The Teachers Collective
The Teachers Collective aims to reframe inclusion in schools through building teacher capacity, offline and online through customised masterclasses and self-paced courses. They aim to create 1,00,000 inclusive educators in the next few years and can be reached at www.theteacherscollective.co.in
This is the last in a series of 5 articles that addressed operationalising inclusion in all classrooms by every teacher. Read on to understand the importance of the physical layout of a classroom to inclusive practices.
Our series of articles started with an introduction to inclusion and went on to talk about using academic choice, social-emotional learning and gamification to craft inclusive classrooms. This article ties up all loose ends by ensuring that the physical layout of classrooms enables teachers to seamlessly use these aspects in routine teaching-learning.
Setting up a classroom’s layout
Seating
The core principle while planning classroom seating is to ensure that the teacher can reach every student physically. Also, when we want teamwork and other critical life skills to be established and routinely practised, seating that has most students seeing another’s back is not ideal.
The following seating plans are improvements to traditional arrangement because they provide easy access to teachers as well as allow students to vary their seating between the floor and their chairs. Activities are better planned when the seating arrangement provides enough space for a quick ice breaker or sensory break.
Standing Desks at the back of the classroom support students who need to move, allowing them to participate fully in the class while their bodies get the sensory inputs they need. Standing desks do not need to be fancy and can just be classroom furniture from a higher grade, meant for taller students. For this method to work, teachers will need to invest some time with their class, planning how this arrangement will be used by students. Teachers who permit all students to use these desks, after working out some basic rules, report that the attention levels in their classrooms improve and disruptions from student behaviour lessen.
Cluster seating is another alternative, where individual desks are clustered in twos or fours, supporting activity centers and teamwork. Clustering seating also allows the use of ‘centers’ or ‘differentiation stations’, where differentiated activities can be placed with groups of students moving around from center to center. Given the diversity of a classroom, the use of activity centers helps teachers differentiate for all levels in a classroom, while affording them the opportunity to supervise students at every center.
If space is a constraint, portable trays with activities/task for beginners, intermediate learners and advanced learners can be created by the teacher and circulated into these groups. Often, once a teacher is committed to supporting the diverse needs of his/her classroom, the solutions are simple.
Class Library
Another inclusive practice is the class library: students bring a book each that they like and want to share with their peers. The books are collated in one space in the classroom, entered into a register and students are responsible for checking the books out on rotation. Every day, every student gets to check out a book and keep it with them. If they finish their work ahead of time in any subject, they get to read their book.
Reading is the single most important predictor for progress. When a child is reading, after doing their work, not only are they practicing their reading and gaining the many benefits, classroom management becomes easier with lesser distractions. Space in a classroom for this at their students’ height would be required.
Calming Corners
Teaching students to identify their emotions and regulate them are a very important part of inclusive classrooms. Classroom management and behaviour difficulties are reported to take up as much as 40% of a teacher’s attention, significantly eroding teaching-learning time. Safe spaces where students can calm themselves without losing out on learning are critical in every classroom.
Calming corners could have material like behaviour thermometers, fidgets, emotion charts, etc. in addition to mindfulness activities like mandala colouring, etc. to support students in calming themselves enough to be receptive to learning.
calming corner
Game Centres
Game centres in a classroom accelerates engagement and learning. These can be tailored to different subjects and skill levels, making them a versatile and immersive educational tool. These centres need a dedicated space in classroom and requires students to be trained on the usage and objectives at the beginning of the year and need a continuous reinforcement throughout. Managing time to allow all students a chance to participate and keeping the content fresh by regularly rotating the games could be the game changer.
Classroom Displays
Vibrant and creative displays ceases students’ interest and makes the classroom an inviting space for them. Classroom displays are powerful tools that reinforces learning sparks curiosity and growing sense of pride. Growth mindset, gratitude walls, wall of fame promotes a positive learning environment. Displays such as word walls, anchor charts, visual reminders of classroom agreements and routines, help maintain order and structure.
