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Writing Lesson Plans
Seating Arrangements
Animations by S. Holtrop 1997
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A Traditional Classroom often is set up with the desks in rows, the teacher's desk or table somewhere in front of
the room, and student desks moved far enough apart to prevent easy wandering of eyes
during tests. This arrangement packs desks into the room efficiently and lets student have
easy access to their seats, but it certainly does not have to be the default room
arrangement. The learning environment should be designed according to learning
objectives and desired outcomes not just habit or a janitor's best
guess. However, this arrangement is probably the best for preventing cheating on
traditional testing days. The role of the teacher
here seems that of a cop. |
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Discussions & Debates and many other interactive classroom activities, where the whole class is looking and
listening and contributing, probably work better if the students' seats are somehow facing
each other. Some teachers find this arrangement of two sides with an isle down the middle
(like Congress) works well. Put the teacher's desk in the back of the room to get it out
of the way. It's still within easy access to grab a stack of handouts, etc. The role of
the teacher here is kind of like Speaker of the House. |
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A variation on the bicameral (two sides) arrangement is the Horseshoe. Remember, though, every arrangement should be made based on what you
want the lesson to accomplish. Both the bicameral and horseshoe arrangements work well for handing
out stuff. The role of the teacher seems to be coordinator and collaborator in
these classrooms. |
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Lastly, here's an arrangement for Group Work.
Here the teacher's role is facilitator. |
Links to other Lesson Planning pages:
Lesson Plan Main Page
Anatomy of a Lesson Plan: Seven
Elements of a Lesson Plan (Hunter)
Anatomy of a Lesson Plan: Critical
Thinking (Bloom's Taxonomy)
Anatomy of a Lesson Plan: Multiple
Intelligences--7 Ways of Knowing (Gardner)
Anatomy of a Lesson Plan: Instructional
Scaffolding (Bruner; Langer & Applebee)
Teachers' Roles: What happens to
learning with different teacher behaviors?
Seating Arrangements: How do
different classroom arrangements affect learning?
Sailing Lessons: See how
teaching sailing is broken down into lesson components
Spoonfeeding: Don't!
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You can do a Google search on "lesson plans" (about 69 million sites!). So
narrow your search; e.g., "chemistry lesson plans". Or click on one of the lesson plan web sites below:
(Be sure to give credit for borrowed ideas if you're doing
lesson plans for a class!)
Dr.
Holtrop's Page |
