WEEK 4: PLANNING YOUR CLASSROOM LAYOUT

Planning Your Classroom Layout

 

I believe that the most basic factor that governs the likelihood of students goofing off in a classroom, is their physical distance from your body. Put yourself in the students shoes and remember your own experience; when the teacher was standing right next to you or right in front of you, you "cooled it," and as soon as the teacher was on the farther side of the room, you talked with your friends or started texting on your phone again.

 

The most basic technique for managing the behavior of a group is called "working the audiance" or in this case, "working the crowd." You should definitly take the time to walk around the classroom to let your students know that you are paying attention to what they are doing.

 

The physical layout, on the other hand, can reflect your teaching style. for example, if you want your students to collaborate in small groups, organize them around tables or clusters of desks. If you plan on an individualized, self-paced curriculum, you might set up learning stations. Many teachers prefer to create different areas within the classroom, for example, a classroom might feature a quiet reading corner, a music are, a discussion are, a large table, spaces for messy projects, multimedia spaces, learning stations, and individual work areas. So really, you can be as creative or not as creative as you want to when it comes to your classroom layout.

 

I believe that desk arrangement is very important and that a teacher should definitly keep in mind that it's okay to change the arrangement as often as it is needed. There are also other important factors when it comes to the classroom layout. It's important to keep both well-lit and dimly-lit areas in the classroom and to provide opportunities for the children to move around instead of just sitting in their desks all day. I also think that the use of space can be effective too, for example, using a teaching platform, or having a skit area/puppet theater, to keep the classroom interesting.

 

There are websites such as http://classroom.4teachers.org/ that allow teachers or future teachers to create a cyber like map of what they want their classroom to look like, as far as placement of furniture (desks, tables, chairs, etc.) go. Another website I would suggest looking into is http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/1435, which provides tips on planning a "positive environment," links that allow you to create a cyber map of what you want your classroom to look like, pictures of current teachers classrooms to spark ideas, and much more.