Pods Please!

            The students in the classroom were arranged in pod seating. I thought this was an idea with both pro’s and con’s. The pro’s of this set up was that the students would be able to bounce ideas off of each other and work together to solve things. This will play a huge part in my classroom because I feel that it is important for students to not only learn from the teacher and themselves, but to also learn form their peers. This will help them create strong relationships with their peers and will also challenge their ideas. Along with the challenging of ideas it will also help them to keep an open mind. This will not only help them initially but will also help them in the long run when they are working on group projects or trying to come up with creative ideas.

            Although there are many positives to the set up of the student’s desks, there is a few downfalls of the idea. One of this is the amount of chatter that would go on between the students. Although socializing is good for kids and important for their relationships, sometimes it can be a distraction from the things they need to focus. This is a problem because it could take away from the students learning experience and even be disrespectful to the teacher. Another con to the set up of desks this way is that students tend to get into petty arguments. I saw some of this during my observation and I realized that even though it was great for the kids being able to work together, there would always be some type of disagreement or difference of opinions.

            I really did like the way the desks were set up even if there could be some conflict. I feel that in a classroom with so many different types of students, there will always be different opinions and thoughts that could result in conflict. The best way to deal with this is by working together, and you cannot get much closer than when you are working in your pods!