Flexible Room Arrangements

When another teacher asked me if I minded teaching in a classroom with desks instead of tables, I immediately responded that I would love teaching with desks again. Desks offer so much flexibility for different arrangements to suite the learning situation.

We have moved desks around to create landforms, and simulate a court room. Some days the desks are in single rows, double rows, or groups of four. Some days the desks are wherever the students move them!

The ebb and flow of a classroom benefits greatly when you have the ability to move desks around, and the students enjoy the ability to work both independently in single rows, with a partner in double rows, and with a group of four. Having desks means they can chose these options and student choice is a main way I develop relationships with students.

Here we were working in self-selected groups. You can see how each period of students arranged the desks differently. Having a large classroom space helped as well, but even in smaller rooms, the flexibility of desks allows for great learning.