In this episode, I delve into the pivotal role of felt safety in classrooms. You'll learn how to craft a climate of felt safety that hushes unpredictability and amplifies familiarity, helping students to stay calm and regulated, ultimately reducing and mitigating disruptive behaviors.
One game changer when it comes to increasing this consistency, is the humble seating plan.
It's more than just curbing low-level disturbances; it's about offering students a consistent, predictable space that silently communicates expectations.
Listen along as I give you a step by step walk through of why seating plans are so beneficial, and why increasing the predictability and consistency in your classroom is golden for a calm teaching and learning environment.
Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to the Unteachables podcast.
I'm your host, claire, and I amabsolutely no stranger to the
challenges and let's face it,sometimes carnage of being a
teacher.
And if you found yourselfyou're listening with me, I'd
say that you might know a bitabout that as well, because
being a teacher is friggin hard,and this podcast is dedicated
to making you feel a hell of alot less alone, whilst giving
(00:33):
you the knowledge, support andstrategies that you need to not
just survive the chaos of beinga teacher but truly thrive.
Think about it as getting aweekly dose of relatable,
actionable and, most importantly, enjoyable professional
learning straight into your ears.
So hit the subscribe button,download me for your commute and
let's get into it.
Hello everyone, welcome toanother week of the Unteachables
(00:56):
podcast.
This particular episode ifyou're listening in real time
falls on the last week of thesummer holidays.
For me, that means that I'mcoming back to work after
maternity leave, so I'm feelingparticularly like the Sunday
scaries are kind of trickling infor me and because of that, I
wanted to just maybe say a fewwords of wisdom to myself.
(01:19):
Really, but maybe someone outthere will benefit from it as
well, and this is relevant evenif you're not on summer holidays
, going back into school.
What I've been really thinkingabout today is that all of us we
really do need to kind of fightfor the boundaries and balance
that we want, need and deservein the job.
Unfortunately, we do have tofight for that.
It's very easy for us to kindof not be taken for granted or
(01:41):
all of that stuff, but it's veryeasy to fall into a trap of
doing more, more, more.
It trickles in for us.
We can get kind of caught outdoing a little bit here and
there on the weekend and thatcan then snowball into doing
more and more and more, becausewe're holding up this kind of
particular standard of work orcapacity of work that we're only
(02:03):
able to achieve by working onthe weekend or working at night.
So it's really important for usto hold those boundaries, hold
that balance, because for me, ifI don't do that, that means the
very little time that I'll getto spend with my baby I can't
spend it with her.
So I've never felt morepassionate about the importance
of balance for me and boundariesfor me.
(02:24):
Going back to work full time,leaving Ava at home yeah, it's
really something that's reallykind of impacting me at the
moment.
So if there are any mums outthere that completely understand
that, then feel free to reachout and give me a pep talk.
Anyway, enough of that, let'scrack into the episodes.
If you haven't done so yet, Isuggest going back and listening
(02:46):
to last week's episode first.
So last week's episode wascalled Co-Regulation Explained
the Core of Calm and EffectiveClassroom Management.
I'm calling that episode apillar episode because it kind
of explains the core conceptsthat underpin the strategies
that I'm going to be talkingabout in this episode and
episodes to follow.
So it's kind of like a preludeto this.
So if you haven't yet, Isuggest going back and listening
(03:09):
to that.
If you're a pro atco-regulation and regulation and
dysregulation, you have areally good handle on all of
those concepts.
Then listen on.
That's fine.
But a recap on what I spokeabout in the last podcast A lot
of the behaviours that we do seein our classroom are from
dysregulation of some kind.
Every single one of us has astress response.
(03:30):
That stress response can gettriggered.
When that stress response getstriggered, our bodies flood us
with cortisol, adrenaline all ofthe things that we need to be
able to run away from thatthreat or to fight against that
threat.
A lot of that is happening inour classrooms with our students
.
Some students are amazing atgetting themselves back to a
state of regulation very quickly.
(03:50):
Or some students are reallyamazing at being able to not let
things trigger them as much andthey spend more time in a state
of regulation.
Unfortunately, because this isa learnt skill, some students
haven't learnt that skillthrough all of those touch
points as children, through asecure attachment, through all
(04:12):
of those things that wire thebrain in a way that help us to
learn to regulate.
So that's a very like briefrecap on that.
