The group setup

This is the portable that I am in. They are super nice for portables I must admit.

This is what my class looks like with the desks in groups. Presently this is the setup.

Class Pictures and my feelings on before & after class desk arrangement

For most the year the class desk setup has been in the rows you see in the pictures below. I felt for sixth graders this was an entrance into a more mature world. Rows of desks feel more grownup in comparison to groups of desks that often are found at the lower grade levels. The rows of desks offered individuality to the students because they were not having to share space with others. They had their desk that they could establish as their own with a creatively designed name tag and an organisation of their own accord on the inside of their desks. The rows of desks had their shortcomings: group work was cumbersome due to the arrangement, community building might have benefited slightly more with groups, and moving through the desks became an obstacle of sorts. Then one day, change came.
I came into the classroom last week and saw little poddlets of desks scattered about the room. My CT had grouped the desks. My initial reaction was, "Wow there is a lot of room." The space that was created for movement was amazing. From a teaching perspective, when I did my read-aloud, I was able to quickly move from group to group to hear what the students were discussing. This was very contradictory to the struggle of having to hurdle rows to get to student conversation. I also noticed an increase in management power. During my lesson I was able to quickly and quietly move to where some students were talking and place a, "please be quiet while I am teaching" hand on one of their desks. This would have been much more obvious of an issue to the rest of the class if I had to either say something out loud or run through the rows (which I wouldn't) to put the hand down on their desk. The negative that I noticed about this setup, so far, is that students are more likely to talk, or pass notes, or create distractions for a larger group of students easier.
I could go on and on about the benefits and negatives concerning both these setups, but I would love to hear your preference, opinion, or even suggestions. I will try and get a picture of the new arrangement. Also, what is your opinion on starting out with rows and then moving into groups, with this grade level?

For all those that must jump through hoops.

Hoops upon Hoops
by Dr. Ookus

Hoops upon hoops hang from the sky,
dipping down… into many lives.
Some folks ignore them
Some folks deplore them
Some folks just sit down and cry.
The hoops come in sizes of small, medium and large
They get pushed out of the way, pulled down, or hit by cars
But they are always there; those hoops upon hoops, so eventually the folks will have to care
As all hope is lost
As some curl in fear
One man stands up and wipes away his tears.

He stares through the middle of a medium sized hoop, with green, glistening sparkles and solid white loops.

He takes a deep breath and bends at the knees, then leaps through the air; through the hoop, and back on his feet.

He yells at the others still curled in fear, “Jump through them! Jump through them!”
Because that’s the only way to make hoops disappear.

* (I wrote this poem to represent us college folks, and honor the creative use of words that Dr. Seuss lived by. No comments are expecte, this was just for fun.)

Deflated convictions

Before I entered the classroom and met my CT for the first time, I was sure they were going to be rigorously stringent on the rules of the classroom. I thought I would go into the class, listen to the teacher tell the students what was what and who was who when it came to the rules, and then I would leave scared of breaking any of the rules my self. I mean come on, they are rowdy 6th graders...right? That was not the case. My CT was adamant about having the students brainstorm together, discuss together, and agree together on the ways in which they expected THEMSELVES to behave. I was pleased to say the least. I did not go home cowardly that day. I went home understanding that in the real world we make choices every day as to how we should properly act, why shouldn't students make those same choices in the classroom, and pin them on the wall as theirs to abide by.