Rearrange Your Desks This Summer with These Great Layout Ideas

June 26, 2015

As we’ve mentioned before, summer break is the perfect time to for classroom renovations. As part of your summer classroom makeover, you may want to try rearranging your desks for a more cohesive learning environment. Here are a few great layout ideas for you to test out over the break:

The Dance Floor, or Horseshoe Layout – This layout is perfect for teachers who are big on encouraging a great deal of student interaction. Set your classroom desks in a half circle with all of the desks facing a center focal point. This will leave a nice open space for you to utilize for interactive teaching and give you more mobility while instructing the class. This seating style is recommended for classes on the smaller side, since it tends to take up more space than traditional seating arrangements.

The Runway Arrangement – If you’re likely to pace while you lecture, this is the perfect seating arrangement for you! Simply arrange the student desks in rows facing inward, leaving a large aisle gap in the middle. Remember to make the number of rows even on each side of the gap. This seating style will encourage class discussion a great deal, since each side will be directly facing the other.

The Clustered Arrangement – This seating arrangement is best for assigning group work, and helps to keep classroom activities organized. Set up each station with four desks, two on each side pushed together. In addition to making group work significantly easier, you can also number each cluster or station and use the numbers to help make sure your classroom functions in an orderly fashion. For example, you can call the students by station for pack-up, dismissal or lunch.

Do you have another great desk layout idea? Let us know in the comments section or share your ideas on our Facebook page!

Nickerson Corporation is a leader in the classroom furniture industry, supplying educational furniture and equipment to schools in New York and New Jersey for the past 60 years. We realize the importance of providing reliable, comfortable and flexible classroom furniture for students to learn, play, and exercise on. To learn more about how we can help you transform your school or classroom into the perfect educational environment, call 631- 666-0200.