Classroom Design — A room with desks in it?

When I was a lowly student-teacher going for my certification, I heard nothing about classroom design. Lots about classroom management, yes (and I still have a few problems there); lots about pairing struggling students with more capable students; lots about how one might design the classroom to look through posters and intended workspaces (reading corners, group assignments, etc.); but I never learned anything at all about classroom design.

As a teacher, I still haven’t learned anything about classroom design, and the only help I’ve gotten from other teachers was about creating spaces for instruction. For example: “When I’m in this area of the room, I want the class to listen.” “When I’m in this area of the room I want the class to work.” “Every minute I’m in THIS area of the room, the entire class is earning one minute of lunch detention.”

And so on.

Last year I read quite a bit about classroom design through Christian’s blog, as well as through the Learning Studio section of his business-side site, DesignShare.

Seriously, check out the Learning Studio for some very helpful classroom design tips.

It took me most of last year to work through several classroom plans to eventually come up with a classroom design that worked for me. It looked something like this:

Each row on the sides contains 3 desks. Each row in the center contains 4 desks.

I’ll call it the “College Space.” It’s got sections, it’s got rows. The only thing missing is tiers, but this design functioned in such a way that the spaces allowed for preferred seating. It allowed for students to pchoose a specific side of the room (I had a student blind in one eye, and this helped her find a spot from which she could read the board). It also allowed me to make my way through the seats to help out students in need.

And so I kept this design at the beginning of this year — but with one major change. Look again at the above image and take out one whole row from the middle — that was last year’s class. Look again at the above picture and fill about three-quarters of those desks. That was last year’s classes as well.

This year, I had to add those extra four desks because it was necessary (and I still have one or two classes where I need to place one student at the computer desks).

If you’ve done your math correctly, you’ll see that I now have 34 desks in my room, and I have a few classes of 35 students (and this is after my classes have been leveled).

While I really enjoyed how the classroom worked last year, i ran into a few problems this year — the extra row of desks cut into my teaching space at the front of the room, and it forced me to squish the rows together until there was no space between them. This meant students were climbing over desks at the beginning of class, climbing over desks at the en of class, and there was a huge to-do when a kid had to get up to sharpen a pencil.

Now I understand why my kids kept asking me during class: “Can I sharpen my pencil?” instead of just doing it.

There was just too much wasted space in my classroom this year, too many problems with behavior (which will happen when kids have no space whatsoever), and I needed to make a change.

So, here’s the change I made:

I made a mistake in designing this image, obviously, because somehow two desks are missing, but I promise they’re there. Nevertheless, now I have everything boiled down to a point where I can deal with two students at a time. Now I can see what each student is doing, because I can search through three small fields more quickly than I could through one large field.

Take a look at those setups side by side:

• Now I have a little more order.
• Now the kids have a little more room.
• Now I have a much larger teaching space — (I could freaking rollerskate around the room if I wanted!)
• Now I have one large storage area for the books kids can read, and one large section for storing the books I need.
• Now I have room for the kids to move around.
  • And that’s the important part, because
  • During homeroom, I have a space for students to read on the floor (should they desire)
  • During classes I have a space for students to move about.
  • I have room for performances
  • Room for projectors
  • Room for just about anything
  • Because with the students in sets of two, I can still have groups without rearranging the room.

While it’s not the “greatest design ever,” I can already see the difference this has created in the classroom. Students can move around more easily, and can quickly find a place to sit. I can move from station to station in order to help out the students.

Finally, I’ll leave it to the students to talk about the new design.
Most said: This is waaaay better than before.

Most said: I can get to my desk easier!

Many said: This room seems so much bigger!

Many said: Now we can have a seating assignment.

Notice how the students appreciate more room. Notice how they appreciate more movement. Notice how they appreciate space v. confinement. Notice how they talk about the classroom as a learning center — where they prefer to have a space for learning.

Few said: I hate this. I wish it was back to the way it was on Friday.

Honestly, I think this might really help out with my classes. More space. More freedom. More openness. More learning (I hope). Less frustration. Fewer fights.

And it only took a few hours’ work to create this completely different environmnet.

I’m really interested in how to create a better learning- and work-space. Please let me know how you’ve designed your classroom via a photograph or a mock-up (like the ones I created).

I’m also interested in which classroom designs have not worked for you.

What have you done to create a learning envrionment versus a room with desks in it.

And take the time to visit DesignShare’s Learning Studio for other class designs.

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