Nathan Black posted in a comment an idea about shuffling seating that has the potential to be a life saver for many of us this coming year, so I wanted to make it into a separate blog post. It is a simple answer to a big problem. I am definitely going to do it to keep things always shaken up regarding seating the kids. I have also created a category here for “seating arrangements”. Here is the comment:
I always seat my classes for the first two weeks alphabetically – by first name. Yeah, their last names are fine and all, but the first name is what I really need to learn, and this really helps me get them down.
After that every two weeks I shuffle the seating. My classroom software (PowerSchool) has an automatic shuffle that I use (which I’ll do ahead of time and make my adjustments for personality and disruptiveness). Then every other Monday, they come in, I reveal the new seats and they move. I tell them “If you don’t like your partner, don’t worry – it’ll only be two weeks. If you love your partner, don’t worry–it’ll only be two weeks.” It works pretty well, and I’ll keep doing it next year.
[Ed note: I can’t resist one more comment – for those of us who have been teaching for a really long time, this just makes so much sense. I can’t believe that I let my classroom concretize in terms of seating. Shaking things up this often makes so much sense and I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before. Oh well – mieux vaut tard que jamais.]