Seating Chart
Artifact Description
As an artifact to represent Standard 3, I included a seating chart I created during my ten week student teaching placement. I used it to organize the students into small groups.
AnalysisTo create the groups shown in the artifact, I used a random group generator I found online. I chose to use this method to intermix the students and promote new relationships and collaborative skills. The first quarter of the school year, my cooperating teacher allowed the students to select their own spots. The second quarter was the teacher's decision of where students were placed. For the third quarter, I was given the task of reassigning their placements, and I chose to make it a random selection in order to keep my own opinions and biases out of the process. The random generator did put two groups of friends together, and for the sake of the students' success, I separated them. This was my only alteration to the randomization. There were a couple of other close friends that the generator placed together, even so, I kept them in the same group as they had shown the ability to be productive and successful when working together.
Seating charts are a great way to visualize the physical placements of the students. I am able see if the needs of students are being met by their proximity to other students who may cause a distraction and also to the front of the classroom where much of the instruction takes place. I can also rearrange as necessary until I create a satisfactory arrangement. |
SynthesisThis seating chart is very basic and could use some modifications. As I get to know students at the beginning of each school year, I may incorporate notes that are specific to the individual needs of the students as I arrange their placements in the room. This will help me to pair up students who can help one another, as well as keep apart students who would not be successful in close proximity to one another.
Documenting and saving this information in a chart will help me to see where each student has been placed throughout the year and with whom they have sat near. My use of the seating chart will also be open to suggestions from the students. If any of them express concerns related to their peers or location within the room, I will make sure to consider those requests. I have learned that I must give students reasonable liberties in order to foster a positive learning environment. |