What impression do students have when they walk into your classroom?
Whether we like it or not, first impressions matter. When students walk into a classroom, they get an immediate impression of what learning will be like in your class. A classroom with bare walls and desks separated facing the front of the room may signal that the teacher primarily uses direct instruction, while a classroom that is filled with colorful displays with desks set up in groups may give a more collaborative vibe. There isn’t a perfect or right classroom. Each teacher has a different personality and a different style, but creating a classroom environment where students feel comfortable and invited into learning does make a difference.
Below, you can see various iterations of my classroom over the past few years. Originally, I had traditional desks set up in groups. Each group of desks had motivational quotes and examples of questions that promote mathematical discourse. I was later fortunate to receive a grant that allowed our school to purchase whiteboard tables for my room. The whiteboard tables were a game changer. I didn’t need to train students to participate in mathematical discourse. The whiteboard tables naturally led to collaboration and peer discussion. Students naturally questioned each other and shared their different strategies. They also supported each other and encouraged each other to persevere.
Once we returned from our Covid virtual learning experience, my classroom returned to traditional desks, which were organized in separated rows. When comparing the pictures of the different desk arrangements, it is clearly apparent that each arrangement creates a different feel to the classroom.
Once hybrid learning ended and Covid subsided a bit, my whiteboard tables were returned and my classes started to feel a little back to normal. I was able to have students work in groups again. I could see their work on the tables and hear their thinking through their discussions. I felt like it brought back a sense of community again that had been missing during virtual and hybrid learning. It also brought me back a little joy in teaching that I hadn’t realized was absent.
Recently, I have been moving my students out to our Makerspace to explore having small groups collaborate at vertical non-permanent surfaces. I learned about this technique in Peter Liljedahl’s book called Buiding Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics. I love how students can see each other’s work, share ideas, and borrow ideas from other groups to move their thinking forward.
