How to Design an Ideal Classroom Arrangement

Classroom arrangements affect the classroom.

The arrangement of a classroom adds to or detracts from a classroom's effectiveness. A teacher needs to decide what activities he wants to include in his daily schedule, what kind of arrangements he wants for his desks and how he wants the traffic flow to be managed. A classroom teacher who is innovative and creative needs to accommodate the activities she wants her students to become involved in without making her classroom feel cramped or uncomfortable. You can design the ideal arrangement for your classroom.

Things You'll Need

• Trifold science boards
• Center materials

Instructions

1. Arrange your student's desks for cooperative learning groups. According to Cooperative Learning Classroom Research, desks placed in groupings of three to five create the most effective group sizes. Angle the desks so all of the students can see the chalkboard without moving their chairs. Arrange the desks so that when doing group activities the students won't lose time rearranging desks.

2. Leave spaces between the groups to allow for easy traffic flow in your classroom. It also allows you to put students in a temporary group arrangement, grouping students from different groups together.

3. Place a trifold science board on a desk to create center areas for each subject on the outskirts of the room. If space is limited, the science boards can be folded up and replaced with a board from a different subject. The boards will have folders attached that contain everything needed for the center. Other centers can be folders with activities students can take back to their desks.

4. Move your teacher's desk into a space that it will serve you well. If you are seldom at the desk during class time, move it to an area that is out of the mainstream flow of the class. If you have students come to your desk to work with you, place it in close proximity to the students.

5. Establish a science area, complete with a sink. Keep all of your science supplies on hand here for easy accessibility. The center should include a locked cabinet for chemicals and other chemistry supplies as well as Bunsen burners and fuels.

6. Place classroom computers in a lab setting. This arrangement allows you to work with multiple students simultaneously. Place computer screens facing away from the wall to allow the teacher to know, at a glance, if the student is on task.

7. Add a reading center with a bookcase for current theme book selections and a space for student baskets. Add comfortable furniture such as beanbag chairs or carpeting to create a cozy place to read. Make certain this area has excellent lighting.

8. Create a classroom traffic flow that is comfortable. The location of pencil sharpeners, cabinets, desks and centers all work together to create the flow. Create the flow on a piece of graph paper and arrange the classroom elements, set to scale, to create a classroom your students and you will move through with ease.

Tips & Warnings

• Crowded classrooms tend to become more chaotic. Leave space between each element in your room and create the ideal classroom arrangement.

• Classrooms sizes will vary; be innovative.

References

• Alumni.media.mit.edu: Cooperative Learning Classroom Research
• "The Classroom Teacher's Survival Guide"; Ron L. Partin; 2009