My classroom consists mostly of large, round tables that are really good for collaborative learning but really bad when it comes to classroom management.  It is very difficult to give a lecture when at least half of the students’ backs are towards you.  Because every once in a while I have to give lectures or stand at the front of the room to write on the board, it would be really nice to have had desks that I could move not only into small groups but a variety of other arrangements as well.   I’m a really big fan of the circle, semicircle, and horseshoe arrangements, and this is impossible with a room of round tables.  Having the round tables has forced me to adapt my teaching around group work, which the students love more anyway, and I have definitely made the best of what I have.  Georgia Professional Standards, essential questions, samples of student work, and SAT words are just some of the many things that cover my walls.  I also have a very large bookcase that I use as a private class library from which students are free to check out books at any time. One really fun thing I do with my students each year is a Toga Party at the end of our mythology unit, and the physical environment is very conducive to this purpose. The students line op the tables to make one, long banquet-like table, make Greco-Roman columns out of construction paper and put them around the room, and dim lights so we can use candles like in ancient times.  Upon reflection, I realize that you can’t necessarily control the physical environment in which a school assigns you to work, but you can work with it to the make the best of what you have.