OWNERSHIP AND PRIVACY
Getzels (as cited in Lewis, 1979) raises the issue of what spaces belong to the students in a classroom or a school. She provides the following list:
p Desk: This is probably the most valued and protected space. In tradi- tional classrooms, it may be the child’s only source of personal space.
T H E S K I L L F U L T E A C H E R76
PART TWO | MANAGEMENT | SPACE
In more open classes, it may be shared with others or no longer be a part of the school furniture.
p Locker: This is considered a convenience space, and also private if solely for the student’s use.
p Special class seat: In music, art, and library, if seats are assigned, a certain degree of ownership will be attached to them.
p Chair: Often individuals and the group recognize individual owner- ship of chairs. Robert Sommer (1969) notes, “People who remain in public areas for long periods—whether at a habitual chair at a weekly conference or on a commuter train—can establish a form of tenure. Their rights to this space will be supported by their neighbors even when they are not physically present.”
p Boys’ or girls’ room: This is definitely a child’s space. The bathroom can be a private retreat for tears, anger, fights, secrets, mischief, and daydreams. In some schools, it becomes the communal news center for the underground student communication network. In some secondary schools, it may become the property of a group of students, or it may be locked by the administration.
p Playground: This space is child-owned and shared with other chil- dren. It is powerfully real and memorable, considering the relatively limited time spent in recess.
p Hall: These are no-man’s-land in most schools, a public avenue. No- body owns them, but they’re very familiar territory. Perhaps the sense of ownership would be similar to that felt for one’s lane or street at home. In secondary school, it is the hub of socializing.
p Classroom: In some rooms, children feel a sense of ownership for the whole room or sections of it. In other rooms, the desk may be the only owned space.
p School building: Feelings of ownership increase with the years spent in the building. Variations in intensity also depend on school philoso- phies, building dimensions, and the degree to which children partici- pate in school activities.
(Getzels as cited in Lewis, 1979, p. 130)
T H E S K I L L F U L T E A C H E R 77
PART TWO | MANAGEMENT | SPACE
Many students have a strongly felt need for a place of their own—not just a cubby or a mailbox—but a workplace to occupy that is regularly theirs. Adult readers may identify with this need. One of the authors consulted on a weekly basis with a school for several years without such a space, and it drove him crazy!
Left on their own, middle and high school students regularly take the same desk in a class. It becomes “their” seat. College students and adults do the same thing. As teachers plan classroom space, they should consider whether they have adequately met students’ needs for ownership of space. That need varies considerably with individuals, as does their need for privacy.
Private spaces like carrels or individual practice rooms restrict visual distrac- tion and noise. There are students who benefit greatly from having such places created for them or put at their disposal. Skillful teachers respond to these stu- dents and match them with spatial arrangements that suit their needs. As they look at their classrooms and other school facilities (libraries, media centers), they ask themselves if enough private spaces have been provided to accommo- date such students, because there are always a few of them.