But if you don't understand aword I just said, please go and
listen to that episode beforeNow.
This episode is all about how wecan work to increase the felt
safety for our students,remembering that felt safety is
(04:32):
different than physical safety.
When students feel safe in ourenvironments then they can spend
more time in connection mode,they can spend more time in a
regulated state and, especiallyfor those students who find it
really challenging to stayregulated, it helps them to be
more settled in class and fortheir behaviors that usually
might be really challenging toreduce because we're reducing
(04:55):
that stress response for them.
So felt safety is incrediblyimportant.
Fostering an environment offelt safety is how we can
mitigate some of the behaviorsthat are because of
dysregulation, and I want totalk about predictability and
consistency.
So remember from last episode,the brain has a wise owl, the
prefrontal cortex and then theguard dog.
(05:15):
And I want to extend thatmetaphor because, think about it
, how does a guard dog know whoto attack or what to attack?
A guard dog attacks the threats, and the threats are the things
that are unfamiliar.
So an unfamiliar person itmight bark out the window at a
delivery driver.
It might bark at someone comingdown the driveway who is
unfamiliar to that dog.
(05:35):
And the same thing happens withthe amygdala.
Things that are unfamiliar willtrigger the stress response
more in our students.
So what the goal is in ourclassrooms is to increase the
felt safety, to make morefriends for that guard dog, as
many friends as humanly possible, because when we reduce that
unpredictability we make thingsmore familiar for students to
(05:58):
walk into.
And we can do this in amultitude of ways, but this
episode I just wanted to diveinto one thing very quickly that
we can do to increase the feltsafety in our classroom.
It's something that all of usat some point I'm sure have done
or I've thought about doing,and it is the humble seating
plan.
I will go into other strategiesin the coming episodes, but I
(06:18):
just wanted to start herebecause it's something that's so
simple, it's something thateveryone can understand and it's
something that people areprobably already doing in their
classrooms and teachers oftenthink about seating plans as
something that's more reactiveto behaviors or as something to
separate the chronicchit-chatters or be strategic
with where certain students sit.
(06:39):
So you're mitigating some ofthe behaviors in that way.
When we set a seating plan,obviously we're really
strategically in where we playstudents and it can feel like a
bit of a jigsaw puzzle and ofcourse that is what seating
plans are for and you might bestrategic in how you place
certain students with particularneeds and all the rest of it.
So at the very basic level ofwhat seating plans are, of
course that's what they are forMitigating things proactively,
(07:02):
kind of strategically puttingstudents in certain places and
just thinking about how we canmove students around to kind of
create an environment that's alittle bit more productive.
But one way that seating planswork they're magic to support
with proactive classroommanagement is actually in how
they increase theirpredictability and consistency
(07:24):
in the room.
So, even if you take away allof the things that I just said
about why seating plans work ina variety of different contexts,
which is being able to choosewhere students who are a little
bit chattier might sit why itactually works in mitigating the
behaviors is because it helpswith that felt safety.
Imagine for a second thatstudents walk into the room.
(07:45):
Right, what does a seating plando for that student and
yourself as the teacher?
What it does do it reduces allof those niggling, low level
behaviors of like, oh, comes itover here, the uncertain shuffle
.
Maybe it reduces the anxiety ofyou're in my seat.
Maybe that student who feelslike they're not wanted next to
other people, don't have a lotof friends, are kind of
(08:06):
struggling socially.
They might feel really anxiousabout choosing a seat to sit in
because they get shuffled fromone place to the other.
There's a lot of socialdynamics at play there.
All of that kind of stuff canhappen when you go into a
classroom where you don't have aset seating plan.
Now, I'm not saying that everysingle room that doesn't have a
seating plan is one that has alot of behavior issues, a lot of
(08:28):
low level behaviors that happen.
What I'm saying is that if youdo have these kinds of behaviors
that happen, then a seatingplan is going to be amazing to
help to reduce those behaviors.
And it's not just the practicalthings like oh, comes it over
here, and that kind of hubbubwhen you get into the classroom
of them need to sit down.
It is the importance ofstudents knowing that when they
(08:50):
walk into your classroom theywill know where they're sitting.
They can crack on with thelearning.
They don't have to think aboutit.
They don't have to worry aboutwhere they're going to sit.
