Teaching Space

The classroom I am in is set up with whiteboards in the front of the class with students desks facing the whiteboards and the teacher's desk at the back of the room. This works well for traditional teaching in front of the class with the whiteboard there for visual aids. However, my CT incorporates other types of media into the lesson plans on a daily basis. This generally involves projecting lyrics, images, or videos onto a screen in the front of the room from a digital projector in the center of the room which hangs from the ceiling. The projector is connected to a DVD/VCR and also the teacher's desktop computer. The problem with this set up is that in order to manipulate the media, the teacher must be at the back of the room and the students must be facing forward. I have noticed that it is much more difficult to keep the class focused when their teacher is not directly in front of them, even if she is talking or explaining something. If I were to rearrange the room, I would move the teacher's desk to be in front and to one side in the classroom so that she could more effectively manage the class without having to teach from behind them and cause them to lose focus.

The rest of the surroundings in the room I find to be very appropriate. There are several projects displayed including letters to Saint Nick and mobiles that the students made to represent their lives. There is also a lot of art and I am currently designing a bulletin board for Le Petit Prince, which the upper level class will be reading in a couple weeks. These decorations provide affirmation of the students' skills and also make the learning environment more engaging.