Lesson 4: Management of space, time and material resources

Lesson 4: Management of space, time and material resources

The preliminary ideas that I have of this topic is that space, time and material resources are important in the school environment, and that their should be managed correctly.

In this lesson I have learned how the school space should be managed

I have learned two authors: Casalrrey (2000) proposes three characteristics when organising space: a)  designed for children; b) stimulating, accessible, flexible and functional; c) aesthetic, pleasing to the senses; and Laorden (2001),according to Laorden spatial planning at schools should have a series of characteristics:

o   Possibility of diversified uses as wll as changes in the structure through mobile partitions, curtains, screens, sliding doors…

o   Children must be able to properly see teaching materials at eye level at different ages.

o   Careful planning is required regarding accessibility, maintenance, visibility.

I have also learned, how space must be: expandable, convertible multipurpose and varied. Also, I have learned the negative impact on school space management: little space and insufficient facilities, student overpopulation, poor budget and low community involvement. Space should be multipurpose and open spaces.

In this lesson I have also learned about time management which is another variable that largely determines learning in schools and classroom is time. I have learned about time tables and their functions, the criteria or variables that should be taken into account and the typology of school scheduling, according to the  activity (Block, Mosaic, Combined, Modular, Typology, Non-split school day, split school day and combined schedules). I have learned the variables that influence the length of the school day: age and psycho-evolutionary characteristics of student, time management,  times of the day which each subject is taught (for example: it is convenient to know the working curve and fatigue index of each material or subjects with a higher fatigue index: Physical Education, Mathematics, Language and Foreign Language) and when and how long should the break be? ( to now this we need to look at what does the law say about school hours; and here are some example of what is says: The general opening hours of the centre and the school timetable will be proposed by the management team. Moreover, the teachers’ board and the school board must be informed. Finally they will be approved by the school management.The head of studies will draw up the personal schedule of the teaching staff, according to the criteria approved by the teacher’s board. The general timetable of the centre must respond to the needs of its students and consider the environmental conditions The school will be open from October to May from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m . During the months of June and September, students' school activities will take place generally in the morning, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The weekly timetable for each of the school year must have 25 hours, distributed from Monday to Friday, including official breaks. School day scheduling becomes more flexible, with time blocks between 45 and 60 min. Schools' autonomy also allows educational centres to implement pedagogical innovation projects, teach interdisciplinary contents, and organise team tasks).

In this lesson I have also learned about school. Resources management, which are the personal and material elements of schools; and  the Didactic resources are the didactic and technological material used in the teaching and learning process. I have also  learned how resources can be divided: centre's own staff resources; other staff resources; center’s own material resources, such as furniture; and  other material resources: these are the use of museums, monuments, exhibitions, parks, ect. I have learned that school resources should: inspire creativity, motivate students, suit children's characteristics, objectives and contents, be consistent and risk-free, be adapted to the objectives and contents to be worked on, promote Interaction in the teaching-learning process and allow observation, manipulation , experimentation and research.

What knowledge can I generate?

This is a  video about flexible classrooms: making spaces for personalized learning.

This is also another video about space and flexible classrooms, providing the Learning Environment that kids need.

This is an example of a primary timetable:

After reading an article from a web page called service works global, where I read all the benefits of Space management and why is this important. (This is the link to the webpage https://www.swg.com/better-space/)

I have also learned a article from Athar Khan, that explains very good what is, the importance, types, principles and how to make a school timetable, as I wasn't quite sure about the importance and the principles of timetables.

Vocabulary:

• School timetable: in spanish this is called horario escolar.This is were all the subject are written in a way from monday to friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.  for example. The subjects are organised to complete the hours that are obligatory by law.
• School day: in spanish this is called jornada escolar. This is the time in a day that students are in  the school,and they have classes and breaks.
• Non-split school day: is when the  school day is no split this means that they don’t  have a specific time at lunch time that leave students to go home to have lunch,they will have a break at school and they will eat at the dining room,but they cannot leave the school to have lunch. In summary students need to be from the hour that the school starts to the hour that school finishes.

Bibliografic references:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQkL5efkViw  This is  the video about flexible classrooms.
• https://images.app.goo.gl/VgaCiEH27xVmzbGQ6 this is the link of the example of the  primary timetable
• Service works global. In a Better Space - Space Management from SWG. (2015, 3 agosto). Recuperado 28 diciembre, 2019, de https://www.swg.com/better-space/
• Khan, A. (2019b, 7 julio). How To Make A School Timetable - Importance, Types and, Principles. Recuperado 28 diciembre, 2019, de https://www.toppr.com/bytes/how-to-make-school-time-table/