Running Head: CLASSROOM SEATING ARRANGEMENTS 1

EDUC 5240 Creating Positive Classroom Environments

Written Assignment Unit 4

Taught by

Professor Florence Nyemba

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There are many classrooms seating arrangements that a teacher can use and these include

traditional, roundtable, horseshoe or semicircle, double horseshoe, pair pods as well as group

pods (Manuel and Campos, n. d). However, for the sake of this paper, I will choose and discuss

the following seating arrangements: traditional rows or columns, horseshoe or u-shape and

clusters. I will then compare and contrast these three seating arrangements and finally, I will pick

one to defend as being the optimal seating choice for a positive classroom environment.

First of all, let me start by saying that classroom seating arrangement is influenced by

many factors. Some of them include classroom size and shape and method of lesson delivery

among others. For example, traditional rows or columns seating arrangement, is best suited for

teacher-centered instruction. On the other hand, when the classroom is huge, stadium seating or

small groups seating arrangement is applicable.

So, let me now begin by discussing traditional rows or columns seating arrangement.

This seating arrangement is suitable for all class sizes. This arrangement appeals to me because it

encourages students to learn independently. In addition to this, it also minimizes the occurrence

of students to cheat during examinations. This is so because students can easily be seen by the

teacher. In this case, this arrangement helps the teacher to supervise and manage the classroom

easier. However, one of the disadvantages of this seating arrangement is that if the class is large,

there is likelihood of seeing “uneven levels of interaction as students in the front row will

participate more while those in the back may lose focus” (Displays2go, 2019). Besides, this

discourages student-centered discussion as well as the group work.

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On the other hand, unlike traditional row seating arrangement, horseshoe or u-shape

seating arrangement “supports both student-to-student interaction and teacher-to-student

interaction” (Displays2go, 2019). In this case it encourages discussion and participation of

learners in the classroom activities. Just like traditional, the other advantage of this model is that

it is easy for every student to be seen and heard by the teacher. Besides, it is also the best set up

to “view audio visual presentations” (Today’s Classroom, n. d). It also works well with role-

playing. However, this seating arrangement requires more space as compared to traditional

seating arrangement.

The last seating arrangement is clustering. I want to pick this one as my optimal choice

for a positive classroom environment. Although it is harder to assess student’s abilities and level

of their understanding, I consider this as best model suited for learner-centered instruction. This

resonates well with my ideal technique of teaching. It encourages interaction with all the

students, there is full collaboration among the students and it creates more “personal and safe

environment for students to convey their ideas” (Displays2go, 2019). The other reason why I

have chosen this, is because it is suitable for small spaces such that learners can comfortably

interact with each other.

In conclusion, let me briefly share a little experience with cluster seating arrangement.

Sometime back, I used to create activity centers. I used to arrange them in clusters. To make

those activity centers interesting, I would provide clear instructions, explanations and appropriate

feedback to students on their performance. However, time was not enough to meet the

expectation of each student due to the distractions that were taking place in those clusters.
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References:

Displays2go. (2019). Effective Classroom Seating Arrangements. Retrieved from

https://www.displays2go.com/Article/Effective-Classroom-Seating-Arrangements-32

Manuel, J. & Campos, N. (n. d). The Most Effective Classroom Seating Arrangements. Retrieved

from https://englishpost.org/classroom-setting-arrangements/

Today’s Classroom. (n. d). Classroom Layouts: Seating Arrangements for Effective Learning.

Retrieved from https://www.todaysclassroom.com/blog/classroom-layouts-seating-

arrangements-for-effective-learning/