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Lessons · Teaching · where a learner sits

Where a learner sits

A seating plan is a teaching decision made in advance: who is near the front, who is near you, who is not beside whom, written down so that it is not remade under pressure.

Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.

What it is for

Left to choose, a room sorts itself so that the people who need you most end up furthest from you. A plan costs twenty minutes once and saves an argument a day.

How to think about it

Decide the rule first, then place people against it. Nearest to where you teach from goes to whoever needs the most checking. Then apply the constraints you already know. Then leave it alone for six weeks so it is not a negotiation.

Worked example

Rule first: nearest the front is whoever needs the most checking
The rule first, so the plan is a consequence rather than a series of favours.
30 desks, 5 rows of 6
The room, as it actually is.
Front 2 rows hold 12 places
The places the rule is spending.
Reviewed every 6 weeks, not on request
A plan that changes on request is not a plan.

Your turn

A room has 5 rows of 6 desks. Write the line that gives the total number of places.

5 × 6 =  places

The trap

Building the plan around friendships. The plan is about who can see, who can hear you and who you can reach in three steps; friendship is what the plan has to survive rather than what it is made of.

Practise where a learner sits on HoneA question on it now, a real problem where there is one, and it is remembered for review. Free, no email needed.