Planning for Student Seating Arrangements the First Day of School
Thu, 07/08/2010 - 14:22 — jkohm
Here is another new Burning Question submitted by conference participants. What advice do you have about this question:
"How do you address classroom seating on Day One? How would you change what you did?"
Seating charts
Whenever implementing a seating arrangement, have it displayed as the students enter (projector, e.g.) and they will seat themselves. Certainly this works for MS through HS level and perhaps would even for some earlier levels. Also this strategy avoids the confusion that occurs if they are already seated and then must find new places. It allows them to grumble a bit without taking class time.
Seating Arrangement
I have tried two different methods for first day seating arrangements. I teach 3rd grade and we assign the students numbers based on alphabetical order. I have set up the seating in rows based on that. This will help you remember names better in those first few days. If recalling names is a concern for you - try ABC order seating.
The other method that I have done is allowing the students to sit where ever in the first week. Our first school day is on a Wednesday - so for 3 days they would sit in this arrangement. At any level of education, it is always interesting to see who sits by who and who can handle sitting by their friends and still stay focused during the school day. This will help with developing the next seating chart.
for HS
On the first day of class, I make name tag tents out of index cards and place them randomly around the room. I make a seating chart from my random arrangement. Over the next few days I adjust students' seats if I feel a different arrangement would work better. Usually I only have to move 2-5 students. Within a couple of days I have a seating chart that works.
Classroom seating on Day one
Day one, I let them sit where they would like. I actually don't assign seats because I always have activities that allow for changing seats and the group of peers that they are with. If I had a problem with a particular group, I would make sure that when I plan that I separate them. Besides that, I believe allowing students the option to choose their seat will give them comfort to learn.
First Day of Class (Classroom Seating)
On the first day of class, I typically allow students to choose their own seats. The first day of my classes are used to address classroom rules and to provide an overview of the entire school year.
Since I am primarily teaching mathematics, after that day, I create a series of exercises where some students are given an equation and other students are given solution. The students with matching equations and solutions are classified as a pair. I always like to integrate the mathematics into the seating arrangement whenever possible. Students become so engaged in the creativity that where they sit no longer becomes an issue.