Classroom Management Tips:
Ways to Improve Your
Classroom Arrangement

The physical environment of the classroom is a key element in effective classroom management. There are some wonderful ideas you can use to improve your classroom's physicalarrangement. In order to be the star attraction in the classroom you will need to create a "center stage." Certainly a classroom comes to life with word walls, bulletin boards, and posters, but for many students visual stimulants like these are very distracting. Take time to think about where you are when you deliver most of your instruction. It is best to create a bland area there so you become the brightest star in your classroom universe.

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.

Arrange furniture to keep kids focused. Just because the custodians put your cabinets there and your desk here etc. doesn't mean that's where those items have to live! Carefully consider the physical elements in your classroom and how they can impact learning. Where are the windows, the doors, and the boards? Keep windows and doors to the students' backs (or at least their sides) to cut down distractions.

It's also a good idea to put your "operations center"--your teacher desk and such--away from your center stage and in a less visible location. This helps minimize distractions when students are doing seat work or group work while you confer with a student or a group at your desk. Take a good look at your furniture arrangement, and how various areas in your room function.

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.

By rearranging your seating to include some aisles here and there you can change this dynamic. Walking among the students as you teach will give ALL students a feeling similar to those front row students since you are at some times near every student. Explain to the students why you are beginning a new arrangement. Tell them you want to be the most effective teacher possible and are trying strategies to help them learn as much as possible in your class.

I'm sure there are many of these strategies you are already using in your classroom (give yourself a pat on the back!). These strategies have been found to be highly effective by research in "best practices." Always consider your classroom environment. A few simple changes can make a surprising improvement in the way students remain focused, and help reduce interruptions caused by minor distractions. Effective teaching begins with a well planned physical set-up of the learning environment!

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