They don't have to worry aboutwhether or not that person wants
them next to them or not.
They can get in there.
They can rely on the fact thatthere's a set space for them.
They can settle into the lessonand they don't have to worry
about the social dynamics.
All of those things can bereally challenging for students.
(09:11):
They might be friends one day.
The next day they might not be.
There's a whole bunch of thingsat play.
So you being able to set aseating plan, have that
consistency, have that level ofpredictability, that is going to
help immensely for thosestudents who really do need that
kind of protective barrieraround them of that predictable
seating plan.
When you do have a seating plan, students can just get in, they
(09:32):
can get sat down and they canjust get on with it.
So works on two levels,reducing that stress response in
the brain for some students whomay struggle, and it also
nonverbally reinforces yourexpectations through their
consistency and clarity.
When you've got a seating planand you're asking them to come
in, you're asking them to getsettled, you're asking them to
get sat down.
In their seating plan, yourexpectations are being
(09:53):
reinforced of them coming in andcracking on with the learning.
So let me go over how to do itand I don't want it to sound
really condescending me sittinghere saying let me teach you how
to set a seating plan becauseit is quite simple by nature.
But I wanted to go like everysingle thing that I talk about.
When it comes to classroommanagement, the things that we
talk about are incrediblynuanced and one little thing can
(10:16):
actually start to move theneedle with behavior.
So I wanted to go over thethings that I think could be a
little bit enlightening forpeople or could just reinforce
what you're already doing.
One thing that you don't wantseating plans to be is a
punishment for students.
So what I do is I set itproactively at the start of the
year, which is why I'm doingthis episode before you go back
after summer holidays.
I set it proactively at thestart of the year and the way
(10:39):
that I frame it isn't in apunitive way, it isn't like a
drag for students.
I just say this is a way tohelp me, to help you.
I want to get to know yournames, or I want to work out the
class, I want to see what worksfor us.
I just say anything to makesure that they know that it's
not a punishment, it's just comeon.
Everybody Like I just reallywant to make sure that I'm on
(11:00):
top of this and it's going tohelp me help you.
I don't need to know anythingmore than that.
Really, the way that you set itcan make a big difference,
because what you don't want itto be is a chaotic free-for-all.
I've had lessons before.
I've set a seating plan andthen students are kind of like
smilling about at the front,standing everywhere, they're
hitting each other with booksand it's just like kind of a
(11:22):
bunch of chaos.
So the way that I do it is.
I just get students to standoutside while I'm there
monitoring them.
I've got the seating plan likeprojected up onto the board, so
it's visual up there.
I've got a copy of the seatingplan that's visual in my hand.
I've got post-it notes on thedesks with their names and as
students cut to me, I'm sendingthem in one by one to sit in
(11:43):
their seats.
If they don't remember where Ipointed, they can look up at the
board.
So I'm kind of trying tomitigate every possibility of
them just getting confused, notknowing where to sit, and then
I'm going to have to managethree things at once.
So just mitigating all of thosethings by having it up on the
board I've got it in my hand.
I've got post-it notes on thedesk.
They can crack on and sit downwhere they need to sit down.
So in terms of like thepracticalities of setting a
(12:05):
seating plan, that's how I makesure it's done and then I just
have that seating plan up on thewall somewhere wherever I can
put it, and they know everylesson that it's there in case
they forget or I forget, becauseof course I'll forget where
they're sitting most of the timeAt the start of the year.
If I don't know the students,I'll just do alphabetical order
and I genuinely do set a seatingplan so I can remember their
(12:27):
names.
As a secondary teacher, I havewhat?
300 students at any given time,so it's a really great strategy
to get to get to know theirnames as well, which, again, is
a strategy that is so crucialbecause names mean a lot to
people and when you know astudent's name, that's, you know
, that's really crucial kind ofrelationship building stuff.
So, of course, that's anotherreason why a seating plan is
(12:49):
really, really important for me,particularly as someone that
has a terrible memory for names.
So just say you need to re-jigthe seating plan, and it can
come across as quite punitive.
What you want to do is justtell them the lesson before to
prepare them.
Again, it's about increasingthe felt safety in the class
because of predictability andconsistency.
(13:12):
What you don't want to do ishave students rock up at the
side of a lesson and they'relike, in terms of predictability
, they are expecting to go inand sit down and get into their
seats and start learning, andthen they get there and instead
of that happening, you're stoodthere wanting to redo the
seating plan to stop that fromhappening, because then you're
(13:32):
going to have all those moansand grunts from students.
