Summer building ... new space. Break out? Quiet zone? What do we DO with it?

Over the summer 2015/2016 a lot of building work went on at our school.  ALL over our school.  The English department rejigged what was known as 'The Resource Room' into a what is being called (for now) a 'Breakout' space.  I'm not sure I'm enamoured of the word, but my interest is whetted as to what we might actually use the new room for.

A 'breakout' space is easy.  It is an extra space.  You break out into it (maybe you break dance? I don't know ...)  It seems pedagogically lazy to me to rest on our laurels and think 'yay - we have gained a sixth classroom that no-one uses regularly'.  We need to be more creative than that.

It will have some books, and it houses the laptops for the departments.  So it is still a type of 'resource' room. But I actually think the possibilities are really exciting.  I've only thought of a few so far, and I'm sure some reading would help me engage in further creative thought around this.  At our last department meeting we decided we would actively seek out another teacher in the department to collaborate with in the space.  This might mean a Year 9 and a Year 12 class work on an activity together; it might be that Year 13 students mentor Year 12's through a particular assessment that would benefit from peer experience or hindsight.  Who knows! But we've all committed to trying something at least once this year. Small steps.

I really love how this actively engages with the Maori idea of 'tuakana/teina' pedagogies of learning - an older and younger student/sibling set up for active learning/teaching (ako). I hope that after trying these things out, other creative ways of using the space will start to flow, too.

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Hard to see, but this is looking through my classroom and into the space with three pane glass sliding doors from four existing classrooms.