Spatial arrangements unique to grade levels or subjects
Some room arrangements depend significantly on the grade level or subject area of the class. If you teach in
elementary school, for example, you may need to think about where students can keep their daily belongings, such
as coats and lunches. In some schools, these can be kept outside the classroom—but not in all schools. Some
subjects and grade levels, furthermore, lend themselves especially well to small group interaction, in which case you
might prefer not to seat students in rows, but around several small-group tables or work areas. The latter
arrangement is sometimes preferred by elementary teachers, but is also useful in high schools wherever students
need lots of counter space, as in some shops courses, or wherever they need to interact, as in English as a Second
Language courses (McCafferty, Jacobs, & Iddings, 2006). The key issue in deciding between tables and rows,
however, is not grade level or subject as such, but the amount of small group interaction you want to encourage,
compared to the amount of whole-group instruction. As a rule, tables make talking with peers easier, and rows