Teacher as Panopticon

So this is the view I would often have of my small classroom while observing/ teaching. There was only 14 students in the entire class (and this was the entire high school class)! Having a class like this really gave me an opportunity to learn such specific things. True - it wasn't a public school and it wasn't a large class (like the ones I will probably be teaching later) but it still gave me an "inside" view of how individuals learn and how one might have a significant impact on them. I had remarked earlier on the "gaze" of the students and I would like to briefly return to that here...As can be ascertained from this picture, all the students' eyes are to be trained on me (or whatever else might be in their line of sight - including the backs of fellow students' heads). Whenever possible I think it is much more beneficial for the students to be looking at each other and hence truly interacting with each other. Methods of teaching which extensively use what might be referred to as the "panopticon method" do poorly in helping the student truly learn....it is instead just a reassertion of authority. Authority which is empty of reason and purpose is ultimately useless. A teacher should recognize him or her self as the authority in the classroom to an extent - but it should not be this authority by itself which directs (or even dictates) the flow of learning within the classroom...