Creating the Perfect Home Teaching Space

By: Mary Ellen Flannery

Published: December 2, 2020

Remember when your classroom had a door? Many educators are still working from home and retrofitting their dining, sleeping, and lounging spaces into virtual classrooms. If your home office could use an upgrade, try these tips from your colleagues to reimagine your work space.

First, make sure to keep everything within arms' reach. Before class, Oregon kindergarten teacher Kate Cannon makes sure everything she’ll need for two hours of online, live teaching is within reach: finger puppets, read-aloud books, overhead markers, and more. Keep in mind that you can’t wander off-screen to the supply closet. “If you lose focus, they lose focus, and it’s hard to get it back,” she says.

Check out the image gallery below for more ideas.

Ideas for a better teaching space at home

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Consider what students see behind you—Looking at Connecticut music teacher Amy Cote on the screen, students may not realize she’s teaching from a spare bedroom. Cote covered a wall with art paper, pinned up a bulletin board border with musical notes, and hung posters of musical instruments.

Colin Hayes

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To sit or stand?—“When I was sitting, I felt trapped,” says Cannon, who swapped her typical desk and chair for a standing desk. “We do a lot of dancing and songs in kindergarten...and movement breaks,” she says. “Part of my social emotional learning goals is to break up that monotony they have of sitting in a chair, staring at a screen.” But Arizona high school teacher Jennifer Rogers needs to stay seated at her laptop. “So, I eat lunch standing up!” she says.

Colin Hayes

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Multiple screens are better than one— Oregon kindergarten teacher Angela Adzima hooked up two borrowed monitors to her laptop, so that she can watch her students on one screen, use Google Slides or show videos on another, and keep an eye on email on her laptop at the same time. Just remember where the camera is, says Rogers, so that you can “look into the white light and greet every single kid.”

Colin Hayes

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Lights, camera, action!—Good lighting—that shines on your face—is important. Rogers adds, “If you’re at the kitchen table, make sure your camera isn’t oriented to the open space where your husband is going to make a cup of coffee. The kids will get so distracted, wondering who’s going to come through the kitchen next!”

Colin Hayes

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Boost your sound—A good, external microphone is key. Rogers says that before she got one, “the kids were like, I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you.”

Colin Hayes

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Don’t forget the little things—Personal tchotchkes can remind you of who you are and what you love, even if you’re not in your regular classroom. Adzima has a little “You rock!” stone from her principal. “I look at it and it makes me feel good!” she says.

Colin Hayes

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Stock up on snacks—Whether you’re teaching from home or not, “You always have snacks hidden in your teacher desk,” says Adzima. “I don’t leave my desk long enough to walk to the kitchen.”

Colin Hayes

Protect your spine!

Sitting for hours at a desk can wreck your back, crimp your neck, and hurt your wrists and fingers. The Mayo Clinic offers these tips to improve your ergonomic health:

Keep your monitor an arm’s length away.
Adjust your keyboard height so your wrists are at or below your elbow level.
Adjust your chair so your thighs are parallel to the floor.
Rest your feet flat on the floor, or use a footrest.
The top of your monitor screen should be at or slightly below eye level. (If you wear bifocals, it should be 1–2 inches lower.)
Make sure there’s clearance for your knees under the desk. If you don’t have an adjust- able desk, use blocks under the desk’s legs to raise it. And don’t forget to stand up, stretch, and walk around as often as possible.