You're going to have people,you know, fighting against that
and pushing against that, andit's because they're expecting
one thing and you've just hitthem with something else.
So if I am going to re-jig aseating plan in the middle of
the year or set a seating planin the middle of the year, what
I do is I prepare them thelesson before.
I'll explain to them why I'mchanging it up.
(13:53):
I'm going to be reallytransparent with them.
I'll say everybody I'm justgoing to say it right now things
aren't working the way they arein this class at the moment.
I really need to do somethinghere to make a change, because
you're not learning asproductively as you could be and
every single one of youdeserves to be learning in the
best way that you possibly canin this classroom.
So what I'm going to be doingis I'm going to be just redoing
(14:16):
the seating plan, just puttingyou in a different place, seeing
if that kind of changes thingsup and shakes things up, because
I want to make sure that we'reall in the best place to learn.
So next lesson, when you cometo class, what I'm going to ask
you to do is just like we did atthe start of the year wait
outside.
I'm going to be putting you inyour new seating plan again.
(14:37):
It's not because you're introuble.
I just really want to make surethat we're doing the best in
this class as we possibly can,and that means that I really
need to shake things up and dosomething different.
You don't have to say it likethat, but that's how I might say
it, depending on the class,depending on the particular
situation, whatever way you doit, just preparing them for what
is to come.
They've come to class and do itexactly the same as you did
(14:59):
before.
Make it really clear so it'snot a free for all, projected up
on the board.
Have post notes on the desk,and they've been, one by one,
know where they're going to besitting, just so you're all over
it and you know exactly wherethey'll be and they know exactly
where they're going as well.
Yes, of course you can movethem around during the lesson
after they've been in theirseating plans, but make this
(15:19):
their base.
The whole point is just to makethat seating plan something
familiar, so a familiar friendfor their amygdala, their guard
dogs, and just increasing thatfelt safety so they walk into
your lesson knowing exactly whatthe environment is going to be
like and what to expect.
This is just one of many thingsyou can do to increase that
(15:40):
felt safety in the room.
And as you start to increasethat felt safety, I promise that
you're going to be able to seea decrease in behaviors that are
a manifestation of that stressresponse.
And, as I said, I just wantedto start with a sitting plan
because not only is it somethingthat does increase the
predictability and theconsistency so it's working on
that level of felt safety butit's also working on that level
(16:02):
of reinforcing your expectations, of breaking up those dynamics,
of doing a bunch of things thatare going to be able to
proactively start to managethose lower level behaviors in
the classroom so you can justcrack on with teaching really
like that's what the bread andbutter of this is.
So I hope that's helpful.
I'm going to touch on more ofthese strategies in the coming
(16:22):
episodes, strategies that Ireally hope are going to set you
up for a lot of success in thecoming year and if you're smack
bang in the center of the year,I know that those of you in the
Southern Hemisphere are in termthree at the moment.
That's fine.
You can start this in the finalweek of school if you wanted to
.
You are the person who isleading that classroom.
(16:43):
You are the conductor of theenergy in that room.
You're steering that ship.
You don't have to.
You haven't missed the boat atall.
So at any point you can go backand you can set a sitting plan.
At any point, you can changethings up, change your pedagogy,
change your routines.
It's never too late to do that.
I look forward to sharing somemore strategies with you and
until then, I hope you have awonderful week ahead, if it's
(17:04):
your last week before the summerholidays, and I hope you have a
really relaxing, a wonderfulone.
Remember what I said, even ifyou aren't in the middle of your
summer holidays, going into anew academic year, please
remember what I said aboutboundaries.
No one is going to hold yourboundaries like you are.
No one cares about yourboundaries like you do.
You have to fight for them.
You have to fight for thethings that really matter in
(17:25):
your world.
You're a teacher be.
You're also a human.
You're also a partner, a mother, a friend, a family member, a
dog, mum, a cat, mum or dad,whatever you are right, you are
more than just a teacher, so youneed to make sure you hold
space for all of the things inyour life that really mattered
to you.
Okay, everyone, that's it fromme.
As I say every episode, if yougot something from it, if you
(17:49):
enjoyed this, it means the worldto me.
