Work Suites

Main Entry: work suite
Function: noun
Definition: a section of a classroom that is set aside as a work area for a single project team
Eatamology: Last year, I finally decided to officially mark the 8 work suites in my room using parody prints of Ugly Dolls in famous paintings that I created in Notebook. Kevin Gant and Michael McDowell, two very talented and wise New Tech coaches, have often stressed the importance of displaying the group contracts in places that are easily accessible to teams. Tara Craig (co-teacher from last year) and I started hanging up their group contracts within their suites. This year, my current co-teacher Mr. Banks added his own personal touch to each work suite by hanging up PVC pipes to hold the know/need-to-know charts and team contracts for the teams that occupy each work suite.
Date: Summer 2008 (First time It sunk in my brain that group contracts must be constantly visible – I probably heard this as early as Summer 2007 but it didn’t sink until 2008) Fall 2008 (work suites adorned with ugly doll paintings and group contracts), Nov. 15 2009 (Banks installs PVC pipes to hold contracts and other team docs)

Having designated work areas for different teams is a key part of the design of my classroom that helps me to facilitate PBL teams. I do not use individual seating charts because all my students work in teams. Instead, I assign work suites to teams of 2 or 3 students that consist of 2 or 3 adjacent work stations with a team set of textbooks. Within the work suite, the students can sit wherever they like.

Each work suite has a place that holds the team contracts and know-need-to-know charts of the teams that occupy that suite. In our newest scheme, the group contracts hang above the work station that is in the center of the work suite. Since 4 teams from 4 different periods share the work suite, the group contracts are color-coded (pink = Period 1, goldenrod = Period 2, green = Period 3, blue = Period 4). When the teams start each period, they flip the pages in the work suite displays until their team contract is at the front of the display.

Having the group contract in an accessible place makes it easy for me to reference the team contract whenever I am coaching teams to refocus or to peacefully resolve conflicts. The group contracts always set nice starting points for these conversations. If they are not detailed enough to solve the problem at hand, I ask the teams to add addendums to their contracts that include strategies and new agreements to solve current team issues/conflicts.

Some of my high functioning teams reference the contract on their own when their teams hit bumpy spots and high points (during high points, my teams celebrate and these celebrations are documented in their contracts – the idea of team celebrations was eaten out of Michael McDowell’s brain). Sometimes I scaffold reflections on their contract into their work days by adding prompts in their warm-ups that reference agreements in their team contracts. Having the group contracts close at hand, makes it easy for my teams to complete these reflections.