Preparing the classroom for global education
The beginning of a new school year, new term or teaching appointment is both an exciting and a stressful time. The teacher enters the classroom and looks around, trying to visualise how the furniture can be arranged and what it will look like. ‘Is there enough room to set up a home?’ ‘No corner wet area close by - painting will be a challenge’. ‘How can we fit a sharing circle space in here as well as all the tables?’ This is the time to consider the set-up of your classroom and rearrange it to ensure that it promotes interdependence and inclusivity
Does the set-up of your classroom promote interdependence?
- Tables could be arranged in groups to support the implementation of group work, with some tables set up for partner work.
- A separate table could be set up as a behaviour management support for students who are continually disruptive. Working with others needs to go hand in hand with the responsibility of allowing others to work. Seating disruptive students with well-behaved students on a regular basis as a behaviour management strategy may have a negative effect on the class culture.
- No set seating is preferable to set seating. Exceptions will include students who have specific needs due to a particular disability. Set seating restricts the opportunity for students to work and interact with a wide range of class members.
- Ensure floor space for a sharing circle and also for students to work as partners or groups in learning activities across the curriculum. This will mean aiming for fewer tables.
- Clearly label classroom resources and ensure they are accessible to students. This will enable students to have control over their environment, as well as becoming responsible for packing equipment away in the correct places and learning to use resources in a fair way. For example, having paper kept in the cupboard so that it is not wasted and having students ask permission to access it will keep them dependent on the teacher and may not teach them to use paper carefully. Values developed when using classroom resources fairly may influence the students' use of the world's resources when they are adults
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