Classroom Arrangement

I have had 3 different desk arrangements in my classroom so far this year. Two of which, I have really enjoyed. I have tried really hard this year to have students in a position where they could easily collaborate and communicate with one another. I was worried at first that it would cause more behavior issues because of the ease to socialize.
My first desk arrangement had students grouped in trios. I think that overall, I enjoyed this arrangement the most. Everyone could easily see the front of the room and everyone had plenty of personal space around their desks and could easily get in and out of their desks. The only thing that I disliked about this particular arrangement was that I had 7 groups of 3 in my classroom so it took up a lot of floor space.

The second desk arrangement was one that the teacher that I share my room with came up with. She had the desks in 2 long, curved rows. There were 10 desks in one row and 11 in the back row. I disliked this arrangement immensely. It did not foster student collaboration because the desks had to physically be moved in order to work in groups. This took up way too much precious class time. The other reason that I disliked this arrangement was because students were very close to one another and it was extremely difficult for some students to get into their desks since another one was right next to theirs. I also found that there were more behavior issues with this arrangement. Students were touching each other and there were a couple times when a student farted and a huge disruption was caused.

The last arrangement that I tried was having the desks in groups of 4. I brought in 3 more desks for this arrangement so I could have 6 groups of 4. Again, this takes up a lot of floor space, but with the extra desks in the room, less students have to sit at a lab table. This is also great because if a student is absent, there are still 3 other people who can work together.

No matter what arrangement that I put my desks in, one thing that bothers me is the fact that I don't have enough desks for each of my students. There are always at least 5 students who have to sit at a lab table. In an ideal world, every student would have their own desk so the lab tables would solely be used for labs and activities. I like the physical transition so students can switch their frame-of-mind as well as get up and move so they can better stay focused for the duration of a class period.

One other thing to note is that when I put desks into groupings, I always have a seating chart which I have put a lot of thought in to. I arrange students differently depending upon the unit of study. If it is a math intense unit, I group students heterogeneously based on their MAP math scores. I hope that students utilize the help of their peers in this situation. If it is a unit where the 9th grade science department has a lot of leveled readers, I group homogeneously based on MAP reading scores. This way group members can use the same leveled book at each grouping.

I know that I will never have a "perfect" situation when it comes to classroom arrangement. Space, number of desks, number of students, and many other reasons keep this from happening. I do feel like I have learned a lot this year from trying different things and I am confident that I am headed in the right direction when it comes to what is best for my students and their learning.