Shownotes
We believe your greatest classroom management tool is something that you do in your classroom, but don’t necessarily think of it as managing your classroom, and that is your classroom seating arrangements. The way you arrange your seats, whether you have desks, tables, or something else, and where you place students makes all the difference. To help you out, in today’s episode, we’re sharing our 3 secrets for seating arrangement success.
For all the resources mentioned in this episode, head to the show notes:
https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/classroom-seating-arrangements
Resources:
Transcripts
Emily
Hey there, thanks for joining us today. In today's episode, we're sharing three secrets for seating arrangement success, and a teacher approved tip for making rearranging desks much easier.
Heidi
We start our episodes with a morning message just like we used to do at morning meeting in our classrooms. This week's morning message is which do you prefer for students seating: tables or desks and why?
Emily
We have some thoughtful responses to share from our community. Stephanie said I love my tables. But if I didn't have large cubbies for each kid, probably not. You have a storage there's the real issue. It really is. Sherry said desks I frequently rearranged to accommodate behaviors and purpose of lessons.
Emily
Colleen said tables, desks are like bumper cars. And the last desks I had were lift top. So kids were always in them when they shouldn't be or forgetting to clear the top before opening. No, I didn't know this was even a thing anymore.
Heidi
that in movies from like the:Emily
I would also hate my desks if they were lift up. Lauren said tables desks shift around too much. I'm also not a stickler for assigned seats. So I like that their stuff isn't at a desk easier to move around. Jenny said desks so I can arrange and rearrange as needed. That's why I like desks too. Yep. So much more flexibility.
Emily
Lea said for me, it depends on the grade. In kindergarten, we use tables and later grades when students have more supplies. I like desks.
Heidi
Yeah, I think kindergarteners at desks does seem a little bit crazy.
Emily
Yeah. Lisa said I have a combination of both this year as I couldn't decide it's a new thing that I'm trying. That's cool. Be interested to hear how that goes.
Emily
We'd love to have you join the conversation over in our teacher approved Facebook group.
Emily
We are quickly approaching our 100th episode.
Heidi
Back when we started, it did not seem possible that we could ever get to 100. I couldn't even wrap my mind around that. And now we're here.
Heidi
So to celebrate our 100th episode, we would love to have 100 5 star ratings on Apple podcasts. So if you think we deserve five stars, would you mind taking a few seconds and leaving us a rating?
Emily
And if you really enjoy this podcast, would you mind leaving us a review? We'd love to get to 50 reviews before our 100th episode.
Heidi
We really appreciate everyone who has already taken the time to post such kind feedback. We read every comment and it really motivates us to keep doing our best for this amazing group of teachers.
Heidi
Today, we're going to talk about one of your greatest classroom management tools.
Emily
And no, it is not stickers or class parties. It is your seating arrangement.
Heidi
As a teacher, it's easy to notice when your seating arrangement becomes a problem. You've got these kids that just won't stop talking to each other. So you switch everybody around to try and keep your talker separated.
Emily
And that may work. Or you may find that you've created new sources of trouble.
Heidi
But what if we had a strategic system for minimizing problems, no matter the seating arrangement? If that sounds useful to you, you're in luck. Today we're sharing all of our strategic seating secrets.
Emily
And when we say all of our secrets, we mean three secrets because that we only have three secrets. But I think that good secret.
Emily
Okay, so let's start by taking a look at secret number one. And that is your priorities for your class determine the effectiveness of your seating arrangement. Tell us more about it, Heidi.
Heidi
Well, before you can know how to arrange your seats, you have to know the benefits and limitations of whatever kind of seating you have. What you can do with desks is different from what you can do with rectangle tables. And what you can do in the rectangle tables is different from what you can do with those weird triangle table desk thingies that seemed to be in all the new schools.
Emily
There are seriously some oddly shaped seating options these days.
Heidi
And I wish schools would just like talk to teachers before you buy all these seating options. But when I was a new teacher I used to bemoan the lack of tables in my classroom.
Emily
Oh, me too. I was like, Ah, if only I had tables.
Heidi
And I just been stuck with these dumb old desks when everyone knew that tables were the way of the future. But after I had taught a few years, I really began to love those dumb old desks because they gave me options.
Emily
Yes, that is really such a good point. Because if you have tables, you only have tables. But if you have desks, you have tables, rows, you have isolated islands of independent learning, because it's May, and you cannot handle one more kid off task. So you know, you've got options if you have desks.