If you just dropped me a review, on whatever platform you're
listening to this on, it helpsme just reach more teachers, and
that's my mission.
I want to be able to support asmany teachers as I can through
this platform.
And, yeah, that's it.
So have a lovely week and I'llsee you next time.
Have a wonderful day, luke.
Welcome to the Unteachables podcast.
I'm your host, claire, and I amabsolutely no stranger to the
challenges and let's face it,sometimes carnage of being a
teacher.
And if you found yourselfyou're listening with me, I'd
say that you might know a bitabout that as well, because
being a teacher is friggin hard,and this podcast is dedicated
to making you feel a hell of alot less alone, whilst giving
(00:33):
you the knowledge, support andstrategies that you need to not
just survive the chaos of beinga teacher but truly thrive.
Think about it as getting aweekly dose of relatable,
actionable and, most importantly, enjoyable professional
learning straight into your ears.
So hit the subscribe button,download me for your commute and
let's get into it.
Hello everyone, welcome toanother week of the Unteachables
(00:56):
podcast.
This particular episode ifyou're listening in real time
falls on the last week of thesummer holidays.
For me, that means that I'mcoming back to work after
maternity leave, so I'm feelingparticularly like the Sunday
scaries are kind of trickling infor me and because of that, I
wanted to just maybe say a fewwords of wisdom to myself.
(01:19):
Really, but maybe someone outthere will benefit from it as
well, and this is relevant evenif you're not on summer holidays
, going back into school.
What I've been really thinkingabout today is that all of us we
really do need to kind of fightfor the boundaries and balance
that we want, need and deservein the job.
Unfortunately, we do have tofight for that.
It's very easy for us to kindof not be taken for granted or
(01:41):
all of that stuff, but it's veryeasy to fall into a trap of
doing more, more, more.
It trickles in for us.
We can get kind of caught outdoing a little bit here and
there on the weekend and thatcan then snowball into doing
more and more and more, becausewe're holding up this kind of
particular standard of work orcapacity of work that we're only
(02:03):
able to achieve by working onthe weekend or working at night.
So it's really important for usto hold those boundaries, hold
that balance, because for me, ifI don't do that, that means the
very little time that I'll getto spend with my baby I can't
spend it with her.
So I've never felt morepassionate about the importance
of balance for me and boundariesfor me.
(02:24):
Going back to work full time,leaving Ava at home yeah, it's
really something that's reallykind of impacting me at the
moment.
So if there are any mums outthere that completely understand
that, then feel free to reachout and give me a pep talk.
Anyway, enough of that, let'scrack into the episodes.
If you haven't done so yet, Isuggest going back and listening
(02:46):
to last week's episode first.
So last week's episode wascalled Co-Regulation Explained
the Core of Calm and EffectiveClassroom Management.
I'm calling that episode apillar episode because it kind
of explains the core conceptsthat underpin the strategies
that I'm going to be talkingabout in this episode and
episodes to follow.
So it's kind of like a preludeto this.
So if you haven't yet, Isuggest going back and listening
(03:09):
to that.
If you're a pro atco-regulation and regulation and
dysregulation, you have areally good handle on all of
those concepts.
Then listen on.
That's fine.
But a recap on what I spokeabout in the last podcast A lot
of the behaviours that we do seein our classroom are from
dysregulation of some kind.
Every single one of us has astress response.
(03:30):
That stress response can gettriggered.
When that stress response getstriggered, our bodies flood us
with cortisol, adrenaline all ofthe things that we need to be
able to run away from thatthreat or to fight against that
threat.
A lot of that is happening inour classrooms with our students
.
Some students are amazing atgetting themselves back to a
state of regulation very quickly.
(03:50):
Or some students are reallyamazing at being able to not let
things trigger them as much andthey spend more time in a state
of regulation.
Unfortunately, because this isa learnt skill, some students
haven't learnt that skillthrough all of those touch
points as children, through asecure attachment, through all
(04:12):
of those things that wire thebrain in a way that help us to
learn to regulate.
So that's a very like briefrecap on that.
But if you don't understand aword I just said, please go and
listen to that episode beforeNow.
This episode is all about how wecan work to increase the felt
safety for our students,remembering that felt safety is
(04:32):
different than physical safety.
