Table of Contents Most Common Configurations Should students be able to pick their own seats?Classroom seating arrangements are beneficial at the beginning of the school year since they can help you learn your students’ names quickly. By choosing who students sit next to, you can help them meet new people. Put students near people that can help them in class. You may also help create lasting friendships. What is the best seating arrangement for a classroom?19 types of seating arrangements for classrooms
What is the seating arrangement?: a plan that shows where people should sit a seating arrangement/plan for a wedding reception. Is it sitting arrangement or seating arrangement?Sitting is what you do and seating is where you do it Using that distinction, seating refers to how the seats are laid out. The seating arrangement can be changed and chairs can be used instead of benches. Sitting refers to how people sit. The sitting arrangement will be on benches.
Where are you seating or sitting?Sitting is a verb that means “resting in a seated position, located or situated upon.” Seating can be used as a noun that refers to “the act of placing people in seats or all the seats in a theater or auditorium.” It can also be used as a verb to mean “causing to sit down or esccorting a person to their seat.” What does seating capacity mean?Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. Are seats countable?Seat. (uncountable) The provision of chairs or other places for people to sit. There is plenty of comfortable seating. (countable) A period of time in which a restaurant will seat guests. What is the meaning of first sitting?A first sitting is the first period when a meal is served if there is not enough space for everyone to eat at the same time. You can have the first sitting of dinner at 6:30 or the second sitting after 8:30. They chose the first sitting time for their evening meal, so that it left the rest of the evening free. What is a sitting?Sitting is defined as the act or position of being seated. An example of a sitting is an hour when you read a book. What is the meaning of sit down?1 : a cessation of work by employees while maintaining continuous occupation of their place of employment as a protest and means toward forcing compliance with demands. 2 : a mass obstruction of an activity by sitting down to demonstrate a grievance or to get the activity modified or halted.
More from The Question & Answer (Q&A) Are you planning out classroom seating arrangements to head back to school? Or maybe you’re looking to rearrange student seats after a few months of all the kids in one place. Either way, there’s always a LOT to think about. Should you arrange students in pods? Separate them out in a grid? What about flexible seating? Is it a hot trend you should avoid or jump right in on? How will your classroom seating arrangements affect student learning, and what the heck do you do when a new kid (or kids) moves in and changes the number of kids in your room? Take a breath! We’ve taken a look at some of the science behind seating arrangements plus considered the rules and regulations around preferential seating to ensure your students with IEPs are being best served by their spot in the classroom. Save time (and your back) with our interactive classroom layout planner! How Does Seating Arrangement Affect Learning?At the end of the day, this is the question teachers always ask, isn’t it? Will moving little Johnny or little Shante’s seats be a good thing for their academic success? As you know, seating arrangements in the classroom are about a lot more than picking a style that looks aesthetically pleasing or even picking one that works with the size of your class list and the size of your classroom. Studies have shown that where a child sits in class can affect everything from their motivation to their class participation, as well as their relationship with you as a teacher, relationships with classmates, and — of course — learning. How you set up your classroom desks can also affect your own pedagogy. Thinking of setting up stadium-style seating? You may not mean it, but the studies show you could end up spending more time lecturing to your students with less involvement from them. Thinking of a roundtable-type seating arrangement? The opposite is likely to be true — your students will likely be more actively involved, and your classroom learning environment will be more student-led. So how do you choose? We’ve put together some seating arrangements to consider in your classroom — from pods to the increasingly popular flexible seating — along with how they might work (or not) for you. Print classroom crate labels to let students know where to find all the things they need! Classroom Seating Arrangement IdeasBefore you plan out any seating arrangements for your classroom, it’s important to first take a look at your students’ IEPs. Does anyone in your class have stipulations about where they should be seated for the best learning environment? Preferential Seating for Students With DisabilitiesOften called preferential seating, these accommodations are made to give students with specific needs the ability to see, hear, and participate in classroom activities in the same ways as their peers who don’t have disabilities. A child who has a hearing disability, for example, might be required to sit nearer the teacher to be able to hear what’s being said, while a child who is easily distracted might need a spot out of the line of sight of the classroom door. These seating arrangements for kids with IEPs aren’t just suggestions. It’s a federal law, so make sure you abide by them. It’s also wise to consider the needs of students who do not have IEPs when planning your seating. A child with glasses, for example, may not have an official plan, but you may realize they really need a seat closer to the front of the classroom. Likewise, there may be students who really should not be seated near one another, whether it’s because they’re too likely to talk or simply do not get along. If your class is brand-new to you, these are things you’ll find out as the school year progresses — don’t be afraid to change up your seating arrangement! Download student data binders to help keep track of your assessment data! How to Arrange Classroom SeatsOnce you’ve taken students’ individual needs into consideration, how do you arrange all of those classroom seats? Here are some pros and cons to eight different classroom desk arrangement ideas that have been tried and tested by teachers in the know. Obviously, there are a number of factors that will influence the seating arrangement that will work in your classroom. The main struggle is, of course, considering the size of the classroom, number of students, and the furniture you have. This list has something for every teacher and every classroom … we hope! GroupingGrouping of student desks in a variety of numbered groups is often known as seating students in ‘pods’. This set-up, of course, lends itself really well to a classroom that does a lot of group work and collaboration. Also, if you are a teacher who finds the competition of ‘group points’ works well to keep your students on task, this desk layout is a winner! Grab these grouping posters for the classroom to name your groups and keep track of group points!  Cons to ‘pods’ desk configuration include:
