How to divide students into thirds and fourths
By DW Davis
@DWDavis (25797)
United States
July 22, 2019 2:05pm CST
Not individual students, mind you. I'm talking about dividing the tables they sit at in my classroom into individual study/testing areas for those times when students are supposed to work alone.
Last year was my first year having round tables for my students to sit at. It worked out well enough but there is always room for improvement. One of the improvements needing to be made was a way of keeping them focused on their own work at appropriate times.
I looked up table dividers online and found that I could spend (or request the school to spend) anywhere from $40 to $280 on the type of dividers I had in mind depending on the material they were made out of.
Then, last week, I was helping to assemble new tables for the sixth-grade classroom. The tables came in large, flat, cardboard boxes. Inspiration struck. I saved several of the boxes after we were done. Today, I went in and with the help of a tape measure, a pencil, and a box cutter, created my own table dividers.
The photo is of 4 of the 7 tables with their homemade dividers.
Now, I have 7 easy to put up and take down table dividers at no cost to me or the school.
Do you find ways to repurpose things that would otherwise wind up recycled or in the trash?
9 people like this
11 responses
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
22 Jul 19
Well that was really clever of you.
I have another idea for you, I'm not sure whether you'll have reason to implement this though. You can buy chalk or dry erase tape now. I'm not sure if it's made by the duct company, but it's a thing. I thought maybe you could put tape on the inside of each divider and it can be used by the kids for things they might need to write out. I forget what subject you teach, is it history?
Of course there's the possibility that the kids would be distracted by this, but it was just a thought.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
22 Jul 19
@DWDavis I'm not sure how much a roll is nor how much of it you would need. adhering a cheap dry erase board might be more cost effective, I'm not sure. I believe walmart has small dry erase boards for $1.00 around back to school time.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
23 Jul 19
Wow, it sure doesn't look like there is much room for each individual student, but then again I always forget how small children can be. I often save cardboard boxes, packing material and packing fillers and give them to our staff who work in our city's after-school program. It provides materials that they use for arts and crafts projects.
1 person likes this
@chrissbergstrom (10767)
• Banks, Oregon
22 Jul 19
Oh that seems awful what happened to desks
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
22 Jul 19
Desks became a problem when students started hiding things in them such as food, or they stuffed them so full of papers they could never find anything when it was time to turn it in. Also, desks are not best for group work, cooperative learning, projects, or science labs.
1 person likes this
@chrissbergstrom (10767)
• Banks, Oregon
22 Jul 19
@DWDavis Yes that all makes sense, atleast you found a creative solution.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
22 Jul 19
That's how school desks are now? Another step in erasing originality for conformity.
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
22 Jul 19
Classrooms set up in rows and columns of desks were the epitome of conformity and groupthink. This arrangement allows a much wider number of options for grouping, doing cooperative work, projects, and still allows me to assign individual work on occasion.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
23 Jul 19
@DWDavis I disagree but we all have our opinions. An individual desk is a symbol of being an individual in having your own space while a "group" desk enforces a communal aspect. Easier to "rat" out those not complying to that group desk conformity. That's just me.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (208746)
• United States
22 Jul 19
Ocassionally, kids tend to like those little "offices" I have found.
1 person likes this
@psanasangma (7910)
• India
23 Jul 19
You have neat and tidy classroom. The arrangement is nice and student will be getting their own space.
In our schools we still we long desk and benches
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (135583)
• Marion, Ohio
22 Jul 19
Those should work very well. Great idea
1 person likes this
