The Classroom as a Vehicle for Growth
In the classroom, students have to get from A to B. A being the beginning of the academic year and B being the following academic year. Thus an organized classroom is vital for success. It is important that a lack of chaos is present. Classroom management and student achievement often go hand-in-hand. Indeed, according to a 2003 study conducted by Sokal, Smith & Mowat, the majority of teachers – irrespective of their experience in the field – view classroom management as a high priority and an area of concern.
One way of facilitating classroom organization is by looking at how other, more experienced teachers have accomplished this. As well, reading up on the topic and seeing how children respond to different classroom layouts, can be very helpful.
Although teachers are not completely in control of their classroom environment (for example there is little they can do about physical problems in the classroom, etc.), there is still a lot they can do to make it more pleasant. And they do have control of how the classroom furniture is set out. The most effective teachers are those who invest at the start of the year on checking out the environment and figuring out what can be done to improve on it.