Why I ditched my kidney table; and I'm not going back

In a meeting I heard someone tell about somebody telling about someone else saying something... ugh... I hate being that guy... but I totally became him.

Anyway, the idea was brought up that teachers are no longer the Google in the classroom. Google is (or kidtopia, if you're nervous about 9 year olds searching the web). The idea is pretty strong. I'm not the source of all knowledge in my classroom anymore; each kid shares or has their own window into all knowledge if they know how to use it.

A piece of furniture that has been present in most of the elementary classrooms I've been into as a teacher is a kidney table. They existed while I was in school, I'm sure... but I didn't notice. I wasn't going to be a teacher. I stepped into my room and of course had one in the back. I used them for my first 4 years every day. I'd sit in the back, the 6 kids in my class would sit around me as I would listen to them read, and I'd be the center of attention.

Then we got the Chromebooks.

It was a pain in the neck for me to get out from behind the kidney table to see what was on each kid's screen. It got slightly annoying for them to turn their computer around so I could see error messages or the text on their screen. At my school there just happens to be a surplus of rectangle tables.

So I switched.

I have the students sit family style at the table, with me at the head... but I don't have to stay there. Kids are right next to each other, or facing each other. They're closer together and in a more collaborative setup. I'm no longer the center of attention, the computer is. I can wheel a chair next to each student, see what's on their screen, and see what they see. At first the change was just for my convenience. The pedagogical benefits however, showed up pretty quickly.

A time of the day that used to be mainly instructive in nature, and not very collaborative is now just as instructive and incredibly more collaborative. A big part of the effectiveness of my switch also came at a time when I was drastically switching my reading groups. (More on how my reading groups have shifted later...)

I think the switch symbolizes that idea that I'm not the google anymore. I'm not the all-knowing source of knowledge. Kids can ask me questions, and I have quite a bit of knowledge in there. But when my kids really wonder something they answer it with wikipedia, wolfram alpha, or google. I'm not the center of attention anymore.