A 7th and 8th grade social studies teacher at Thomas Metcalf School won a $50,000 classroom makeover contest.
Andy Goveia was one of more than 550 K-12 teachers across the country to enter the fourth annual contest, held by KI Furniture. As one of three finalists from the central region he earned more than 23,000 votes to secure the classroom makeover. New features of the improved space will include a big table for students to collaborate, a lounging area, new desks and new space for storage.
“When you have young teenagers, their bodies are constantly changing, and so movement and comfort are huge,” said Goveia. “Having different spaces to sit — whether it is a comfortable chair, a desk, a place to write — that variety of furniture gives kids a chance to move and have some of that developmental need.”
Xavier Davenport, seventh grader, could see the new space improving his learning in Goveia’s class over the next year and a half.
“I feel like you'll be able to see the teacher more in every spot, so you could listen, see the boards and stuff that he's writing on,” said Davenport. “So that would be helpful.”
Many votes came from the community making up Metcalf School. Students voted, they asked family and friends to vote, and social media posts got the word out.
“I'm so immensely grateful for social media, the people of this building and everybody who went out of their way to help me get here,” said Goveia.
“I think that the students are going to really enjoy it,” said Teagan Gray, a junior at Illinois State studying middle level teacher education. Gray taught in Goveia’s classroom during the first semester.
“With these desks, it's kind of harder, but with the bigger table they'll have more people to collaborate with and talk about stuff with, and I think they're really going to benefit from this classroom change.”
An item of particular interest to students is a double-decker couch.
“I feel like it adds a lot of space, as well as just space to move in between, like the desks and the chairs and such,” said eighth grader Connor Short.
The modern classroom often has more than just an array of individual desks for students to sit at. Designated spaces to cool down or otherwise be alone and more comfortable seating, to Goveia, helps make a classroom more accommodating to students.
“When kids feel like they belong, they engage. When they engage, cool things get to happen,” said Goveia.
Existing furniture will go into storage while the new furniture is moved in. While Goveia will also be able to keep what still fits well in his new-look classroom, other teachers from Metcalf will be able to have their pick of what their spaces could use.
“The goal is to make sure that what we've got here stays in our building,” said Goveia.
Goveia hopes to see this makeover happen sometime after winter break.
Metcalf student teaching
Thomas Metcalf School, a laboratory school for Illinois State University, provides a chance for elementary and middle level teaching students to develop career skills in a classroom.
Gray and fellow middle level junior Tessa Ashley both found it important to choose middle level education as their route to teaching.
“These students are discovering themselves, and they need someone to guide them through that journey,” said Ashley.
“In high school, I did a clinical but I was in a seventh-grade classroom, and there was just never a dull moment,” added Gray. “I feel like it's just never a dull moment, and I can never do little kids. So this was, like, the perfect in between.”
Gray also appreciates that ISU offers a chance to teach at Metcalf, rather than being thrown into a teaching scenario after graduation.
“I feel like I'd be a lot more scared if I was just thrown in after I graduate, and they were like, ‘Here's your classroom. You have to teach. You have to figure out how to do it yourself without anything,’ So I think this is a really helpful experience,” said Gray.
