Desks In The Classroom

Good morning!

I'm trying to post more often so here I am! 2nd post of 2015!

I want to talk about desk arrangements in your classroom. My room is a bungalow with a promethean board. Additionally, I teach deaf/hard-of-hearing students, with some general education students coming in for 1/2 of the day. Also, we have speech come in as well as our para-professional do small work. Therefore, the desks must be fashioned to face forward and still be flexible with small groups.

In Deaf Ed, it is very common to have a U-shape desk arrangement. However, when you toss in general ed, I found this to be a bit difficult. I asked around and decided this is what works for me!

[My lovely significant other was kind enough to come and move all the desks for me.]

[Please excuse the depressing looking room. We have state testing]

Literacy

 This is the literacy corner of our room. I use this table for my DHH students. I have the sentence strips ready to go as well as the "I Can" statements posted. The students all face me so we are focused on the task at hand.

The Front of the Classroom

 This is the view of the entire classroom from the literacy center. I have twin-desks facing in a  U-Shape. I use these desks only when General Education students are here or when my DHH students need space.

Also, the student's shelf that is under the desk is actually facing the other way. This way, I don't have students making messy desks, playing with this in their desk, nor being off task. Plus, it makes cleaning up the classroom much easier when the students don't have a messy desk at all!

 Front & Center

Here is the very front of the room. Again, I like to have the DHH students sit here. This is especially important when we use the Smart Board. Additionally, the kid I need to watch carefully always has a seat near me :)

 Math

Last but not least, we have our math table. Our Para-professional uses this circle-table for her small group work. Additionally, this works for small group mathematics games.

That's all for desks today! My next post will include how I control pencils. Yes, even in 4th/5th grade we have a pencil problem.

Setting up desks to where each student is successful takes trial and error. However, taking the time to find the right match is well worth it!

Crystal The Teacher

The Only Rules You'll Ever Need

Everyone remembers the classroom teacher with a million rules posted on their wall:

No gum

No food or drink

Stay in your seat

Raise your hand

Listen to the speaker

Use indoor voices

No voices!

I could go on.

For a student with special needs, these are just too many rules. For a student who is a smart aleck, these rules don't cover enough!

How Do I Pick The Rules?

When creating a set of rules, you must keep these two principles in mind:

1. Rules need to cover every aspect of the day

2. Rules need to say WHAT to do

What Rules Cover Everything?

Through out my time working with students [elementary and middle school], I have found that these 4 little rules cover everything [and I mean everything!].

Respect Rules [The Only Rules You'll Ever Need]

1. Respect Yourself

2. Respect Others

3. Respect Materials

4. Take Responsibility for Your Actions

That's it! 

How Do I Make The Rules Work?

Simple: Show and Tell

• Everyday, start your day off by reciting the rules as a group. I like to do a "3, 2, 1...ACTION" to make things fun. 
• After reciting the rules together, ask a student to answer the following: "What is one way you can follow a Respect Rule WITHOUT saying 'no, don't' ?". This way, students know what to do rather than what NOT to do!
• When redirecting students, bring it back to the Respect Rules: "Which Respect Rule were you not following?" If you are consistent with reciting the rules and using the Respect Rules as your script, you'll have students who understand your expectations.

 

If you don't set the expectations, kids won't know how meet them.

 

-Crystal