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I believe that a good seating arrangement in the classroom is important because I truly do believe that it plays a big part in how engaged the students will be during that class. While teaching at elementary after school programs, I have had a lot of practice and trial runs with this topic. Because of limited funding, we had our classes wherever there was availability. There were times we had our classes in normal classrooms and other times we would have to have our classes on the floor or in the cafeteria. Because of the limited classrooms, I believe that my experience with the hectic classroom arrangements have allowed me to understand why good seating arrangement is essential. I think for the first classroom day, especially if I am going into a classroom where no one knows each other yet, it is important for me to set up the tables so that they are in groups of four or five. I believe that the first day should be about getting to know the people in the classroom so there is some sort of a social motivation to enjoy the class. This specific seating arrangement is so that the students will already be in groups for ice breakers so that we do not waste more time trying to get people into groups. I believe that as the year progresses, I will be able to understand each student and be able to see more clearly what type of student they are to see how to arrange them more efficiently.I have learned that it is important to be extremely prepared for each day so that I know if I need to go to class earlier to set up the desks and chairs differently than the class before. I have come to understand that children like familiarity so I would not move around the desks and chairs constantly. However, I do think it is important to mix it up a little so that the students don’t get too comfortable. If the students start to get too comfortable in their seating arrangement, they may start to get bored or get too friendly with the other students and disrupt the class. It has also helped me in the past to mix up the groups so that they can meet other people as well. I remember when I was in elementary school, my teacher would call out our names in seating chart order whenever she changed the seating chart and I remember being excited any time my name was called. I would be excited to have a change in where I sit. Remembering this, I know how important that moment is for students as well. Another reason seating arrangements in the classroom is so important is because of pair work. During pair work, I would have a seating chart written down on a piece of paper so that it is ready for when the students come in. I have learned in my experience that pair work is really about stronger students helping weaker students. This dynamic surprisingly works a lot better than I thought. I believe that the stronger students like the role of leadership and the weaker students likes learning from a peer. My vision for my future classroom is for students to get really excited coming into a classroom based on seating arrangements.
