I Am the Dictator of the Seating Chart
Some teachers like to be really kind with their seating charts. They let students have freedom to move around the class and choose where they want to sit. You do you, of course. But I am definitely going to be a dictator when it comes to who sits where in my room.
I didn’t start out this way. When I began teaching, I was one of those nice teachers, letting students sit where they wanted on the first day of school. “Make a wise choice,” I said. “I’ll only move you if you pick a bad seat.”
That system always gave me trouble, but it ended altogether the first year I taught middle school. Middle schoolers are, by definition, pretty incapable of making wise choices.
Now on the first day of school I randomly assign everyone a seat. Not to the corners or the back — I save those spots for later. But not alphabetically, either. Just completely ad hoc around the room. Then, and this is the important part, I move students around constantly. Starting the first week of school, at the drop of a hat and for any old reason.
You’re talking too much to your neighbor? New seat.
Your neighbor won’t stop looking at you? New seat.
You can’t sit still? New seat.
You’re always asking to sharpen your pencil or get a tissue? New seat.
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This is when those empty corners come in handy.
Two weeks in and my class knows the look on my face. I pause, stare around the room. They all get quiet because they are totally ready for what is about to happen. A couple of students are about to get new seats. Sometimes, if a student checks off enough boxes, I’ll move him five times in the first month. Whatever it takes to find him the spot where he’ll lock in and learn.
To be clear, I take requests. Vision problems? Really don’t like your neighbor? Hate the front? Love the front? Work really well with another student? I’ll give things a try. It’s easy enough, because they know I’ll move them back the moment it’s not working out for us.
There are some clear benefits here. A student is having a problem with someone, but we want to keep it low-key? I’ll move four kids at once in a round robin, changing the trouble spot last as if it was just an unfortunate side effect. No one else has to know there was a personal issue at all.
The real advantage, though, is tone. It’s my room. I want you to be comfortable, but not too comfortable. You need to know that the number one goal is learning, and I’m going to do whatever I have to in order to get you in the right place to focus. And you might not agree with me. I’m okay with that.
It sets the pace for everything else I ask, all year long. When I need my students to stop talking and pay attention, they stop talking and pay attention. Because it’s my room. I don’t have to ask or explain why. I’m the dictator of the seating chart; everyone recognizes my limited authority in this space.
Teaching is at least half logistics, and dictating the seating chart from day one makes the rest of it so much smoother.
The good news about all of it is that if you don’t like where you’ve been seated? You don’t like the way the political winds are blowing? You probably won’t be sitting there for long. The seating chart changes several times a week. You’ll get a chance somewhere else.
The dictator has spoken.
{Like what you read here? I’m writing micro-essays from the middle school classroom all year long! Check out my website to learn more about my book or to follow along on socials!}
