I agree that the seats should be arranged in chunks. If this is not something that teacher wants to do all the time she can change it as she see fits but it seems like a group work setting would be most beneficial to these students.

If you approach the teacher and offer a new seating plan there is a 50/50 chance you might come across as to eager or green. I would personally ask opened ended questions and let the teacher come up with the solution .You can guide the conversation in the direction want and possible make a change. I would say something like, I'm doing this paper on cooperative learning and we are talking about seat arrangements ... bla... bla.. and then ask what their thoughts on cluster(for example) seating .. bla bla. You can then say your thoughts are and ask to try it out as an experiment.

I actually have a similar situation in my Middle School ESE room. The teachers has seating in u-shape but no desks touch her desk is in the center. I asked her and she brought up a good point. The kids like their space and when I do group work I let them pull up chairs or put desks together etc. Therefore, I would first take into consideration this could be temporary because high school students probably would not focus on the teacher if grouped all the time. Sometimes they like their own space. I would however ask the teacher why she does that and let her know you would like to do some lessons in group work to see how it goes.

I agree i think that group seating would be the most beneficial. I would just ask the teacher if you can change the seating because you are going to be incorporating a lot more group work and think that chunk seating would be most beneficial if the teacher does not want you to do that then I would just tell your kids to push their desks together during group time and have them push them back after.

I think you should speak with the teacher who you are interning with. Explain to them or draw out a layout of how you believe the classroom seating can be improved. Also let the teacher know the benefits and positive changes this can cause for the students or educators.

I would talk to your CT about this. If you are an intern you are able to give input. You can ask if you can try a different seating arrangement for a lesson you have planned and if it worked perhaps your CT would be interested in changing the rows.

This is a difficult solution for me as I remember high school seating for me mainly being in rows. Perhaps you can suggest to the teacher to group desks in pairs or trios. This will allow for the collaboration you are hoping for but also cuts back on the number of students in each group. I know for me personally, sometimes I just like relying on myself for the work instead of others, but a small group option might be ok.

If I were in this situation, I would talk to the teacher about trying a new seating arrangement. Ask her if you could try a new arrangement because you think it would benefit her and the students. If she does not want to move the desks around maybe ask if you could rearrange the students assigned seats and see if that makes a difference.

I thnk that you should start experimenting with the seating patterns. I always found that group seating is by far the most effective way to handle this.

Depending on the relationship with your CT, you could suggest a change in the classroom layout, and explain the reasons why you are suggesting the change. However, if the relationship is not that great, or the CT is not comfortable with change, as others have suggested, asking questions about why the CT has set the room up the way they did, might help create the changes that you desire. In the end though, it is not your classroom but theirs and if they are unwilling to move the desks, just file it away as something you will do in your future classroom. Sometimes learning what not to do is just as important as learning what to do.

Classroom seating is very important when it comes to students involvement and positive community atmosphere. I would bring up ideas to your CT on how you think the students would collaborate better with a different seating arrangement.

The seats should be changed. Try grouping them so that students can communicate with peers and learn socially.

I would try and talk to the teacher and voice your opinions. There is nothing wrong with voicing your opinion and trying to help all you want is for the children to succeed and do their best.

I would discuss with the teacher about the importance of grouping students and collaboration, but with open ended questioning. Rows can interfere with the classroom environment and some students would really benefit from table groups.

When you are teaching a lesson, ask the teacher if you can move the desks around. I am sure he/she will say yes. They might actually like how you change the seats around.

I agree, I would suggest to the teacher that you want to try a different seating arrangement so they students can work together.

If you feel there is a better solution, I would come up with a written plan and address it with your CT. Let her know that this is just a suggestion that you observed and would like to try something new.

I would teach a collaboration powerpoint lesson within a lesson plan that I will be using group activities. Additionally, I would assign roles for all students during group projects. The students will know what is expected of them during group activities and will have to collaborate to complete their assign roles. Chances are, the students will begin to collaborate more when you use group work activities more often.

I faced this same issue. What I did was created a lesson plan in which students needed to sit in a circle on the floor. In order to do that, I needed to move the desks from rows into a semi circle around the classroom. The teacher liked the seating arrangement so much that she ended up keeping it!

One idea may be to rearrange the desks for a lesson that you have to teach. Double check with your CT that it is okay and do it for that day. Your CT may see how the interactions between students can be positive and may change it on their own.

I agree that the classroom seating is not helping the students, I feel that rows are usually not the best set up. I feel since the students have to do collaborative work, I would set the room into groups anywhere from four to six students in each group depending on how many students and the size of the classroom.

As soon as possible I would sit down with the teacher of that classroom and tell her what you think and why. If she doesn't do anything then their is nothing you can do about it. But hopefully she will take your opinion in consideration.

I believe you are right, also I believe the teacher should take note of this and stop doing group work, because clearly nothing is being done.