Teaching Secrets: Arranging Optimal Classroom Seating

Actually, the author of the article lost me at "U"!

First of all, my old mind just doesn't seem to "do the math" well anymore. When she said she arranged the nine tables with four on each side and two on the base, well...hell. Either that's one of those math paradoxes that I was never very good at, or it's the new "new math"...where 4 + 4 + 2 = 9.

But...

The math didn't matter when I considered the "U", or the "circle", or any other arrangement where students are looking each other in the eye.

In my experience (back in the "good old days"), that was the recipe for distraction, for disaster. Then, again...that negativity on my part is reflective of my antiquated "sage on the stage" approach which is forbidden in this age of educational enlightenment...

...an era in which education gurus and reformers tout the productivity of small groups, student learning centers, whatever...

...where the most educated person in the room is relegated to being a guide on the side...withholding the right answers until the students have exhausted their failed attempts at personal discovery.

Yes...

As you active CATs look forward to Tuesday, August 14th, this retired saber-toothed (dentured!) CAT fondly gazes (squints?) at Saturday, August 14th, Saturday, August 15th, Saturday etc.

No need for a workshop on preparing a daily lesson plan for me...