Yet another technique from Doug Lemov, this one called Draw the Map. When Lemov examines how classrooms structure their environment, he encourages teachers to ask themselves the following questions about student interactions:
1. When should students interact in school?
2. How should they interact in school?
3. What does the ways kids sit signal and incentivize about different interactions?
4. Which kinds of interactions support which kinds of lessons?
5. What other kinds of ways can students be socialized to interact appropriately without necessarily building the classroom around that one idea every day?
He asks teacher to consider what behavior expectations they have for their students, and if their seating arrangements promote those goals. For example, do you want kids to make eye contact with you, but are some kids seated so they look at other kids, but not you? Do you like a quiet work environment, but squeeze kids together facing each other?
He also recommends considering the empty space in the classroom; can you easily maneuver to stand next to any child at any time, without disrupting someone else?
As we start to wrap up this year and think about next year, it might be a good time to start thinking about how we use space to promote our goals for kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment