Document Collection and Reflection

Photographs of the classroom arrangement

Date: March 13th- 24th Time: 7:45am- 2:50pm

What kind of document did you collect?

Photographs of the classroom arrangement from the class I observed at and a fellow colleges
class in a different building.

What does this document show?

The first 12 pictures are pictures of the classroom arrangement from the class I observed at and
the last 5 pictures are of a fellow colleges class in a different building. You can see there are a lot
of differences between the classrooms and the first thing I noticed was the individual desks. My
cooperating teacher had the desks in a U shape with a few desks in the middle of the U so all the
students can have a clear view of the smartboard. The chairs are behind the desks so that the
opening is not right in front of the students, it is on the other side of them. The colleagues
classroom did not have any desks at all. The colleagues classroom consisted of a couch, tables,
and chairs. Both classrooms had a reading nook, a dedicated reading area and included an
abundance of material displayed on the walls such as motivational texts, definitions, resources,
etc.

Reflection: What are your thoughts/opinions about this document?

I thought it was a good idea to arrange the students desks in a U shape so they can have the best
view of the board but I do not think I would personally do this in my classroom. Having the
chairs not facing the students also seems strange to me because they would not have quick access
to the materials that they would keep inside the desk such as: pencils, crayons, notebooks. It was
also my first time seeing a classroom with no desks at all. I can see no desks working well in a
lower grade such as K-2 (It was a 2nd grade classroom), but I cannot imagine what 4th-5th graders
would do in an open space with no desks. I like this idea because it feels very comfortable and
home like and I wish I had seen how the teacher had instruction in this setting because of the
limited desk space. I believe both classrooms did a great job of utilizing the use of material on
their walls. All the material I noticed in both classroom is relevant to what the students
learn/learned/and will be learning. I know a lot of teachers try to hang things up just for it to
look pretty but that was not the case in these classrooms. Everything in the class was useful
materials students can take to their advantage and look at when theyre struggling. One thing I
especially liked from My cooperating teachers classroom is the clock. My cooperating teacher
labeled the times across the clock in 5 minute increments (:05, :10, :15, :20, :25, :30, :35, :40, :
45, :50, :55, :00); not only did my CT label the clock by 5 minute increments, my CT also
included quarter after, half past, and quarter till. As someone who struggled in math I cannot
emphasize how helpful this little visual is. Time is an important standard that is learned in 3rd
grade and I loved this simple yet effective way of helping students visualize time. I found both
classrooms a little cluttered but at the same time it is hard when you want to add so many great
resources to your classroom but do not have the space to do so. I loved that both classrooms had
a reading nook this is a necessary component of all classrooms. My cooperating teacher
classroom even had board games available for students to play on their down time (Ive always
loved this idea since I was in Elementary School and I look forward to bringing this to my
classroom as well).