Options is a unique school. But it should not be.

A core of the Options belief set is that:
Students are not repositories of the knowledge their teachers deign to deposit into them. They are more, in fact, even than participants of their learning. They are owners of it. Thinkers in their own right, at any age. They are meant to be tackling their own learning, with the support, guidance, resources, of their community-entire.
The physical building of the classroom of the future must be designed to recognize and support this central understanding of the classroom of the future itself. This is why the design has no class head…the teacher, parent, volunteer speaker sees her/himself as a learner in this space as well. …Acceptance of learners as themselves, cared for as people, by their community, in a shared learning environment.

One of the school’s most singular elements is that: students want to be there.
These kindergarten through eighth grade students are not compelled to give some weekends to ivy pulls and beach cleanups; to picnic together over the summer, to stay after school, daily, for weeks, rehearsing their 25th Shakespearean production in a decade. Or their parents to attend monthly meetings; to bring their own parents to camp twice yearly. Students are not required to return as alums, many afternoons, to continue projects; to return later to help teach...but they do all of these things.
In the design of the classroom, we as a community needed to identify the core values that for 20 years has made Options students dive, so willingly, into their learning and efforts. To design a place that captures the essence of the program…the appeal of returning to it…the greatness and adaptability of what it is.
Imagine an environment that you want to return to. Is it an office? Is it a classroom? What spaces do you like to be in?
People like to be home. We like to be outdoors. We like to be in art studios, science labs, forests. People like kitchens and vacations. Campfires.
We learn at home. Learn outdoors. Learn in art studios, science labs, forests. We learn in our kitchen, on our travels. Around our campfires.
We learn from each other. One another.
Learn by doing, trying, building, making.
Learn by taking action. Helping people. Going places. Seeing things. Hearing others.
We learn from nature.
Children should too.

The design is meant to be organic, round, indoor and outdoor, light-filled, adaptable -- almost mobile -- healthy, even healing, natural, comfortable, expressive, child-centered. Its layout accommodates universal design. It emphasizes the most central, underlying, tenet of culturally responsive teaching and learning -- equality of footing. Every voice is heard, every voice matters, every voice is weighted equally. When discussion happens, it happens in the circle.
Independent learning and adaptability of projects within the space is highlighted by the open, mobile room, the comfortable, movable seats and lap desks, the large work tables, the prominence of books and ability to work within or without groups. Students are not relegated to square desks with hard chairs, but use orthopedic balls; bean bags; and benches, warmed by the masonry stove; to accomplish their seated work. A child-centered environment is appropriately-sized and shaped to take advantage of the energy and creativity of young ones.
Community, acceptance, joy in one another’s contributions, attend the shared meals and projects, the learning from one another. Families and teachers and students share the space.
The school affects families as it affects students. Members are there for each other, for families, not just students. The program is called “life-changing” by both.
When the design team met first with the teachers their message was clearly: we are not designing a school, not for our program or these students. We are designing a community center, a school for learners of all ages, a space for shared efforts, a space to model for the future. The farmer’s market will be hosted in this space, the community college and senior center will hold classes in the room, Lamaze classes and green conferences will be held here. Students will learn from these sharings. The garden will help support the school lunches and the local food bank.
The straw bale walls (equally adaptable in different environments as cob, cob-bale, prefabricated-modular yurt-shaped or another medium) sit lightly. With excellent insulation, the radiant floor and the passive solar design to heat the room when the highly-efficient masonry stove is not in use, the walls contain warmth and comfort for the students. The floor is earthen, cob, featuring lime plaster, radiant heating fed by rainwater collection and the masonry hearth. The windows are double-paned with ventilation and coverings, south/south-west facing in our location, protected by great, deciduous trees to tame the summer sun. The skylight is ultra-violet-protected, shade-able and vent-able to bring the movement of air to the room, preventing mold, overheating, and dust.
The trim is FSC-certified and without volatile organic compounds. The roof grows native vegetation, as do the grounds, cared for by the students, teachers, families -- teaching.
Feedback systems, to trace the room & the school’s water and energy usages and flows will be monitored by the students, administration, faculty and parents -- educating.
The outdoor classroom’s cob walls will express each generation of students and the contributions of volunteers. The indoor walls will showcase the art of local artists.
The enormous protected windows and skylight, the proximity of the outdoor learning and playing spaces, the earth floor and green roof, make the recognition of nature as our teacher and the environment from which follows our everyday life, central. The greenhouse and gardens are learning areas, as is the kitchen. The space, corner less, is filled with light.
Open, welcoming, the classroom makes the children and the community part of the learning environment, not just occupants of it.

Options is a unique school. But it should not be.

This is not an instance of round classrooms, and some square pegs. Some of the creative applications of the school program, reflected in its design, like breaking to play Frisbee when everyone is burnt-out after a project, may not be for everyone.
But the essences upon which the design is based are universal truths, no matter one’s approach to education.
They are the steps to the future classroom.
The essences are…
A learning space must be: Child-centered.
Must centralize: Creativity, critical thinking, self-discovery.
Must recognize: Children as people. Children as owners of their minds and hearts. Children as compassionate beings, contributing to their communities, participating in their communities, supported and cared for by their communities.
Must see: The natural world as the sustaining -- and beautiful, and healthy -- home which we are part of and within which everything else happens.

Fact-learning takes a backdoor to thinking; paper-based efforts take a back-seat to hands-on, authentic and service learning efforts; the arts are centralized in recognition of the humanity which is learned in their exploration; the community is welcomed, the windows are huge, the space is sustainable, the gardens extensive, the meals shared, the room healthy, the doors are open and the hearth is lit.

Location