(Luis Valentino) A key element in effective classroom management is the physical environment of the classroom. This article will give you some great ideas suggested by Luis Valentino for improving your classroom’s physical arrangement. The first step is to create a “center stage” in your classroom, where you are the star attraction! Posters, word walls, and bulletin boards can make a classroom come to life. However, research has shown that for lots of kids, these visual stimulants can be very distracting if overdone. Consider where you will be when you deliver your instruction most of the time. You’ll want to create a rather bland area there so that in your classroom universe, YOU are the bright star that captures students’ attention.
Maybe you have some cute and funny posters like Garfield struggling with a load of books, but don’t let them be a distraction to your “center stage.” It is important to have a place to list notices, events, homework and the like but find a location for these items so they do not interfere with your main teaching area. If the board near your center stage is blank, kids will stay more focused on you and what you are teaching. Then when you write on the board, be sure that everything relates to the current topic or lesson.
You can help kids stay focused by carefully arranging classroom furniture. Items don’t have to live where they were dropped off by the custodians. The physical elements in your classroom can have a great impact on learning. You can’t change the location of windows, doors, or boards, but keeping windows and doors to students’ back, or at least along their sides, can be effective ways to reduce distractions.
There are times when you need to confer with a student or a small group. To minimize distractions keep your “operations center” (your teacher desk and such) away from the center stage in a less conspicuous location. Carefully consider the function of each area of your classroom and the way furniture is arranged.
Luis Valentino suggests that the seating in your classroom should be arranged purposefully. When we talk about the “center stage” this doesn’t suggest that you simply “stand and deliver” your instruction. The “sage on the stage” just isn’t effective for many of today’s kids, according to research on effective teaching. Some combination of the “sage” AND teaching while moving among students is generally the most effective model. Certainly some lecturers do a fine job. But even the most spellbinding lecturer cannot overcome the hidden dynamic related to where students are seated. With the traditional arrangement of rows of desks, the most involved students are those in the front couple of rows because of their closer proximity. Next are the middle rows, somewhat involved but to a lesser extent. Because the back rows are so far away, those students cannot have the same level of involvement as the first rows no matter how much you try to involve them.
Change this dynamic by rearranging your seating to include some aisles you can walk through. As you teach, walking among the desks, you will give ALL students the feeling of those front row students as you reposition yourself here and there in the classroom. When you begin using this new arrangement, explain to the students what you are doing and why. Tell them you are trying a new arrangement to help you be the most effective teacher possible, and you hope it will help them learn as much as possible in your class.
Are you already using many of these ideas in your classroom? Then you are using strategies that research in “best practices” has found to be highly effective (give yourself a pat on the back!). Take a careful look at your classroom environment. It is surprising how a few simple changes can reduce interruptions due minor distractions and keep kids focused. One of the most important elements in effective teaching is a well planned physical set-up of the learning environment!
Dr. Luis Valentino is a career educator who has supervised and mentored hundreds of teachers. Mr. Valentino is a catalyst and driving force behind advancement: thoroughly researches the needs of the students, residents, faculty and the local community.
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