Traditional designs for most mid-sized college classrooms discourage 1) face-to-face interaction among students, 2) instructor movement in the classroom, and 3) efficient transitions between different kinds of learning activities. An experimental classroom piloted during Spring Semester 2011 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill uses…

Discusses the pedagogical implications, for a French class, of the following: (1) a puzzle-like game for text reconstruction; (2) use of gossip-column letters in advanced classes; (3) use of radio news and newspaper titles; and (4) classroom space utilization favoring spontaneous communication. (AMH)

Presents an analogy between classroom space utilization and Peter Brook's 1968 play, "The Empty Space," used in a modern, dramatic literature, college course. Taught from a feminist and student-centered perspective, students configured the classroom and class members as part of their dramatic readings. Stresses the indispensability of…