Front and Center

I rearranged the seats today for my students. Nope, I will never go back to arranging the chairs to the traditional columns-rows except during district wide assessments. I used to have it in a semi-circle but they continue to add students to my 1st and 2nd period classes that the semi-circle is becoming too big and my classroom is small. Collaborative seating arrangement, three to four chairs are now grouped together so that it's easy for us to do small group discussions.

I was browsing through some of my Differentiated Instruction books and I saw this interesting section which discussed that seating preferences and learning ability of students:

BACK ROW: The back row usually becomes the seating area for shy kids who try to avoid being called on; also a breeding ground for disruptive students. The back row is also an area where students may be easily distracted and led astray by friends.

FRONT ROW: Students receive the most attention from their teacher when they sit in the front row but may earn the label of "teacher's pet".

WINDOW AND DOOR SEATS: Students- even best students- will become distracted by action and noise coming from outside or in the hallway.

DIFFERENT PATHWAY: Provide "first-class seating" to high-needs students.