The Circle Classroom [Reflection 1-4]

       As a future English teacher, I definitely see myself using the circle classroom (picture C). The only thing I would modify in the picture on page 7 is the location of the teacher's desk. I would either put my desk in the circle (like in the picture above), or sit at a student desk.

       This desk arrangement was definitely not the way most of the classrooms I attended in school were laid out. Most of them were in rows, much like picture A. I think the circle arrangement implies that every student is equally important; there are no students in the front of the room, and no students in the back corner. Each student is able to look at whomever is speaking and give that person his/her undivided attention. This arrangement definitely applies a sense of groupism and community that I'm looking for as far as atmosphere goes in my classroom. With this desk arrangement, I'm hoping for more student-led instruction rather than myself lecturing the whole time.
      This configuration makes me comfortable as a teacher because I can slip in and out of the learning process as needed. I would've liked this arrangement best as a student also. 

      I would see myself walking around sometimes. Other times I would see myself sitting outside of the circle, letting the students discuss, but I would also facilitate and sit within the circle as needed. The second arrangement I would choose is choice B. I think it expresses a lot of the values of my first choice. I might use choice B if I was teaching something that required the board, like grammar. 

     From most teacher led, to most student led, I would rate them as following:

               a, b, e, d, c

     I see my students discussing a book, or text (whether it be multi-media, or not), and forming their own opinions, questions and answers. This allows them to form their own ideas and relate the work(s) to what matters to them, not what matters to me as the teacher.