B is for Blocking

In stage and screen acting, determining the use of the space and where an actor moves or stands on stage in relation to other characters and the furniture is called blocking.  Blocking is vital in establishing relationships between characters, maintaining audience interest and controlling audience attention.  When doing fluency activities/role plays/improvisation etc in class, allow students to play around with their characters' movement and positioning because the different variables can have both a subtle and significant affect on the communication.  The added bonus is that with this and so much other drama work, it generates a lot of meaningful discussion afterwards as students always have a lot say about relationships and the way people communicate.

We can also consider a teacher's blocking during a lesson ie. considering how the teaching space might be most creatively used and how the teacher's movements and positioning can affect the dynamics and teacher/student relationship as well as help the teacher maintain interest, focus, discipline and motivation.  This is especially important if it is difficult to reconfigure the layout of your classroom (heavy, cumbersome furntiture etc).  

Have you ever tried ...?

teaching from the back of the classroom making the back-row students the front-row students and vice versa

kneeling or crouching down between desks or at an individual student's desk

crouching down at the front of the room

sitting behind a vacant desk amongst the students

sitting on the teacher’s desk

sitting on a student’s desk

stand in a previously designated part of the room to signal to students that you want them to stop talking

sitting on the floor

leaning on a student’s desk entering his/her personal space

weaving slowly between the students’ desks

standing in the doorway

standing on a chair or table

Lots of us do these things instinctively but sometimes, we need to consciously decide to adjust our position to vary classroom dynamics for a particular purpose