Classroom Seating Arrangements

I had the opportunity to visit several classrooms in my building. Two years ago when we moved into this school building, teachers were given the option of having tables or desks. About half of the teachers chose desks and half chose tables. In the rooms I visited I saw several different seating arrangements with tables and desks. One teacher had her desks arranged in a semi-circle and another teacher had his desks in rows. There were teachers with tables in a U shape and other teachers that had their desks arranged in rows, with two students per table. Finally, I saw another teacher who had her students sitting four to a table.

Through my observations, it appeared that the teachers who had tables were able to move around the classroom much easier than the teachers with desks. There was more empty space in the rooms with the tables, so both teachers and students were able to maneuver with ease. This did allow for smoother transitions when students had to turn in work, sharpen pencils or leave the classroom.

In my observations and discussions with teachers, the teacher that had tables used more cooperative learning and grouping. The teacher that had her desks in a semi-circle had the students work with partners and the teacher who had his students sit in rows appeared to use the least amount cooperative learning and grouping. He said that he did use it, but not on a regular basis.

All of the teachers had four student computers in the room and they were all lined up in the back of each teacher's classroom. Each teacher also had a laptop, smart board and projector. During follow up conversations I learned that most teachers use their laptop, projector and smart board and do not use the student computers. If a teacher wants all of the students to work on computers, he or she signs out one of the computer labs. The position of the computers in all of the rooms I observed made it apparent that they were not a large part of the teachers' instruction.

Room arrangements can help a supervisor understand a teacher's instructional techniques as well as plan professional development opportunities. If a teacher has his or her students sitting in rows and does incorporate cooperative learning, grouping and student interaction, this would be noted during an observation and discussed during a post-observation conference. As a supervisor, if I observed that many of my teachers were not incorporating these strategies, I would plan professional development which would train my teachers on how to use these strategies effectively.

It is important to realize though that just because a teacher has his or her room arranged a certain way, does not mean that it stays that way. As a teacher, I move my students and change my room arrangement as needed. Even though a teacher had his or her room set up in rows on the day I did my observation, that does not mean it always looks that way and that the teacher does not use cooperative learning and grouping. That is why I had follow up conversations with the teachers to learn more about their arrangement and instructional style. When doing an observation it is important to realize that you are only seeing a snapshot of that teacher's instruction.