I’ll never forget setting up my very first classroom as a fresh-out-of-college 4th grade teacher. I enlisted my artistically gifted husband to paint the perfect mural on a huge wall in my room complete with an airplane pulling a banner behind that claimed, “Reading takes you places!” I brightened up file cabinets with some spray paint and my mom made curtains for the windows. A few fake plants (I don’t have a green thumb) and I was ready! I remember wanting to try some of the room arrangements we had learned about in college, but I had 34 students to cram in to a fairly small room, so my options were quite limited. As a young idealistic educator, my initial priority was to help my students to feel that our classroom was a second home. I wanted to build a community on mutual trust and respect so there was a better chance for us to learn and grow throughout the year. Sixteen years and many trends later, room arrangements remain a reflection of a teacher’s values.
Throughout my current building, I saw a direct relationship between the arrangement of desks and the way the teacher runs the class. In one particular math class, the desks are in clumps of six, with students grouped in threes. At times, the two groups of three would check in with each other, but then go back to working together in their smaller group. This seemed to work very well as it’s hard to “fly under the radar” when there are only two other people with you. Each day this math teacher places name tags on desks to form the best groups for that day’s lesson. Sometimes she wants to place strong students together and vary the activity to present a challenge, and other times she wants the groups to be heterogeneous. In another room where an ancient history teacher is known for his unique story-telling method, there are no desks! Students sit in chairs in a semi-circle facing the projector where images illustrate his animated speaking. Later in the class, a group who has been working in the hallway comes in to perform a skit based on Greek mythology. They don’t ever get out any paper or pencils. There was one room where all of the desks were separate and in rows. Knowing this teacher does lots of group work, I inquired about the arrangement. He shared that one section of his 6h grade Geography class could not handle the close proximity of other students yet. They needed more time to acclimate to his strict expectations of focus and engagement in class.
While most teachers have their large desks tucked in a corner to allow more floor space, almost every classroom had the white board/screen as the focal point with a table or desk in front of it where the teacher sits. Knowing how innovative some of my colleagues are, it surprised me that this is still the default arrangement. It communicates to me that while we’re grabbing on to some great technologies (every student has her own tablet computer), teachers are still directing the lesson and supplying the needed information. I believe a time is coming when learning will be so student-directed that where he or she faces in the classroom will be irrelevant. They will be sitting in groups and sharing research with their team that is needed for them to take the next step in building a machine, proposing a green initiative or developing a program to address illiteracy in their community. Instruction will happen through blogs, podcasts, streaming video or Skype sessions. Learning will not be limited to a classroom, a building or certain hours of the day. The real question will be whether or not the teachers in these children’s lives are willing to arrange for this type of learning to become a reality.
