ABSTRACT
The “Big Room” was a collaborative effort among three teachers who taught fifth grade. Based on their school’s structure, the teachers taught their homeroom students language arts literacy, and then each of the three teachers taught all of the students either math, science, or social studies. Students moved from one class to the other throughout the day, sharing three teachers, as an introduction to greater departmentalization that was to come in subsequent years. My colleagues and I had been working in the school for three years, designing Learner-Active, Technology-Infused Classrooms, after which time these three teachers approached me indicating that they finally “got it” and wanted to run an amazing classroom by taking down the walls between the classrooms. I spoke with the superintendent, who had a knack for supporting teachers with great ideas, and he had the impeding wall taken down.
