Sorry to be the Johnny-come-lately to this post, but I want to chime in my hatred for FAC 10. It's pretty awful, and there seem to be no strategies (e.g., group work in FAC 7 or computer-work in PAR 6) to deal with it.

I think of it as a Thanksgiving Day table. It's long; the teacher usually gets a space right at the head (where, in this metaphor, she or he cuts the turkey); and everyone just sits with backpacks on laps.

Is it old-fashioned of me to prefer a "conventional" classroom where I can stand up front and face the whole class, which remains seated?

The best classroom I've had has been FAC 10. It's roomy. The computers are arranged around the edges of the classroom so that I can see what my students are working on from any point in the room. The chairs have wheels, so that they can roll over to the computers or back in to the central table. I agree, it's not the best arrangement for group work, but over all I like it a lot.

The worst classroom I ever had was in Garrison Hall, pre-refurbishment. First, good points. There were lots of blackboards, which was nice, and a row of windows, which I also liked (natural light? luxury!). And since we were on the top floor, there were no people passing by just outside the windows to distract the students.

The bad points far outweighed those mild advantages, though. The student seating consisted of wood-and-metal desk chairs arranged in neat, orderly rows. They were bolted to the floor, so you couldn't move them. They didn't rotate, either. They were older than I was, scarred veterans of many years of education, and they were freaking uncomfortable to sit in - Torquemada would have approved. I had a desk, but no chair. The room's technological aids consisted of: a screen for a projector, and an electrical outlet. That's it. There wasn't actually anything to project on the screen with, not even an overhead projector. And the electrical outlet wasn't grounded - if you had a three-prong plug, you couldn't use it. But hey, the wireless internet didn't actually reach the room anyway, so there was no point.

It's very clear that whoever designed that room had only ONE possible model of education in mind, in which silent students in orderly rows take copious notes while a professor drones at the front. The room was essentially useless for anything else.

Ever since, I've been a big fan of modular classrooms. Different teachers have different requirements, and different styles. As much as possible, the classroom should allow for reconfiguration to allow different types of activities (lecturing, large group discussion, small group discussion/activities, computerized activities, and so on).

I found it interesting to read about your experience in FAC 10. I think I had the opposite atmosphere in FAC 10, but I, too, contributed it partly to the space. My kids never spoke in FAC 10. And I felt way too physically close to them, especially when I tried to sit at the table. When I handed out quizzes, I felt awkward constantly leaning over them and tripping over their chair legs. No one should have to get up close and personal with their teacher's armpits, you know?

I think the class had the air of a crowded subway car where people don't want to make eye contact.

By contrast, the two times I've guest-taught in FAC 7, I've been struck by how congenial the atmosphere seems to be. Students seem very relaxed and slightly prone to goofing around.

It's interesting to think about what the ideal CWRL classroom would look like. I really like the ability to have the students go-away / come-back-to-center in FAC 9. Yet when I've rearranged the room in there to facilitate group work, it's been a pain. As you & I know, the trapezoidal tables create a lot of confusion when trying to get the room back together--especially when there are 20 bystanders.

My ideal teaching space is one that is fairly easy for me to move through rapidly, with student workspaces that can be quickly and easily rearranged, and technology to display Internet, DVD, and VHS images, and sound. A document camera can be useful, but I prefer a computer and projector. The more white-boards, the better. For the size of classes I teach, I would guess the ideal room to be about 25 by 30 feet, with 25 chair-desks for the students and a decent-sized table for me to spread my materials out on.

I'm at the University of Oklahoma, where FYC instructors get spread all over campus (don't know how common this is in different schools). I've taught in rooms where I was up on a dais (my feet at the level of my students' heads), which I didn't care for at all. I've taught in the business college, which was the poshest instructional space I've ever seen, but where students were quite spread out, with anchored chairs. I felt like I was running laps moving around the room, and groupwork was difficult.

I have had a very narrow, long room, that was the most conversation-squelching space in which I've taught. I felt like I needed a megaphone to reach the students in the back. Right next door to that room is one that is very wide, with two pillars in the middle, that some of my colleagues despise, but in which I had little difficulty. (I move around a lot.)

Probably the worst recurring problem I have with room geography is in our computer-mediated classrooms. Each room has twenty workstations, with two inner rows facing each other at the center of the room and two outer rows facing the side walls. Anyone who wants to turn toward the instructor/projection screen has to turn at least partially away from his or her workspace. Everything's bolted down, so we can't rearrange, and the space between rows is so narrow that, when students turn their chairs to face each other for groupwork, the instructor is blocked from being able to move down the aisles at all. These rooms often make me pace like an agitated jungle cat in a cage.