Heidi
Right. So if I'm a teacher, that prioritizes group work, I want a seating arrangement that supports that. So I might arrange my desks in tables. But when the chatting is getting too much to handle, I can still support group work by arranging desks in small rows of like three to minimize the chatting, but the kids can still collaborate in that arrangement.
Emily
If you have tables, you can still make similar adjustments to your seating to support your priorities, of course, but you might have to get creative.
Heidi
And if you are looking for creative seating arrangement ideas, we have a new tool to help you. Our digital seating arrangement planner can help you find a seating arrangement that supports your priorities. It has over 80 suggested seating arrangements for desks, rectangle tables, trapezoid tables, and those weird triangle tables.
Emily
Plus, we include the pros and cons for each suggested arrangement. That way you can easily identify which arrangement supports group discussion, or minimize chatting or maximize the number of students facing forward. Because you have a class that gets easily distracted.
Heidi
We also include details about which seating arrangements are likely to shift out of place easily. It's so tiring to have to nudge desks back in line 20 times a day.
Emily
Yep. But sometimes it's worth it to have an arrangement like that, if it keeps those little darlings from chatting, and stuff.
Heidi
Gotta pick your poison here. This digital tool can also help you implement the second secret of seeing success, which is proximity to the teacher is the number one way to keep kids on task.
Emily
And really we cannot overemphasize the importance of this tip.
Heidi
It's probably the golden rule of behavior management. I learned about this from the book Tools for Teaching where the author Fred Jones refers to three zones of proximity.
Heidi
The first zone is the green zone. This is the area around the teacher and it stretches two maybe three desks away. In the green zone, kids are getting their work done. They're not bothering their neighbors, they're not digging around in their desks. Because you are right there, those kids are doing what they're supposed to be doing.
Emily
Now, if only we could fit the whole class in the Green Zone
Heidi
That would be nice. But next comes the yellow zone. These kids are three to four, maybe five desks away from the teacher. They are also doing what they're supposed to be doing, assuming the teacher is facing them.
Emily
But there's no telling what they might be getting up to behind your back.
Heidi
Oh dear. And then any student five or more desks away from the teacher is in the red zone. Your motivated kids will be fine here. Your less motivated, kids are going to struggle. And when they struggle, they are likely to cause those around them to struggle too.
Emily
So if we want a successful seating arrangement, the goal is to maximize the number of kids in the green zone and minimize the amount of time any kid is spending in the yellow and red zones.
Heidi
And we can do that two ways. First, we arrange the room so that we keep as many kids as close to the teacher as possible. And second, we arrange the room so that we can reach any desk in the minimum number of steps. So we can get to those little hotspots as quick as we need to.
Emily
If you have your desks in the traditional classroom arrangement of long rows with each desk separate, like the seating arrangement you'd find in a college classroom, you have a long walk to get from the desks at the front of the room to the desks at the back. And while you're back there, all those kids at the front have now moved from the green to the red zone.
Heidi
It kind of creates a system of behavior problem whack a mole, you move to one area to deal with a problem and another problem pops up somewhere else.
Emily
So we really want to look for seating arrangements that maximize that green zone. In order to do that, you need to know which parts of your room are most often in the green zone.
Heidi
Right. So if you teach from the front of the room, the first couple of rows of seats will be in the green zone during lessons. If you teach from your desk because you're using the computer, the seats nearest your desk or in the green zone for lessons.
Emily
This is important to pay attention to because you want to see your most challenging students where they can spend as much time as possible in that close to the teacher green zone.
Heidi
So let's say chose a seating arrangement where my desks are grouped in tables of five. That was my favorite arrangement for second grade. Yeah, me too. Because I tend to teach from the front of the room I'm going to put three tables at the front, and then two tables at the back of the room.
Heidi
So during lessons, the 15 kids at the front will be in the green zone. But I also spent a lot of time at my back table. So during work time, or small group time, my 10 kids at the back of the room are now closer to the Green Zone.
Emily
To help keep track of which desks are best suited for our most challenging kids, we're going to rank each desk as a one, two or three.
Heidi
The desks that are most often in the green zone of proximity, get marked one. These are the desks maybe closest to the front of the room, or they're closest to my computer or reading table, because those are two other places that I spent a lot of time, which means that they are more often in the green zone.
Emily
If one seat is in the green zone is likely the seat next to it is also in the green zone. But you want to avoid labeling both desks as one, we want our seating arrangement to minimize problems. And if you end up seeing two ones next to each other, even if they're right next to you, you're going to create headaches.
