Formerly Known as the Teacher's Desk

For years I have barely used the desk that students would call my teacher’s desk. I wondered what it would be like to have all that space back if I removed it; however, this was a topic I was not ready to broach with administration. I thought about other purposes for the desk and realized it is just another work space for a child.

It could be a standing desk for six kids should they want to gather around it. The large flat surface has a lot of potential, and students might see it as an opportunity to learn and work there rather than the vast wasteland it had become.

I knew I had to shift the language and culture around the new classroom table that was formerly known as the teacher desk. On the first day of school I placed my laptop on the kidney table in the center of our room, another furniture shift I made this summer. When students asked if they should put papers on my desk I simply replied, “Oh see the envelope on our classroom table by the back door, just put your papers in there.” I try to refer to everything as ours. I could see the gears turning in this child’s mind.

I let students know that was our work space that was formerly known as the teacher desk. They could use it. In the two days we have been in school I have yet to sit in that space. Several students have read there, drawn their visual learning selfies, or quietly reflected on class discussions.

They take a sense of pride sitting there and see it as just another table in our classroom space for them to utilize to be successful. Our new table, formerly known as the teacher’s desk, has been revitalized into a space for students. I sit with students’ at desks or tables around the room talking, growing, and learning.

I still wonder what I could do with the space should the desk ever be allowed to leave, but for now it serves a purpose that works for us all.