When students feel safe in ourenvironments then they can spend
more time in connection mode,they can spend more time in a
regulated state and, especiallyfor those students who find it
really challenging to stayregulated, it helps them to be
more settled in class and fortheir behaviors that usually
might be really challenging toreduce because we're reducing
(04:55):
that stress response for them.
So felt safety is incrediblyimportant.
Fostering an environment offelt safety is how we can
mitigate some of the behaviorsthat are because of
dysregulation, and I want totalk about predictability and
consistency.
So remember from last episode,the brain has a wise owl, the
prefrontal cortex and then theguard dog.
(05:15):
And I want to extend thatmetaphor because, think about it
, how does a guard dog know whoto attack or what to attack?
A guard dog attacks the threats, and the threats are the things
that are unfamiliar.
So an unfamiliar person itmight bark out the window at a
delivery driver.
It might bark at someone comingdown the driveway who is
unfamiliar to that dog.
(05:35):
And the same thing happens withthe amygdala.
Things that are unfamiliar willtrigger the stress response
more in our students.
So what the goal is in ourclassrooms is to increase the
felt safety, to make morefriends for that guard dog, as
many friends as humanly possible, because when we reduce that
unpredictability we make thingsmore familiar for students to
(05:58):
walk into.
And we can do this in amultitude of ways, but this
episode I just wanted to diveinto one thing very quickly that
we can do to increase the feltsafety in our classroom.
It's something that all of usat some point I'm sure have done
or I've thought about doing,and it is the humble seating
plan.
I will go into other strategiesin the coming episodes, but I
(06:18):
just wanted to start herebecause it's something that's so
simple, it's something thateveryone can understand and it's
something that people areprobably already doing in their
classrooms and teachers oftenthink about seating plans as
something that's more reactiveto behaviors or as something to
separate the chronicchit-chatters or be strategic
with where certain students sit.
(06:39):
So you're mitigating some ofthe behaviors in that way.
When we set a seating plan,obviously we're really
strategically in where we playstudents and it can feel like a
bit of a jigsaw puzzle and ofcourse that is what seating
plans are for and you might bestrategic in how you place
certain students with particularneeds and all the rest of it.
So at the very basic level ofwhat seating plans are, of
course that's what they are forMitigating things proactively,
(07:02):
kind of strategically puttingstudents in certain places and
just thinking about how we canmove students around to kind of
create an environment that's alittle bit more productive.
But one way that seating planswork they're magic to support
with proactive classroommanagement is actually in how
they increase theirpredictability and consistency
(07:24):
in the room.
So, even if you take away allof the things that I just said
about why seating plans work ina variety of different contexts,
which is being able to choosewhere students who are a little
bit chattier might sit why itactually works in mitigating the
behaviors is because it helpswith that felt safety.
Imagine for a second thatstudents walk into the room.
(07:45):
Right, what does a seating plando for that student and
yourself as the teacher?
What it does do it reduces allof those niggling, low level
behaviors of like, oh, comes itover here, the uncertain shuffle
.
Maybe it reduces the anxiety ofyou're in my seat.
Maybe that student who feelslike they're not wanted next to
other people, don't have a lotof friends, are kind of
(08:06):
struggling socially.
They might feel really anxiousabout choosing a seat to sit in
because they get shuffled fromone place to the other.
There's a lot of socialdynamics at play there.
All of that kind of stuff canhappen when you go into a
classroom where you don't have aset seating plan.
Now, I'm not saying that everysingle room that doesn't have a
seating plan is one that has alot of behavior issues, a lot of
(08:28):
low level behaviors that happen.
What I'm saying is that if youdo have these kinds of behaviors
that happen, then a seatingplan is going to be amazing to
help to reduce those behaviors.
And it's not just the practicalthings like oh, comes it over
here, and that kind of hubbubwhen you get into the classroom
of them need to sit down.
It is the importance ofstudents knowing that when they
(08:50):
walk into your classroom theywill know where they're sitting.
They can crack on with thelearning.
They don't have to think aboutit.
They don't have to worry aboutwhere they're going to sit.
They don't have to worry aboutwhether or not that person wants
them next to them or not.
They can get in there.
They can rely on the fact thatthere's a set space for them.
They can settle into the lessonand they don't have to worry
about the social dynamics.
All of those things can bereally challenging for students.
(09:11):
They might be friends one day.
The next day they might not be.
