How we arrange the furniture
In an ideal world, I would buy all new furniture for my tiny classroom so that I could seat 24 students easily, but still have room for groups to work around the outside of the classroom. Right now I have these huge clunky desks that take up way too much space. I have actually thought about making a "clump" of these desks in the middle or doubling up chairs at the desks so that some have two students (not easy with these desks). It's all moot right now because of covid. I have been lobbying for new furniture for a couple of years now, so maybe that will be a thing. I think that if we are in our own classrooms next year, I am going to try putting three chairs around two of the clunky desks. This will allow me to get rid of some of the furniture and open up the classroom for more movement.
As it is, my three largest classes take place in other people's classrooms. They have desks that are spaced as much as possible given the area. I am able to roll whiteboards between rows for student work, but moving all of the desks is not possible right now. Because I am rolling my whiteboards between rows for students to use, they have a tendency to want to sit in a desk or at least on a desk as they work. I need to figure out ways to make this less comfortable for them.
I've been teaching for 25 years and I've never had my desk "front" the classroom. I just never liked it there, so at least I was doing something right. As far as using the projector, I'm pretty much stuck with it only projecting on one wall. The other classrooms I currently teach in are all "fronted" and they really can't be changed right now. I do like his idea of talking to the students from a different part of the room. It may not be really practical, but I'll give it a try. I'm really looking forward to next year and fewer covid restrictions!
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