When we are thinking about effective classroom setup for a new school year, there are a few different things that we want to consider. We want to make sure that our classroom is welcoming for our new students, but we also want to make sure that we make some practical decisions about the placement of different areas in our classrooms.
Strategic Placement of the Teacher Desk for Effective Classroom Setup
When we are setting up our classroom we want to make sure that we are keeping in mind a more strategic placement of our teacher desks. Some teachers use their desks as a central command center throughout the day. Others use it just as a workspace during planning periods. Either way, you’ll want to place your desk in a corner that students don’t pass by all the time. I would suggest putting brightly colored tape on the floor around your desk to make clear boundaries for yourself and your students.
Create a Teaching Station
You’re also going to want to designate a space as your teaching station. This is where you’re going to arrange all of your teaching materials for the day (copies, pencils, paper, dry erase markers, etc.). This may be your desk, but more likely it will be a separate space that will be centrally located. Having this designated space will ensure that you’re not wasting any of the important instructional time and invite student misbehavior when you’re having to search for your supplies.
Set Up Your Entry and Exit Area
Arrival and dismissal can be the most stressful part of the school day for teachers with the number of things that have to be done. To alleviate some of this stress, make sure that your entry and exit area is open and that you have incredibly explicit about how you expect students to enter and leave the classroom. In addition, designate space for students to pick up materials on their way in the door in the morning or drop off homework and exit tickets at the appropriate times. This doesn’t have to be one space, but make sure that they’re all clearly marked.
Purposeful Posters and Bulletin Boards
As teachers, we oftentimes make the mistake of creating gorgeous bulletin boards, but then never referring to them throughout the class day. Don’t get me wrong, I love those Pinterest Perfect bulletin boards, but if they’re not really being used, they can be wasted space. I always love using a bulletin board for word walls for each subject and placing anchor charts on bulletin boards for students to refer to throughout the school year.
I also love to designate a bulletin board for student work. This was something that we were required to do in one of the schools that I worked at because we would have district officials as well as families in the building from time to time and we wanted to show off what our students were completing.
Prioritize the Front
Students spend most of their time in the classroom facing the front. As such, make sure you’re deliberate about what you’re putting on the front wall. This is a great place to put important information such as classroom rules, consequences, goals, motto, etc.
You’ll also want to designate some board space for your daily lesson information (date, agenda, I Can statements, etc.). With that being said, you also want to make sure that it’s not too distracting. You don’t want students to be confused about where to look when you are instructing.
Minimize Clutter
Classroom clutter is wildly distracting to students. Try to create effective filing systems for yourself and for your students. Designate where students should turn in their work and where they should put their materials. Create space for yourself to keep papers that still need to be graded and space for where you’re going to pass back paper.
Make Changes as Needed
The setup of your classroom is bound to change over time. If you’re unsure about how to arrange your desks, where to put a certain bulletin board, or how to organize your whiteboard space, pick a way and run with it. If a week, month, or quarter in you see the need to change something, go ahead and do it. I constantly make little adjustments to continue having an effective classroom setup and to make it more efficient.