There's a whole bunch of thingsat play.
So you being able to set aseating plan, have that
consistency, have that level ofpredictability, that is going to
help immensely for thosestudents who really do need that
kind of protective barrieraround them of that predictable
seating plan.
When you do have a seating plan, students can just get in, they
(09:32):
can get sat down and they canjust get on with it.
So works on two levels,reducing that stress response in
the brain for some students whomay struggle, and it also
nonverbally reinforces yourexpectations through their
consistency and clarity.
When you've got a seating planand you're asking them to come
in, you're asking them to getsettled, you're asking them to
get sat down.
In their seating plan, yourexpectations are being
(09:53):
reinforced of them coming in andcracking on with the learning.
So let me go over how to do itand I don't want it to sound
really condescending me sittinghere saying let me teach you how
to set a seating plan becauseit is quite simple by nature.
But I wanted to go like everysingle thing that I talk about.
When it comes to classroommanagement, the things that we
talk about are incrediblynuanced and one little thing can
(10:16):
actually start to move theneedle with behavior.
So I wanted to go over thethings that I think could be a
little bit enlightening forpeople or could just reinforce
what you're already doing.
One thing that you don't wantseating plans to be is a
punishment for students.
So what I do is I set itproactively at the start of the
year, which is why I'm doingthis episode before you go back
after summer holidays.
I set it proactively at thestart of the year and the way
(10:39):
that I frame it isn't in apunitive way, it isn't like a
drag for students.
I just say this is a way tohelp me, to help you.
I want to get to know yournames, or I want to work out the
class, I want to see what worksfor us.
I just say anything to makesure that they know that it's
not a punishment, it's just comeon.
Everybody Like I just reallywant to make sure that I'm on
(11:00):
top of this and it's going tohelp me help you.
I don't need to know anythingmore than that.
Really, the way that you set itcan make a big difference,
because what you don't want itto be is a chaotic free-for-all.
I've had lessons before.
I've set a seating plan andthen students are kind of like
smilling about at the front,standing everywhere, they're
hitting each other with booksand it's just like kind of a
(11:22):
bunch of chaos.
So the way that I do it is.
I just get students to standoutside while I'm there
monitoring them.
I've got the seating plan likeprojected up onto the board, so
it's visual up there.
I've got a copy of the seatingplan that's visual in my hand.
I've got post-it notes on thedesks with their names and as
students cut to me, I'm sendingthem in one by one to sit in
(11:43):
their seats.
If they don't remember where Ipointed, they can look up at the
board.
So I'm kind of trying tomitigate every possibility of
them just getting confused, notknowing where to sit, and then
I'm going to have to managethree things at once.
So just mitigating all of thosethings by having it up on the
board I've got it in my hand.
I've got post-it notes on thedesk.
They can crack on and sit downwhere they need to sit down.
So in terms of like thepracticalities of setting a
(12:05):
seating plan, that's how I makesure it's done and then I just
have that seating plan up on thewall somewhere wherever I can
put it, and they know everylesson that it's there in case
they forget or I forget, becauseof course I'll forget where
they're sitting most of the timeAt the start of the year.
If I don't know the students,I'll just do alphabetical order
and I genuinely do set a seatingplan so I can remember their
(12:27):
names.
As a secondary teacher, I havewhat?
300 students at any given time,so it's a really great strategy
to get to get to know theirnames as well, which, again, is
a strategy that is so crucialbecause names mean a lot to
people and when you know astudent's name, that's, you know
, that's really crucial kind ofrelationship building stuff.
So, of course, that's anotherreason why a seating plan is
(12:49):
really, really important for me,particularly as someone that
has a terrible memory for names.
So just say you need to re-jigthe seating plan, and it can
come across as quite punitive.
What you want to do is justtell them the lesson before to
prepare them.
Again, it's about increasingthe felt safety in the class
because of predictability andconsistency.
(13:12):
What you don't want to do ishave students rock up at the
side of a lesson and they'relike, in terms of predictability
, they are expecting to go inand sit down and get into their
seats and start learning, andthen they get there and instead
of that happening, you're stoodthere wanting to redo the
seating plan to stop that fromhappening, because then you're
(13:32):
going to have all those moansand grunts from students.
You're going to have people,you know, fighting against that
and pushing against that, andit's because they're expecting
one thing and you've just hitthem with something else.
