Seating Arrangements Good or Bad for a students learning?
Seating Arrangements Good or Bad for students learning?
Seating arrangements? What do you mean? What about them? Well, my friend, many people have opinions on this simple thing that many teachers use in their classrooms. Seating arrangements are either a very saddening thing or a very joyful thing, but it does vary with who you are seated next to day to day. And although it may not be something you put a lot of thought into, there is one question that still goes unanswered and, in many cases, is not asked, "Are seating arrangements good or bad for a student's learning?"
Seating arrangements: it's complicated. One of the first interviews I did was with a grade 7 student named Keira. I have contacted her along with numerous other students to get their intel on the topic of seating arrangements and if they think it helps with a student's learning. The first question I asked her was, "Do you like the idea of seating arrangements?" her answer was sweet and short, "Well, sometimes it is good for kids that are louder so that they don't sit next to their friends, but not really. I think I'm more neutral about [seating arrangements] because I don't really mind having to sit next to someone like a person from one of the classes that I don't mind. But it is fun to be able to sit next to your friends." Mr. Marcus, a middle school Social Studies teacher at ZIS, had a similar opinion. "I think [seating arrangements] absolutely can [help students], and it really depends on the situation. Like if you have a student who needs to be sitting near the front, and it helps them pay attention better or keep from being distracted if you're keeping somebody next to somebody they feel comfortable around, or the opposite, keeping 'em away from someone." Both Mr. Marcus and Keira have similar ideas on seating arrangements, ranging from I hate them to OMG, I love them.
Seating arrangements: not so complicated? A different perspective on this topic comes from Mrs. Callaghan, Mrs. Callahan, a Highschool assistant principal, and Mrs. Keys, the middle school vice Principal, who both had similar opinions on Seating arrangements. One of the questions I asked Mrs. Callahan was, "do you like the idea of seating arrangements?" her answer went a little bit like this." Yes. So I like the idea of seating arrangements, um, from when I taught biology also as one of the support teachers. Um, I think senior arrangements can help with classroom management. Still, I also believe it can help sometimes promote, um, discussion or even help individuals kind of sometimes break out of maybe their standard patterns or help to enhance sometimes their comfort in a, in a classroom. So I think seating arrangements can be used in a very productive and powerful way." this is similar to what Mrs. keys said. Mrs. Keys, the middle school Vice Principal, was also interviewed on this topic. I asked her the same question I asked Mrs. Callahan "Do you like the idea of seating arrangements?" and this was part of her answer, "Because I was in a classroom teaching for a long time, I sometimes think when it is free seating, people don't always make the best choices of who to sit with. So I think sometimes when a teacher arranges a class they can know more about the students than sometimes the students do." as you can see, they are very similar.
On that note, let's answer the question I asked at the beginning of the article. The interviews I have done have helped me answer this question I mentioned earlier "Are seating arrangements good or bad for a student's learning?" the answer is it depends on the class. If the class tends to be very loud and constantly on the topic, then yes, please do add seating arrangements for the people that are being noisy and disrupting the rest of the class. Still, if the class is quiet with a bit of chatter and they are mainly on the topic, then we should be allowed to have free choice seating.
By Emily Aimilia Konstantopoulou
