Organization: control and consistency resulting in access

Whilst reading other classmates’ posts this week, I see that the general topic is organization of spaces around themselves (i.e. school library, classroom, and home). “Organization,” as a concept, is intriguing in that it doesn’t always produce the same result. Two rooms can be classified as “organized,” yet operate under two completely different sets of standards.

One small interesting phenomenon that I have noticed as a TOC is that most classrooms are organized in a fairly similar fashion; however, certainly not ALL classrooms as there are ALWAYS those rare disorganized classrooms. It amazes me that I can enter into a classroom and within 10 minutes just “know” where the teacher would have put certain objects. Part of this set of “organization rules” is common sense (e.g. pencils, pens, and paper clips are found in the centre drawer of the teacher’s desk), but part of this set also, I would argue, has to do with the “educational needs” of a classroom environment (e.g. art supply paper and paint is often found in a cabinet near the sink, teacher’s manuals are found on the bookcase near the teacher’s desk, a class schedule is often taped up near the classroom door or on the front whiteboard, and the list continues…). 

Now, I am confident that there is no manual out there that requires individual teachers to organize their classrooms in accordance to a particular set of standards, thus it leads me to believe that there is an implicit set of “organizational rules” governing the concept of access to educational tools in the classroom.

Furthermore, I think that it is this same implicit quality in organization for "educational needs," which makes accessing catalogues in school libraries standardized, logical, and therefore, possible.