Re: [Teachldsseminary] seating issues....

[Tkcs@aol.com]

I sent some of your suggestions to the seminary teachers in my stake, along 
with the following comments:

I'm a fan of assigned seating in the seminary classroom.   When kids have 
assigned seats the teacher has better control of the classroom situation: 
unwanted chitchat is reduced; kids learn to mix with others they might not otherwise 
befriend; socially awkward students can be paired with kids who are 
compassionate, and so on.   Seating charts shouldn't be used as a punishment; they're 
not a negative thing.   Since I taught students from 3 different wards I just 
told them within the first week that I liked to get them mixing, so we'd be 
having assigned seats.   Occasionally I'd get a groan from someone, but it wasn't 
a big deal and they get used to the idea quickly. It is always easier to start 
the year with assigned seating rather than start it midway.   

Aside from giving the teacher better control of the classroom situation, 
assigned seating also gives the kids some security.   A former student told me 
after she graduated that she was very grateful I had assigned seating because she 
didn't have many friends in the class and having an assigned seat made it 
more comfortable for her to come to class; she didn't have to worry that she'd be 
rejected if she sat by people who weren't her friends, or that she'd end up 
sitting by herself. 

I changed the seating in the class fairly often.   It's nice to assign kids 
to sit in zones or companies or tribes, or whatever.   Then they have a built 
in group for group work or games, etc.

As always, prayerfully decide what will work best for your class, but I 
recommend you give assigned seating a try.

Teresa
Stake Supervisor