Well, the desks have been moved and I have to admit the turnout was quite surprising. The students struggled with the new set up at first, especially those students who were set out on their own little islands. Actually, two students came in immediately and found their desk, saw they were alone and moved it where they wanted it to go. After telling them they needed to leave it where it was, I have to admit I was chuckling inside! I did tell those students that if they proved they could handle working by themselves, they would slowly get to move back next to a buddy in the classroom.
I think the best part about moving the desks had to deal with the way the first whole group instructional lesson turned out. We had to work on a lesson involving frames and arrows. My host teacher warned me about this lesson and said that the students over the years either get it, or they don't it's plain and simple. So, I really concentrated on this lesson and I wanted to do the best possible job with it to help my students learn this new concept. While I was teaching this lesson I noticed that all of the students' eyes were in fact on me, they were engaged and they seemed to understand the new information. Some of the students even seemed to be having fun, which really helped the other students pay attention.
Although this was just one lesson, I do believe that this classroom set up is going to be effective for the time being. Eventually the students' desks will need to be changed again because they will get too comfortable with their neighbors, but I was very impressed with the behaviors during the lessons throughout the first week of the desk placements. This has taught me a valuable lesson...try everything! You never know what may work!
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