My first week of teaching! Already I'm confronting the ways in which some things that I've been doing run contrary to my philosophy of teaching and learning. For example, I let students choose their own seats. I think I felt like I was treating them like adults by letting them choose where they sat. But what has happened is that friends sit with friends and my classes are dotted with little cliques of students sitting together, not paying attention, first of all. But also creating a classroom atmosphere that doesn't feel inclusive and communal.
What I realize now is that if I really want to build a community of learners, I have to give students a chance to work with other people. Then I have to insist that they do it.
To that end, I went into my classroom this weekend and rearranged all the desks. When the kids come in tomorrow, I'm assigning seats!
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