Heidi
So if I have a table of five desks, the top right corner might be a one seat, and the back left corner might be a one seat. Or maybe that fifth desk at the end of the table could be a perfect one seat.
Emily
It's a fine line to walk you want the one seats clustered near the teacher, but not clustered near each other.
Heidi
And then once you have labeled all of your one seats, it's time for the twos. Two seats are in those spots that are near the teacher that they maybe don't need constant monitoring.
Emily
You can put a two seat next to a onesie if you need to, but only do it if you have to. And then all the seats that are left are labeled three.
Heidi
So I used to do this in a Word document, I just drew squares on the page, and then arrange them to match my seating arrangement. And then I would just label each square as a one, two or three based on where I would spend my time in the classroom. I printed this out and it just worked fine.
Emily
But if you want a little more guidance, our new digital seating tool is set up to help walk you through all of the steps that we're talking about here.
Heidi
So each of the seating arrangements has a bunch of little ones, twos and threes already made, and they're just ready to label each of the seats, in any of the arrangements that you choose.
Emily
Once you have your seating arrangement figured out, it's time to make seating assignments. In order to do that you need to know which of your kids is a one, two or three.
Heidi
Your three students can sit anywhere probably next to anyone and be successful. And hopefully you have a large group of three level students in your class, but probably not right. Two level students are the kids that are mostly on task, mostly do it they're supposed to, but might need a few reminders to get the work done and not distract their neighbors.
Emily
And you can probably guess what a one level is at this point.
Heidi
Sure you can. The ones are your boundary pushers, the 20% of the kids causing 80% of the problems, they might not be the ones openly causing problems, they might be the ones who get lost daydreaming or need a lot of support. Any student that you need to stay on top of for whatever reason, is marked as a level one.
Emily
And that also means any student who has an IEP accommodation, or a health concern that needs monitoring, they also need to be a one. It's not that ranking a student as a one as a punishment. It's just another tool to help me effectively meet their needs.
Heidi
But once I rank my students, I do keep this list top secret.
Emily
Ranking your students isn't wrong, it's just that this is sensitive information and you do not want it lying around for a sub to see or for the other kids to come across.
Heidi
Yeah. Can you imagine the fire that would rain down? If that ranking somehow cut out to parents? You definitely want to avoid that.
Emily
Yes, absolutely. Especially because it's not clear what the ranking means. So they could really misinterpret what you're actually doing.
Emily
So once you know each student's ranking, you need a way to assign them to their seats. I use post it notes for years, I use two colors, one for girls and one for boys and added each student's name, and then a one two or three ranking. And then I can arrange them on my paper with the boxes. The different colors helps me balance the makeup of each table.
Heidi
If you want to do this digitally with our seating arrangement tool, we have four colors of name cards that you can choose from, you might just want to use one color, or you might want to use all four for different things. And then once you create a card for each student, you can paste it on to any seating arrangement you want to try.
Emily
The nice thing about this is you only have to do it once and then all your names are ready for any seating arrangement you need to make all year.
Heidi
The numbers on the name cards are helpful so that you can easily match students with the seat that will best support their learning and their behavior.
Heidi
I start by seating any students who need accommodations or have physical concerns to factor in and then I put the rest of my one students into those one seats.
Emily
The two students come next. They can sit in any two seat or an empty one seat. And then we have our threes. They can sit in any empty seat. The kids at the three desks will probably spend less time in the green zone or are a buffer separating a one desk from a two desk.
Heidi
I tried to make sure that every table had a mix of ones, twos and threes. The front and center tables might have two ones, a two and two threes. A table in the back corner might have 1 1 2 twos and two threes. I'm aiming for a mix here not a complete balance.
Emily
For a few days, it may feel like you have struck seating chart gold with this new arrangement. But keep in mind, our third secret of seating success is what works for your class will likely change as your kids change.
Heidi
Maybe you're a teacher who loves to rearrange seating, so you do it frequently. But I did not enjoy moving seats. So I stretched each seating arrangement for as long as I could, and honestly probably longer than I should have sometimes.
Emily
But I knew it was time to shake things up when the kids that used to work great together were arguing all the time, or the kids that have been getting their work done, were staring out the window a lot.
Heidi
When a few kids are causing issues, it's likely time to rearrange desks. A shake up gives everyone a fresh start.
Emily
But if the behavior problems are widespread and constant, you likely need a whole new seating arrangement, not just new seating assignments.
Heidi
And that's a good difference to recognize. If you've got a few behavior hotspots, you can probably get by with rearranging desks and giving new neighbors to everyone. If you've got constant behavior issues, your seating arrangement is not working for you. And you need an arrangement that provides more structure.
