There are certain students in each of my classes that always pick the same group of seats or people to sit by. Once a week or so, I ask them to pick a new seat that they have never sat at, or I ask them to pick a new person to sit with. It is getting harder for them to accomplish this because there are only so many options. So, I decided to shake things up.
After school today, I moved the desks around. I still have individual desks, groups of two, three, and four desks, but they are in different places and configurations that before. I am looking forward to seeing how the students take the new seating options.
I wrote previously that I liked the carefully arranged groups of desks, and I am shocked at how quickly I have come to love the loose arrangement of desks in various group sizes. I see students making the best choices for themselves. One of my favorite things to see, on an almost daily basis, is students who are quite social picking a seat away from friends so they can focus.
Yesterday, one of my math students asked if he could move because another student was talking to him. Now, this student would be described by many a former teacher of his, as a talker, and I would have agreed a week or two ago. This student, however has embraced the idea that he is responsible for how he does in math class. Sure, he still talks, the point isn't to make a class full of mutes, but he controls it so he can do his work. I look forward to seeing which seat he picks tomorrow, with the new arrangement.
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