Mix it UpLet’s face it, in a classroom of 30 or so students, there are going to be a variety of learning styles and learning requirements. One way to combat this is to mix up the desk arrangement and try to cater to a variety of learning styles and needs. Another classroom management technique using this desk configuration is to not have ‘set’ desks. A bit like flexible seating, students can move around to the desk configuration that is going to work for them for different subject areas. This may be more teacher-directed than student-directed. If you have a small group of students that need a lot of teacher assistance for one subject area you can get them to sit in a desk arrangement such as the small U shape and position yourself in the middle of the U. The obvious con of this arrangement is that students may not like to be sitting in a different configuration from their peers. Also, can you cater to every students’ learning needs? Flexible SeatingFlexible seating is not a new concept. Teachers either love this concept or they don’t. Again, it really depends on the students in your class and what works best for them. Flexible seating gurus say that this form of classroom ‘un-seating’ better reflects the hyper-connected and ever-changing world we live in. That it inherently requires students to master skills such as flexibility, creativity, problem-solving and collaboration. This kind of seating arrangement is an absolute classroom change. If you are thinking of changing to flexible seating it may be an idea to have a bit of a trial period to see if this sort of layout is going to work for your class. Have one ‘different’ flexible seating option available and see if it’s something your students will be able to cope with and will improve their learning environment. We have some Flexible Seating Expectation posters that would also help with the change over if this is something that you are thinking of doing. Mini U’sThis layout is one that I often used in my classrooms. It had the benefits of easily managing small group work without students being squashed together and meant they had a bit more personal space. This layout was also beneficial for me, as the teacher, as I could easily go around and check work and check in on individual students. I would often position my chair in the middle of one of the ‘U’ shapes to have small discussions with each group when needed. Again, a con to this set-up would be you will have some students not ‘facing’ the whiteboard and others that are facing the whiteboard, however, may have other students’ heads in the way of their viewing of the whiteboard. Simple RowsThe traditional desk in rows is still an option, especially if you do a lot of board work. Obviously, this layout doesn’t cater very well to small group/collaborative learning. However, if you have space in your classroom, you may be able to set up a variety of other group work areas in the classroom and save the desks for individual work. All students in this desk layout will face the board, and it lends itself to easily moving the desks to cater to test conditions if required. When the desks are in rows, it is often easier for the teacher to see who is on task as well. However, if you do have a lot of students in your class, this layout could put some students a fair way away from the whiteboard and the front of the class. Stadium SeatingA slight deviation to the desks in rows, stadium-like seating is another option that may work, particularly for older kids. This classroom seating layout again makes it easier for the teacher to see if all students are on task as the desks are angled to one point in the classroom. This layout also uses less floor space and, as we know, some classrooms are very, very small. The more floor space you can get the better, am I right? This layout won’t suit a classroom that does involve a lot of group work/collaboration, and it can often turn the teacher into a lecturer. Looking for a new classroom seating idea to help with behavior? Download our free classroom behavior discussion cards! Large U ShapesThis desk arrangement concept was another one of my favorite layouts for the classroom. This classroom seating layout caters well to whole-class discussions and enables students the ability to easily see their classmates and interact with them during discussions. This layout is similar to the small u-shapes in that each desk is easily accessible by the classroom teacher. Again, this layout doesn’t work well for small group work, but students can still work in pairs with the person beside them if required. Double EIf you are struggling with a small classroom, this Double E shape may just be the desk layout that will work for you. This desk configuration creates two smaller carpet areas in the middle of the desks, which would provide some space for small group work as well. Again, this layout makes it easier for the teacher to get around and help out individual students. This layout also allows for a little flexibility in that if you have particular students that really need to face the whiteboard you can make sure they are facing the front of the classroom. Explore more teacher tools created by the Teach Starter team of classroom teachers!Banner image via Shutterstock/NickBerryPhotography Which seating plan might you choose if you have an activity where students must work together in teams of 3/4 to complete a task?Pods (Groups, Pairs)
With regards to stations, instructors can place several tables together to form student groups (e.g. 3 - 4 students), or pairs. This arrangement can be especially advantageous when students will work in groups or pairs with their classmates for a large portion of class time.
How does the seating arrangement allow for effective learning?Influence of seating arrangements on learning
Studies have reported that seating arrangements impact the learning process. Students occupying the front rows are generally more attentive that those in the back. The students in front are the ones who tend to answer questions asked in class.
Which sitting arrangement is best suited for presenting to a large audience?1. Auditorium or stage seating. This type of seating arrangement is ideal for gatherings and events of over 150-200 people. The neat rows of chairs optimizes the available space to fit in a large crowd, in case you get more attendees than expected.
What is the best shape for a classroom?For smaller classes that want more interaction between the student and educator, a U-Shaped layout is a better option. A U-Shaped desk arrangement encourages discussion and makes it easy for the teacher to observe students and provide one on one help.
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