Turn the Desks! {Slice of Life}

I'm walking down the hallway and look in on a kindergarten room as we are all adjusting our physical spaces.  I go past the door and stop.  I take a few steps back and look in again.  I observe they have desks now and they are facing into the middle of the classroom.  I wander to the door and inquire why.  My friend shared they got permission because the smart board is on the front wall and their word wall is on the back wall.  If the desks were facing forward the word wall may not be used.

I continue down the hallway and ponder what I saw.  I walk into my classroom that I do not like right now.  I have desks facing forwards and a couple of tables until the desks come.  My custodian comes by and I pounce with new thinking.

I share what I saw in kindergarten.  

I ask if I can do this too?  

It makes sense to use the smart board and the back wall for anchor charts, which I always have.

We lost our carpets.

Why do we have carpets?

We have carpets so we can sit in a circle and see each other in conversations.

If we have desks facing forwards we can't see each other and have conversations.

Can I move my four vertical rows so two and two face the middle?

He's nodding his head yes and I think he's just grateful I'm not tearing up as I did 48 hours earlier in the first five minutes I was back in the building.

My other desks come.

We take out the two tables.

We move the desk to face the middle and my whole self settled.    

I can do this.

Students can see each other.

We can have conversations and be safe.

It's not 1920 - turn the desks friends!

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