more enriching learning environment! Time to clean out some of that stuff I haven't touched in 10 years.
July 13, 2009
Great read for teachers needing to design or revamp their classrooms. Gives easy ideas for how to rearrange a space and lots of before and after pictures. Resources are listed and arranged by chapters. Even is inspiring me to redesign my scary office space!
June 8, 2010
I loved this book...it had so many ideas I'm going to use in my classroom in August. You should read this if you are a teacher, any grade. This book has 229 pages so that brings my total to: 1,112 pages!!
June 28, 2012
Although I have "read" this book I can tell it will be one I keep coming back to. Full of great ideas for managing space effectivley. From initial layout to packing up at the end of the year this book will definetly give you some idaes and thoughts.
July 17, 2012
I loved this book. I love to look at other people's classrooms and take what will work for you. I saw this on a teacher's blog and got it out from the library! I am so glad I did. Making some stuff for this coming school year.
July 1, 2014
It gives a teacher pause to reconsider how the space in the classroom is being arranged. How might it be set more effectively to produce the desired results academically? The book is full of lots of practical, easy-to-implement suggestions.
January 17, 2009
Good ideas for organizing the literacy rich classroom
Want to read
March 8, 2009This book has been ordered for the 2009-10 school year on the advice of Katherine Casey who led the NESA Literacy Coaching group meeting in Jordan in November, 2008.
November 7, 2014
This book is full of lots of great ideas for organizing the classroom.
June 16, 2009
I can't wait to go into my classroom and move things around!!!
July 10, 2009
This was a great book about setting up a successful literacy driven classroom.
July 26, 2009
This one really, really, really got me excited to set up my classroom! I already do some of the stuff mentioned, but it was still inspiring.
February 11, 2015
Lots of great ideas. The pictures are quite helpful!
March 20, 2012
So many great visuals and ideas!
June 4, 2012
Great for starting the conversation around classroom clutter.
July 19, 2012
Great tips on designing a literacy rich and purposeful classroom!
December 3, 2012
Helpful in designing classroom structure.
July 14, 2013
I got a lot of ideas of how to rethink and rework my classroom organization. I am very excited to try new instructional and organizational ideas!
August 6, 2013
Really good book to re-think how a classroom could be set up without all the extra stuff that might be used some day but meanwhile are dust collectors.
May 29, 2015
I liked this book. It had some great organizational ideas. With that said, it's very dated and can use some updating to present day equipment.
July 3, 2015
Required reading. Hope it's good
July 24, 2016
This book has great practical advice and many resources to help reorganize classrooms. Love that many photographs are included to show how spaces can be used.
May 8, 2011
Expensive and I got nothing from it.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews