You get your new classroom key. You walk excitedly to your new room and unlock the door. Inside you see a stack of chairs and tables in the corner. So where to begin?
First things first.
You need to get your tables in an arrangement that will facilitate learning by allowing your students to see you and the board.
TEACHER DESK
The placement of your teacher's desk is important and is the first place to start. You need to be able to see the whole classroom and have access to storage.
Some things to consider are:
Line of sight. Are you going to have a good view of the room while sitting at the desk?
Are you going to teach from the desk? If you have a laptop that can only be plugged in at the desk, then you may have to use this your base but may want to invest in an iPad you can mirror your device to so you’re free to roam the room.
Where will you store your papers that need marking and teaching materials?
Once your teacher desk is set up you can then get a clear idea of how to set up the student’s desks.
STUDENT DESKS
Who do you want to be the focus of the class?
- Teacher-Centered Class: If your class is going to be a lecture- and presentation-centric, use a configuration where all students can see you and the lectern.
- Learner-Centered Class: With these classes, student discussion and group work are paramount. Find a seating arrangement that encourages students to interact with one another.
- Both: Many educators adhere to the belief that a balanced education has a healthy mixture of both teacher-centered presentations and student-based discussions and work. Look for seating layouts that are flexible and functional.
How do you want the class to interact?
- Minimal: Interaction flows from the teacher to the student. Student-to-student discussion is scarce. Testing and individual work also dominate the class.
- Small Groups: Students interact in pairs or small groups.
- Large Groups: Students engage in group discussions and lessons with the entire class.
Things to consider:
How do you prefer students to work?
- In groups.
- in pairs.
- independently
- combination of all three
Your decision making will depend on how well behaved your students are, which you won’t know until you get to know them. You may wish to start off in groups and then move to independent learning later. Don’t be afraid to mix it up each month but try not to change the arrangement too often as this can cause students stress.
Here are my favorite arrangements for the best teaching activities.
Clusters
Clustering the desks into small groups promotes student-to-student interaction. Students develop skills such as communication, problem solving, collaboration, and more in this arrangement. These clusters offer safe and comfortable environments for students to share ideas. Small groups with no more than 4 students. Remember the number of students is important because you may want to switch it up to do pair work.
Good for: group works, team building, pair work within groups and behavior management and post scoring.
Bad for: chatting and some students may not see the board as easily as others. (Be strategic with who you place in each group and move those talkers around).This comfort, however, also lends itself to off-task behavior and a large increase in noise level and distractions.
Rows
The rows configuration is the most common classroom arrangement. This type of setup complements class structures that revolve around teacher-based instruction and presentations. Old fashioned yes but sometimes necessary for a class with behavior problems. All students face the front and everybody can see the board.
Good for: Students are more focused on coursework and independent assignments. They are also less likely and/or able to cheat with this layout. Teachers - you can see everybody all the time and can nip those behavior problems in the bud right away. Also good for keeping those struggling students near the front so you can help them out easily. Pair work is easy in this set up if you keep the numbers in each row even.
Bad for: Though this seating arrangement can be used with any class size, large classes may often see uneven levels of interaction as students in the front row will participate more while those in the back may lose focus.
Stadium
A variation of the classic row configuration and runway, desks are grouped in clusters but all facing the same direction. Like runway, this layout is best suited, teacher-centric classes.
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