Summer School – Seating
I had only four students in my summer school course. I took advantage of this to experiment with seating arrangements. We had the following stations:
Work Station — This was our base. It’s an ironic name since most of our work was done at computers. However, we would generate notes and discussion here. We read here. Students sat here when if I presented information or a demonstration for the first time. Five desks were arranged in a group.
Computer Stations — Conveniently, there are four classroom computers in my room. So “go to your computer” was something I was able to say every day. Students appreciated having this option and it was not abused. One desk per computer.
Quiz Station — This was the station that really showed the power of the different stations. When we moved to this part of the classroom, students shifted into testing gear. Desks were in two rows of two.
Scored Discussion Station — Four desks arranged so that students could sit and talk to each other.
Conference Station — Where students would meet with me in the classroom throughout the course. One desk for me and one for the student.
I’m not sure that I would run all of these stations again, but normally my class holds like six times as many students so I enjoyed partitioning off the room.
We often think that this sort of seating is designed for elementary students, but even adults subconsciously obey the cues of seating arrangements and interior design. In class, I noticed that this helped students to “transition” from one assessment skill or task to another. So instead of me speaking to guide them through the transition, they just walked to a different place and sat down in a different mindset.