So if I am going to re-jig aseating plan in the middle of
the year or set a seating planin the middle of the year, what
I do is I prepare them thelesson before.
I'll explain to them why I'mchanging it up.
(13:53):
I'm going to be reallytransparent with them.
I'll say everybody I'm justgoing to say it right now things
aren't working the way they arein this class at the moment.
I really need to do somethinghere to make a change, because
you're not learning asproductively as you could be and
every single one of youdeserves to be learning in the
best way that you possibly canin this classroom.
So what I'm going to be doingis I'm going to be just redoing
(14:16):
the seating plan, just puttingyou in a different place, seeing
if that kind of changes thingsup and shakes things up, because
I want to make sure that we'reall in the best place to learn.
So next lesson, when you cometo class, what I'm going to ask
you to do is just like we did atthe start of the year wait
outside.
I'm going to be putting you inyour new seating plan again.
(14:37):
It's not because you're introuble.
I just really want to make surethat we're doing the best in
this class as we possibly can,and that means that I really
need to shake things up and dosomething different.
You don't have to say it likethat, but that's how I might say
it, depending on the class,depending on the particular
situation, whatever way you doit, just preparing them for what
is to come.
They've come to class and do itexactly the same as you did
(14:59):
before.
Make it really clear so it'snot a free for all, projected up
on the board.
Have post notes on the desk,and they've been, one by one,
know where they're going to besitting, just so you're all over
it and you know exactly wherethey'll be and they know exactly
where they're going as well.
Yes, of course you can movethem around during the lesson
after they've been in theirseating plans, but make this
(15:19):
their base.
The whole point is just to makethat seating plan something
familiar, so a familiar friendfor their amygdala, their guard
dogs, and just increasing thatfelt safety so they walk into
your lesson knowing exactly whatthe environment is going to be
like and what to expect.
This is just one of many thingsyou can do to increase that
(15:40):
felt safety in the room.
And as you start to increasethat felt safety, I promise that
you're going to be able to seea decrease in behaviors that are
a manifestation of that stressresponse.
And, as I said, I just wantedto start with a sitting plan
because not only is it somethingthat does increase the
predictability and theconsistency so it's working on
that level of felt safety butit's also working on that level
(16:02):
of reinforcing your expectations, of breaking up those dynamics,
of doing a bunch of things thatare going to be able to
proactively start to managethose lower level behaviors in
the classroom so you can justcrack on with teaching really
like that's what the bread andbutter of this is.
So I hope that's helpful.
I'm going to touch on more ofthese strategies in the coming
(16:22):
episodes, strategies that Ireally hope are going to set you
up for a lot of success in thecoming year and if you're smack
bang in the center of the year,I know that those of you in the
Southern Hemisphere are in termthree at the moment.
That's fine.
You can start this in the finalweek of school if you wanted to
.
You are the person who isleading that classroom.
(16:43):
You are the conductor of theenergy in that room.
You're steering that ship.
You don't have to.
You haven't missed the boat atall.
So at any point you can go backand you can set a sitting plan.
At any point, you can changethings up, change your pedagogy,
change your routines.
It's never too late to do that.
I look forward to sharing somemore strategies with you and
until then, I hope you have awonderful week ahead, if it's
(17:04):
your last week before the summerholidays, and I hope you have a
really relaxing, a wonderfulone.
Remember what I said, even ifyou aren't in the middle of your
summer holidays, going into anew academic year, please
remember what I said aboutboundaries.
No one is going to hold yourboundaries like you are.
No one cares about yourboundaries like you do.
You have to fight for them.
You have to fight for thethings that really matter in
(17:25):
your world.
You're a teacher be.
You're also a human.
You're also a partner, a mother, a friend, a family member, a
dog, mum, a cat, mum or dad,whatever you are right, you are
more than just a teacher, so youneed to make sure you hold
space for all of the things inyour life that really mattered
to you.
Okay, everyone, that's it fromme.
As I say every episode, if yougot something from it, if you
(17:49):
enjoyed this, it means the worldto me.
If you just dropped me a review, on whatever platform you're
listening to this on, it helpsme just reach more teachers, and
that's my mission.
I want to be able to support asmany teachers as I can through
this platform.
And, yeah, that's it.
So have a lovely week and I'llsee you next time.
Have a wonderful day, luke.
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