Tables vs. desks
By Angela Watson
I’ve always wanted to get the student desks out of my classroom, and I finally took the plunge this year and had them all replaced with tables. (Clearly, this furnishing decision made me a favorite with our custodial staff.)
So far? I’m loving it, which is a surprise, because I never liked having my students’ desks facing each other. The kids just talked constantly and were always distracting each other. I felt like I was setting them up for failure: putting 6 other kids right in their faces, and then begging them all day to turn their heads and look at me. It’s okay after March, when the FCAT is over and the kids are doing lots of cooperative work and projects, but until then, I really like everyone to be facing moi.
Somehow it’s a little different with tables. There’s no place for the kids to hide stuff, and nothing for them to play with while I’m teaching. Not having their own little areas also makes it harder for them to daydream or not follow along. Granted, I only have 20 kids in the class, which greatly reduces the talking temptation. But I would definitely call my experiment a success.
Here are the bins I keep on each table. (They were $1.50 at Target in August.) I have a small piece of velcro underneath to keep the kids from bumping the entire thing onto the floor. The bins hold pencils, erasers, dry erase markers, highlighters, dry erase boards, and felt squares to use as erasers for the boards. They also hold ‘works in progress’ folders for each child to organize papers commonly used or referenced on multiple days.
All workbooks and texts are stored either individual cubbies (I call children #1-10 to get their books, then #11-20 so there’s not a stampede)…
…and classroom supplies like scissors and crayons are stored at the Supply Station (here are similar ones from Walmart.) Each person at a table has a job, and one of those jobs is Container Helper (retrieving and returning the container of supplies).
Team jobs are determined according to which seat each child sit in. For example, the person at the head of the table is always the Trash Helper (to whom the kids give all their scraps after a project so that only 4 kids are going over the trash can). The person to the right of the Trash Helper is the Folder Helper, who retrieves and returns reading folders, writing folders, etc. from the Supply Station. The other two jobs are Paper Passer (to whom I give a stack of papers for the team to complete during a lesson, and that person makes sure everyone at the team has one) and Paper Collector (who collects the same papers after the lesson is over and makes sure everyone has a name on his/her paper and everything’s facing the right way). Read more about class jobs/helpers here.
Loving it! I’m really emphasizing team work this year (“If there’s someone at your table who is not yet on page 197, please show them”) and the kids are getting impressively good at helping each other out and working as a unit.
Anyone else use tables? Suggestions for making them work?
UPDATE: Check out the classroom desk arrangements page!
Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
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Hi, Beth! It's never too late to comment on the blog!
YES, I still love my tables, and would NEVER want to go back to desks! I say GO FOR IT, assuming you do have cubbies for the kids to keep their stuff. Feel free to message me on the Facebook fan page if you want to discuss this some more. 🙂
Hi, I am going to change from desk to tables this school year. My question is what do you do when state testing comes along. Do your students take the state test at the tables?
Many of my students leave the classroom during state testing (ESE, ESL, etc.) so I have far fewer kids. I let the ones who are still in the room with me spread out and sit in different places.
I teach second grade and I love my tables. I have had tables for the last nine years and would never consider switching to desk even though a couple of my colleagues have. We have little tubs under the table for each student to store a few things (put in by the custodian staff). Sometimes the tubs fall and that can be annoying. Tables help keep the room neat, groups are already formed, and students learn to work as a team.
My tables are new this year. I teach 4th grade and I wasn't sure if they would work, but I really wanted to try it. It's only been 3 weeks, but I LOVE my tables!! I'll never go back to desks. I use cubbies and magazine holders to store individual students things and community boxes for table "stuff". Each child has a small supply box on the table for pencils and crayons (which we use constantly). I have round tables that seat 4, and that seems to work well with my group.
Hello,
I am very interested in the idea of tables. I am in a modular classroom with a homeroom of 27 students as well as a switch class with 28 students. Do you see the tables idea possible? I have access to tables and I have bookcases. However, space is very limited because I need an area for all students to gather.
A few more questions: How are the tables different from desks facing each other? The students are still facing each other.
I find that tables are better in a small room because they take up less space. It should work well for you!
You’re right that students are still facing each other, so there is still some temptation to talk when they’re not supposed to. However, there are less distractions overall because they don’t have as much stuff in front of them, so they are less likely to play around.
I hope the new year found you happy with your choice. Although it is only my first year in a ‘learning cottage’, I am managing pretty well. I teach fifth grade math and science/social studies to 27 students in my morning group and 26 students in my afternoon group in a modular classroom. It is only 22 x 28 with four walls and four windows and two doors. It did come with a wooden closet, but that was it for storage. I have a collection of book cases I have acquired over the years and I haunt the discount furniture section of the local Lakeshore for super discounts, so I have storage for books and math manipulatives. I also manage to include a trapezoid table that holds a pc and laptop for student use, a round table that holds 4 netbooks and is for student use for small group work, and two trapezoid tables at angles to each other to form a larger table surface at the back of the room that is used for small group with me or for the other two netbooks and student groups, when I am not using the arrangement.
My students sit at six tables. The front two tables are long-side parallel to the front of room/board/projection screen area and four students sit at each. The other four tables are perpendicular to the front wall and five students can sit at each. Each table has a table tote to hold calculators, scissors, glue sticks. Each table has a 3 drawer chest (Walmart, $14 each) that fits under the unused end of the table and holds dry erase materials, paperback atlases, math manipulatives, science journals, VersaTiles tile sets, and more. Each chair has a seat pocket that students use for their folders, agenda, and supplies. I had to do away with binders as there is no space to store them during the day, and I cannot abide the prospect of binders under foot. I do have a rolling cart that I use for housing students’ math texts and social studies texts. Students generally access their math text online when needed so they rarely take home the books.
I love the idea of Velcro to keep the bins from being tossed to the floor. I don’t have tables, but I still utilize student jobs and bins. I like your idea of assigning jobs based on seat position instead on student characteristics. Very fair. Do you allow students to sit in a different seat each day? Or must they remain for a week? Etc. I agree with your “teamwork” focus- kids taking responsibility for each other is powerful!
My kids always moved around a lot. I would move them if I felt like there were personality conflicts and also just to mix things up. They also individually requested to change seats a lot, and I almost always accommodated them. Everyone got to do each job many, many times in my classroom!