Restructure Your Student's Seating Arrangement

Once your students have been in the same class forfront of the class, near the chalkboard if possible. You
awhile, they'll start to get more comfortable with theircan use this desk to store teaching supplies, and it will
surroundings. As they make friends and becomealso allow you to continue your lessons without having
braver, they'll act out more in class.return to your own desk over and over.
One of the easiest ways to counteract this problem isLeaving this spot open also gives you a good place to
to restructure the students' seating arrangement. Thisput students who misbehave in class. Clear off the
will re-establish your authority over the students.desk and you will always have a perfect spot right at
Rearranging the seating will also allow you to manuallythe front of the class for the troublemakers.
separate students who are beginning to work togetherIn the event that one of your students seriously
towards a common goal of undermining your authority.violates your rules, such that they need to be moved
You can usually tell when students are beginning to actto a different spot immediately, have them gather their
in an unruly way; in these situations, you should quicklythings and move to the empty spot in the front row.
take action to dispel this kind of behavior.Being called out in such a way is humiliating for the
However, the middle of a lesson definitely isn't thestudent, and will generally correct his or her behavior. It
optimal time to rearrange your students. Instead, havealso conveniently puts the student right at the front of
the new seating arrangement ready when they firstthe class, where any more misbehavior will be easily
enter the classroom on a new day.spotted.
You may want to try leaving one seat open at the