I was recently asked: “How should you arrange classroom (ie-teacher’s desk) to promote community…or does it matter?”
I'm not a big believer in "one" right way to do something, but it
does make a difference. For example, the standard room with desks in a
row and the teacher's desk front and center sends a message that the
teacher is in charge, and the students are simply recipients of
information. However, I was in a classroom set up like this, and it was
a community, mainly because the teacher was never at his desk; he was
always in the middle of his students, who also had flexibility to
rearrange the desks. That's what is more important--do students feel
like they are a part of things, or separate from the teacher? In my
classroom, I tend to find that clustering desks/tables works better for
me so I can facilitate groups. In my grad classes, though, if I have a
small group (8-12), I tend to do a large, square U so everyone is
together. In that instance, clusters of tables actually breaks
community rather than building it.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your interest. Due to an increase in spam, all comments are now moderated by the site administrator.