Classroom Set Up

I'm notoriously bad for changing the setup of my classroom. I'm never satisfied until there are actually kids sitting in the chairs. School here starts September 3rd and I've been in my room for most of this week cleaning and organizing. I can never seem to do anything else until I get this done. I think classroom organization is important. How we organize our space speaks to the things we want to happen there and also to the possibilities. Organizing kids in rows allows one type of pedagogy and learning to best take place. Organizing in groups and tables allows different things to happen. 

 These two views are from the door of my room. I've inherited an eclectic set of tables and desks so I make due with what I've got. 

This is the little back corner of my room that I work very hard to preserve. It has my couch, my two desktops and a table that kids can move to if they need to work with someone who may not sitting close to them. I also use this table a lot to work with small groups of kids or to conference with individuals.

 I don't have a desk. Everything I need is on my laptop (or in the small filing cabinet if I don't have a digital copy).  All of my teaching "stuff" (staples, markers, whatever else) are in the cabinet behind my chair. 

I love technology but I love books too! I've got just over 250 novels in my classroom. Up in the corner is a selection of age appropriate picture books of all kinds: poetry, fiction and non fiction. Closer to the camera are magazines I subscribe to at home (Wired and Sky and Telescope). I bring in my back issues for the kids to read. I point out articles from them both that I think the kids would be interested in. They are usually a hot item. I also have a lot of maps that the kids can read. I have old maps of the area, canoeing maps, maps from different cities I've traveled to, etc. Again, a lot of kids find them interesting.

 My ten eee pcs (OK, only nine right now while one of them is out being reimaged. I asked my division geeks to hack the linux os and put phun and audacity onto one of them so I  could reimage the rest of them). These machines sit on a side counter and come and go throughout the day. Kids use them for almost everything. While I'm not certain how many students I'll have yet in my classroom (somewhere in the range of 21 - 24), between these ten, my two desktops and whatever other machines kids from home, I should have about one computer for approximately every 1.5 kids. Pretty good odds.

There are a few more pictures in the full set if you're interested.

Tags: classroom, school, eee pcs, asus

Comments

[Claire Thompson]

Clarence, thanks for sharing these photos of your room and how you set things up. It is always interesting to see how different teachers do things. For years I taught in a science lab with about 8 fixed sink stands; it didn't allow for many different configurations.

[Corinne]

Very interesting...I really enjoyed your pictures but mostly what is included in your classroom and why. It would be great if more teachers did this.

[John Larkin]

Such a bright and cheery room. You know what surprised me most Clarence? The fact that you are in your classroom on the 22nd August given that school does not start till the 3rd September.

Here in Australia the first time a teacher may walk into the classroom will be the day that the students return to school, if not the very first lesson itself.

I remember many years back I went back to my school during the holidays to repaint the blackboard and a significant number of my colleagues thought I was strange when I shared that with them.

The vast majority of our schools shut down during the holidays.

I took some photographs of a reading recovery styled classroom located in Canberra Primary School in Singapore. They are posted on this rather dated web page that I set up for my sister who was visiting my wife and I in Singapore at that time. Margaret is a primary school teacher. Your readers may be interested to view them.

http://www.larkin.net.au/webquest/

Cheers, John.