2e: Organizing Physical Space

The use of the physical environment to promote student learning is a hallmark of an experienced teacher. Its use varies, of course, with the age of the students: in a primary classroom, centers and reading corners may structure class activities; while with older students, the position of chairs and desks can facilitate, or inhibit, rich discussion. Naturally, classrooms must be safe (no dangling wires or dangerous traffic patterns), and all students must be able to see and hear what’s going on so that they can participate actively. Both the teacher and students must make effective use of electronics and other technology.

Danielson, C. 2013

Artifact 2e-1

Seating Arrangement Ms. Thompson's Class

During my time at Tiebreaker Elementary School with Mrs. Thompson I had the opportunity to create a seating chart for the students. I had never done this before, so the whole experience was really interesting for me. I wanted to be sure that every student had a clear view of the whiteboard and could be seen from the teacher’s desk. I also knew that there were several students who should not sit next to each other. Taking all of these different factors into consideration was not an easy task and it took me a while to design a seating chart. Due to it being the end of the school year, I wanted the students to be arranged in a shape resembling rows, while still allowing them to talk to their partners when needed. To help facilitate discussion and meet all of the students’ various needs, I decided on staggered rows. However, as I have learned, teaching is a lot of trial and error. It became apparent very early in the week that this seating arrangement would not work in the long term. So, my mentor teacher and I re-adjusted the seating chart into straight rows and we moved some of the students around. This helped the students focus better in the class. When we were going to have a whole class discussion, we had everyone move up to the front rug to better facilitate classroom discussion.

Artifact 2e-2

Summer School Set Up

This photograph demonstrates the way that my group and I have set up our summer school classroom. We determined that we wanted our students to be able to discuss with their classmates easily and decided that groups of four would be the best way to accomplish this. We also wanted all of the students to be angled towards the front of the classroom to help hold their attention during whole class instruction and remind them of the classroom hand signals/schedule. As we set up our classroom space, we wanted the class to be full of color and educational posters to keep the space warm and inviting. The lone chair at the front of the room is used during read-alouds or group work such as Heggerty. Students know where to go when we transition activities because of our designated spaces throughout the classroom. Of course, we made the classroom as safe as possible and have clear spaces and pathways to avoid traffic jams and tripping. The set up of our classroom was carefully chosen to help support student learning.

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