I attended an educational seminar where a guest speaker was talking about common mistakes made in the classroom and the most significant one was the "classroom condo." He asked how many of us had the desk, with the file cabinet, with maybe a greeting card from a former student, or perhaps a plant. This is our personal space but when we move in, we tend to forget the key points of effective communicating such as moving around the classroom. As we work the day to day we all fall prey to creating habits, and we all have been there from time to time. Walking the room, accomplishes so many tasks to help the flow of the class. It essentially elmiates the sneaky students who like to text message under the desk, it changes the direction your voice comes from which breaks up the monotony of the lecture, and it shows the students that you are very comfortable with the material you are lecturing because you can speak "off the cuff" and not be 100% dependant on reading from their text book. I was taught at the beginning of my teaching career that the worse thing I could do was read the book to my students. That is an insult to their intelligence and it takes the responsibility away from them. So, pack up your old greeting cards, and take your plant home. Use your desk area to grade papers and as a place to organize durring your planning time, but dont rely on your condo when you should be teaching!
