Seating Arrangement

January 22, 2016

During one of our prep periods today we spent a good deal of time discussing a new seating arrangement. When you have a class of only 9 the different possibilities are a lot less. On top of those limited options, you also have to consider which students work well near each other and which students don't. This is our biggest issue. We have students that have behavior issues when they are at the same desk pod. We have students that don't get along with each other when they are next to each other. We have students that won't stop talking when they are next to each other. The list goes on.

Besides issues with pairs of students unable to sit by each other we also have classroom environment issues that add to the problem. Some students are distracted by what's going on outside by looking through the windows. Some students can't be facing the door because they are constantly paying more attention to what is going on in the hall than what is going on in the classroom. Some students can't sit by the teacher's desk because they become more engaged in what is happening at the desk (conferences with another student, grading, etc.) than what they should be working on at their seat.

Rearranging the seating chart may seem like an impossible task but I promise it's not. There is a way (multiple actually) that will work. You just have to sit down and figure it out. I remember learning about this in classes and being given hypothetical scenarios to try and challenge you in rearranging the seating chart. I honestly never thought it could be that hard. I was wrong. However, this is just another great learning experience for me in classroom management.