Setting Up Your Classroom

Setting up your classroom requires some forethought and planning, but once you have it right, you will be thankful.  A poorly set up room can change a class of darlings into a class of demons, and it all depends on a few simple rules that I learned (the hard way!) to keep in mind when setting up my room.

1.    Plan how you want to run your classroom before you try to arrange furniture.

How did you like things arranged when you had student teaching experiences?  Did you prefer your students to be in rows so their attention was fully on you?  Or did you prefer them to be seated in groups so they could interact with each other?  This will largely depend on your teaching philosophy and personal preference, but it is important to consider this first, as you won’t know what tools you need to achieve your dream classroom until you have that dream clearly defined in your mind.

2.       When you have decided how you want to run your classroom, take stock of what you have and what you need.

I remember my very first teaching experience was in a school in Australia.  I took over from an older teacher who had her students seated in rows, with very little room around the tables.  I knew that I had enough desks for every student, but I had no tables for group work, no white board (only a very small old chalk board), a huge desk for me and a cupboard. 

I made a checklist of what I needed for my dream classroom, then established what was absolutely necessary for me to be able to function.  I went to my principal with this list and asked where she thought I might find some of this furniture.  Interestingly, most of the things I needed were already in the school, but were unused in other rooms, locked away in cupboards, or stored in the car park!  With a bit of creativity, I was able to transform these unused items into almost everything I needed to run my classroom. 

If there is something that is absolutely necessary that is not available somewhere in your school building, you could approach your principal about purchasing new items from a budget most closely related to your area of need.  If your school is of limited means, perhaps you could approach your principal about running a small fundraising drive or stall in order to access the funds you need? 

Alternatively, you could even ask permission to request parent donations of unwanted furniture, or approach local companies on the school’s behalf to request sponsorship. The options are only limited by your imagination!

3.        When you have everything you need, plan your room around your field of vision.

I remember making a grave mistake once as a new teacher.  I wanted to teach small groups in a corner of my room.  In order to get students’ full attention, I seated them in a semi circle around me, with them facing out of the corner.  Big mistake!  I had no idea what the other twenty children were doing while I was teaching the small group, and so chaos temporarily reigned!  Instead, seat yourself so you have a full range of vision of all students, even while teaching small groups, as the diagram below represents.