There is a lot of research for and against having assigned seats in the classroom. I’ve been in education for almost 20 years, and I have to tell you that I still don’t have the secret answer!! The only thing I can tell you that works (for me) is that for the first week of any new school year, I let the students choose their own seats. I teach older children, mind you, and this year is 7th grade. That first week tells me a lot! If you pay close attention (and I suggest you do), you learn the friendships and crushes. You learn who avoids others, who your isolated students are, and where the noisy kids are. You will learn which students actually can work together, and which ones certainly can not. Then about half way through the second week, I spring upon them the New Seating Arrangement. I do not spend a lot of time on this first chart, because I know it won’t last long. I do, however, take very careful notes about reactions and work habits over the few days following an arranged seating placement.
My students know that when they walk in the classroom and I tell them not to get too comfortable, it means I’m moving their seats. While I try not to move them around too often, there are times it becomes necessary. I know there are many teachers who don’t use seating charts, and that is certainly their prerogative. In fact, I have a few classes I currently teach that do fine without a seating chart, but the majority of them require seating charts for their own good.
Creating a seating chart requires more thought and planning than trying to create a seating arrangement for a wedding with split families. At least the wedding reception only lasts a few hours! Sometimes I feel as if I should work for the government just because the amount of knowledge it takes about each student requires months of secret observations. Student A cannot sit next to student F or they will just bicker and argue the whole period. Student N wanders all over the room anyway, so a corner is probably the best placement (less middle of the room interruptions). Students B, E, C and D talk to anyone and everyone so I might as well just put them together and let them get tired of each other’s voices (but will that cause arguing later?). Student G has never uttered an actual word out loud that I have ever heard, so I have to find someone who might be able to pull her out of her shell and get her to participate in a group. Student H currently has a crush on Student J but Student J wants NOTHING to do with H, so I can’t have them near each other! Student L needs to be placed near the front of the room, but I also need Student R nearby, however R and L can’t be within close proximity of each other or else mass chaos will ensue. Student K needs to use the pencil sharpener every 10 minutes, so placing her near the sharpener keeps her from wandering through other groups just for chit-chat.
This year, I am teaching 7th grade Science. We have weekly group activities and investigations that have to be completed. These group activities have to be taken into consideration when planning these seating charts! Oh, and I don’t have free standing desks, I have lab tables, so there is no separating of students! Not only am I considering personalities and work habits, I also have to plan for ability and creativity. Most of the students really enjoy our hands-on investigations, but there is generally at least one student in each class who prefers to work alone (or should just work alone for everyone’s sanity). Trying to teach these young humans that they are going to work with people they may not like in every job they ever have is not easy. They don’t care about the future! They care that right now, in this period, they cannot be near the person they want to (or don’t want to as the case may be)!
I mentioned ability and creativity. The way I work that into my group arrangements is based on student need; some students are academically strong, and others not so much. I like to pair a creative (read: silly and/or not academically strong) student up with a few academically stronger students. During a group project or investigation, the creative students are usually the ones who take on the modeling (drawing) part of the investigation, or sometimes even the presentation part. This gives them the opportunity to be involved without the others feeling like they are “carrying” the work load. Remember when we used to level the students in the class? Then it became differentiation. Lately it has become accelerated-learning. I blend it all together. Is this a perfect solution? Nope. Not at all. But it works for me, and it works for the majority of my students. What do I do when a student absolutely refuses to sit in his/her own newly assigned seat? They are given one option – we look at the seating chart together and we discuss a possible option. That is it – if the student still refuses the new option, then it turns into a formal consequence of defiance. I understand the need for a child to have some semblance of control over their own environment; I also need the students to understand that sometimes they just might have to deal with not being completely happy with their seat. That’s just life.
The seating chart saga is a complicated aspect of life in the classroom. Teachers have so many things to deal with, and this decision is just one. But when it works, it really works. Students need any and all opportunities we can offer to be successful in the classroom. I am always open to suggestions, so if you have the Seating Chart Secret to end my saga and insanity each time I make a new chart, please share!!
Lynna Schiller
Lynna Schiller is currently teaching 7th grade Science at Cheatham Elementary in Laveen, Az. She has held many various roles in almost 20 years of education and has been in the LESD district for the last 8 years. While literacy has always been her priority, she has taken on several other grades and content areas including math and science. She began her secondary teaching adventure in the Phoenix Union High School District teaching 11th grade American Literature. She spent 6 years in a charter school in Avondale where she taught Sophomore English and Reading Skills and then joined the admin team as Instructional Coach and student advisor, testing coordinator, and part-time Assistant Principal (All at the same time! Ambitious? Exhausting!). After taking some time off to be Mom to her two daughters, she began working part-time in the Laveen District as an Instructional Associate using her knowledge and skills in literacy to work with students who fell far below grade level in reading; she enjoys working closely with other teachers to help struggling students find their own success. In leisurely times, she can be found curled up in her recliner with her stack of books, a cup of coffee, and her dog.