My own two cents

Reading through everyone's #28daysofwriting has been wonderful. Keeping me up way to late in the night mind you. One of the reasons I wanted to attempt this writing is to feel more comfortable blogging. I am not the best blogger and I always feel a little embarrassed about what I write when I read others. But I also wanted to read other blogs, reflect on them and try and express my ideas, thoughts, opinions in my own blog.

+Bridget ComptonMoen wrote a blog the other day that I could relate well to - allocated seats and desks! As schools all move to MLE/MLP we are told/shown about all the different ways we can set up a open plan classroom. Getting away with the single cell rooms and creating all these different spaces where students can place themselves. Modern learning environments support strengths-based teaching and can offer students and teachers flexibility, openness and access to resources. Providing teachers with an open, flexible learning environment can lead to the development of a robust, continuously improving community of practice (Core Education).

But the desks have always been something some teachers can't get their head around. Even the idea of not having their own teachers desk! I don't have a teachers desk and I love it. I work on one of the student tables and tend to mark with my students rather than at the end of the day. This was an easy choice for me but I know other teachers battle with this.

Like Bridget she to was finding the issue I had with my girls- the need for desks. My classroom is slightly different to Bridget's in that we have tables rather than desks but we were also a single cell room and not officially a MLE. In previous post I have spoken about all the changes I had made in my old classroom and what my students felt about this. Most of my students went from having to sit in allocated seats to suddenly being taught by me and having an option of where to sit. Most coped with this fine and enjoyed the idea that they didn't have to sit in the same place everyday. I was lucky enough that I had 'acquired' a couple of the old school wooden flip top desks which I was using for my 'quiet' area.

I don't have an answer but I do know my girls didn't like working on the ground. The big cushions that I had sourced were only ever used by the boys. They also weren't keen on lower tables either and voted against them. The norm isn't always for everyone.  Mornings were always interesting because you began to see how they 'allocated' their seat by placing enough items on a table to show everyone else that was where they wanted to sit. Like Bridget, I did have students find this hard as sometimes they did feel left out. I guess we forget at this age where you sit and who you sit by is a big thing.

I will admit that sometimes I felt I was pushing them into something they didn't like. I had moved away from listening to their feelings and was trying hard to develop this MLE with all the different break out spaces. The last thing I wanted to do was make them feel uncomfortable when they entered the room. I spoke a lot to my students about the changes and they were very honest with me. In the end I think we found that balance between enough tables and where they wanted them.

But I do wonder how far one way do we go? I don't want to see students sitting in the same chair on the same table with the same people all year. But I also don't want them to feel uncomfortable or worried about where they might sit. There has to be that balance and sometimes what other classes/ schools do may not be right for your class.

As we move to our new school and incorporate more MLP, our principal does remind us a lot that what we do has to work for OUR students and community. That we don't do things just because that is what other schools do or what the recent research says. In the end is having or not having a desk the biggest issue of MLE? I really enjoyed Arnika @BrownArnika commented she left on Bridget's blog and thinks she sums it up well. In the end students can learn any where sitting on anything but they can't learn if the teaching is boring, unengaging and unrelated to them.

#day6