Emily
So if chatting has become a problem in your class, you want to look for an arrangement that keeps kids more separated than they can be at tables. If distraction has become a problem, you want an arrangement that keeps most of the kids facing the front of the room.
Heidi
It's also likely that your students rankings will change during the year. Best case scenario is that your ones and twos will suddenly become responsible threes. But I'm not sure if any teachers that lucky.
Emily
So as the year goes on, you'll see different sides to your students and the kids that seems so quiet in September might be your chattiest chatters in March. Before you create any new seating arrangements, make sure you update your students rankings if necessary.
Heidi
The first time you make your seating assignment is actually the easiest because you can mostly just match students with their number desk. It does get trickier though when it's time to rearrange seats.
Emily
Yeah, you definitely want to be sure that any seating arrangement does not become a punishment. The ones deserve the experience of a new seat. But there's only so many places they could go and still be successful.
Emily
You can't put your twos in a spot where they escalate to a one. And then you rely on your three's as buffers. But it's not fair for them to always be sitting next to challenging people.
Heidi
It does take some work and some serious thought to account for everyone's needs. But let's say your class is really chatty, and you need to rearrange seats once a month. Spending 30 minutes of planning each month to really dive into your seating chart is still less work than spending countless minutes every single day managing behaviors that could be eliminated by a thoughtful seating assignment.
Emily
And who doesn't want better results with minimal effort? The time and energy that goes into classroom management comes out of classroom instruction. So anything we can do to make management as effortless as possible will have a huge benefit for our students. So talk about a return on investment.
Heidi
So as you're planning your seating arrangements this year, remember our three secrets for success. One, your priorities for your class determine the effectiveness of a seating arrangement; two, proximity to the teacher is the number one way to keep kids on task. And three, what works for your class will likely change as your kids change.
Emily
And if you want a step by step guide on how to create strategic seating assignments for your students, make sure to check out our new digital seating arrangement planning tool and we will link to that in the show notes.
Heidi
We would love to hear your thoughts and your tips and tricks on seating arrangements. Come join the conversation in our teacher approved Facebook group.
Emily
Now let's talk about this week's teacher approved tip. Each week we leave you with a small actionable tip that you can apply in your classroom today. This week's teacher approved tip is label your seating assignments with adhesive nameplate sleeves.
Heidi
So I was someone who liked to use clear contact paper to stick nameplates on my desks. It really held up pretty well over the year and it came off easily at the end of the year. which was important because my custodian was a bit certainly.
Heidi
But that meant that each kid had to have the same desk all year. And when it was time to rearrange desks, it was a bit of a bumper car situation with desk sliding all over the room. A way to get around that is to use clear nameplate sleeves.
Heidi
With sleeves, the students name plates can just slide in and out and you can just rearrange students instead of rearranging every single desk. And since my students weren't storing belongings in their desks anyway, it was really a big headache of shuffling desks around. When we could have just moved name plates.
Emily
It's so true. Name plates sleeves are also really helpful if your students sit at tables instead of desks. It makes rearranging seats so much quicker and easier.
Heidi
And anything that makes it easier to rearrange seats is definitely a win. So give nameplate sleeves a try, and we'll make sure to link to some nameplate sleeves in the show notes. so you can check out what we mean.
Heidi
To wrap up the show, we're showing what we're giving extra credit to this week, Emily, what gets your extra credit?
Emily
I'm giving extra credit to the disposable face towels from clean skin club. So for a long time, I used Makeup Eraser cloths for washing my face. But I always worried that they weren't truly clean even when they had just come out of the wash.
Emily
So when I discovered these disposable cloths, I had to give them a try. They're like really thick, lightly textured paper towels that come folded in a box. And you can use them anytime you wash your face. And I really do think they have helped with my acne. And also they just make the face washing experience so much nicer.
Heidi
Oh, that's a good idea.
Emily
What are you giving us credit too?
Heidi
Well, my extra credit goes to wonder belly antacids. They are pricier than Tum's but honestly there's so much more enjoyable to chomp down on. They are way less chalky and they do the trick, which is what you want.
Heidi
So my favorite is the lemon flavored ones that I think I've tried all the flavors and they're all pretty good. So if you have heartburn, you might want to check these out.
Emily
And you can get them online but I think they saw them at Target.
Heidi
I've seen that, yeah.
Heidi
That's it for today's episode. Remember to use the three secrets for seating arrangements success. And don't forget our teacher approved tip to use adhesive nameplate sleeves.