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I think that the seating arrangement in a classroom is a very vital part of a successful classroom. I teach Kindergarten and at the beginning of the school year I give them assigned seats. I usually do this as my first assessment. I sit back and I observe which children can identify their name correctly. I do not have these name tags secured onto the tables with table or hot glue yet, because I need to get to know the personalities of my students. If there are some personalities that don't mesh well, I can easily move them around as needed. It is very important to arrange your tables or desks so that the main teaching area in your classroom, whether it is a IWB, overhead projector, dry erase board or chalkboard is easy to view for every student. No student should have his/her back to the main teaching area. Younger children should not be seated near any distractions. The seating area should be clutter free and the pathway should be clear and easily manageable so no student trips over anything if he/she needs to get up for any reason. The teacher should be able to see every student in the classroom. A teacher needs to be familiarize him/herself with any IEP's or 504 plans that a student may have in the classroom. Some IEP's or 504 plans state a certain seating arrangement for that particular student to help them focus and learn at their best. The least amount of distractions the better. If a student has glasses, or a vision problem it may be best for the teacher to place him/her closer to the front of the room or as close to the main teaching area as possible. Some children's vision isn't bad enough for glasses, however, their vision requires them to be closer to the teacher or the main teaching area. The main goal is for every student to be as successful as they can be and seating arrangements can play a big part in that. Some students really enjoy the social aspect of school. Do not sit these social children together or near each other. They will be a constant distraction to others around them and they will not be learning to the best ability because they will be socializing. I have found that if you seat some of your social children with some non social children, the social ones bring the other non social ones out of their shells. I have discovered, especially if you have a classroom aide, that if you seat your lower achieving children together the classroom aide is able to be with them all when they are completing seat work at their tables. This seems to work well and it helps grow the confidence in those that may struggle at grasping some material. A teacher needs to let the students know that if he/she enjoy sitting with anticancer friends then they need to get along. If there starts being much bickering amongst the students at a certain table then the teacher may have to move some around. There has never been a school year, in my 19 years of teaching, that I haven't had to rearrange the desks or tables in my room because the arrangement just didn't work. Good teachers are flexible in so may ways. They have to be willing to rearrange tables and students possibly more than once during the school year in order for all students to learn at their highest level. Classroom arrangement and seating arrangements can make a school year successful or unsuccessful. Keep changing it up if necessary until it works.
