Ditching the Desk

An experimental teacher tries a non-traditional layout in the classroom. He decides to get rid of his teacher’s desk and finds that he is more engaged with his students and that his students were more comfortable due to more space. At the beginning of the year the teacher wasn’t sure if the new layout would truly be better but in the end, the new changes stayed.

“Teachers can remove emotional and cognitive barriers between themselves and students by changing the physical environment of the classroom. Removing the teacher’s desk can make the students perceive the teacher as a learner that they are allied with.”

A high school English teacher that felt his classroom layout was focused more on his comfort rather than the comfort of his students, he decided to remove his own desk. At first he has trouble adjusting to this change, but in the end he found that removing his desk helped his students be more comfortable and were more willing to approach him to ask questions.

Key Takeaways:

Getting rid of the teacher’s desk can drastically change the way a classroom works.

Getting rid of the desk can encourage students to approach the teacher, as well as simply creating more space, among other benefits.

A classroom without a teacher’s desk can feel more like a space shared by students and teachers, instead of a teacher’s space where students visit.

Author: Nicholas Provenzano

Author Quote “

The entire process started with one simple question: “Is this room designed for me or for my students?” It was on this question that I based every decision I made when it came to designing the room.

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