Creating a seating plan

Having a seating plan can help create a more inclusive environment, writes Thomas Lyttle, Head Tutor in the School of Marketing and International Business.

It’s a good idea to create a fluid seating plan for tutorials. This develops connection with the students and which can help to maintain attendance. It also helps the tutor remember the names of individuals within the class—especially when you’re dealing with multiple tutorials.

Overall, this strategy creates a positive, welcoming environment where students are comfortable. And it drastically improves attendance and participation.

I first decided to use this technique in my second trimester of tutoring. I noticed there were particular students (the participative ones) who I knew by name. But those whose names I didn’t know seemed to feel discouraged from participating. I found that if I could learn all names by the end of the second tutorial, I could develop a connection with my students that seemed to increase overall participation of the class. The students also felt more comfortable asking questions and talking with the other members of their tutorials.

Creating a seating plan

1. Create name tags. This can be part of your icebreaker. I normally get the students to talk to the person next to them, and to figure out what mutual friends they have, without using any technology. Then to create a name tag for the person next to them. You can also use these name tags to refer to the students throughout the class. They will forget they have a name tag and think you already know who they are.
2. Set the students working on a short task (5–10 minutes should be plenty).
3. On a separate piece of paper, draw the seating plan for the tutorial room.
4. Note down the names of students based on where they are sitting. This will help you remember where they are during the tutorial. The funny thing is, they very rarely change their seating plan from week to week, don't dictate it to them. Let them choose.
5. Collect all the name tags. Tuck them away with the seating plan for the next tutorial. Keep them in a safe place so that when you return next week, you have everything ready.
6. When the students sit down for their second tutorial, hand out the name tags to the students.

Suddenly, they think you know them all by name! You will learn them quickly enough, but it really helps show the students that you care about them past just the 50 minutes that you have them in class.

Challenges with large tutorials

When you have large tutorials, or many different tutorials, it can become difficult to remember all the new faces. You can definitely note down some defining characteristics of the students.

You are more than welcome to head around the room and ask each of them (privately) to provide you with a fun fact, or quirk about themselves, as a way to help you remember who is who.

I personally have had difficulty with a few students changing seats. That is fine. Sometimes they will do this. Just make a little joke out of it. They will settle down after the second tutorial and by then you will probably know most of them by name.

Advantages

Overall, this strategy helps the students view you as someone they are actually comfortable having a conversation with. Questions and contributions generally seem to increase, as well as their enjoyment of the tutorial overall.

This also allows you, as a tutor, to check in on absent students by talking to the friends they normally sit with. It really shows the students that you care about them and that you are putting in effort to try to make their education better and more interesting. While not the intention, it also encourages absent students into turning up at the next tutorial.

So far, in my experience, there are always at least one or two students who move around in the first two classes. However, once they settle into the class, you are able to build a much stronger personal connection with the students. This increases the effort they put in, while also allowing you to help guide the students much more effectively.

Since employing this method, I have noticed a huge improvement in both the atmosphere of my tutorials and the feedback I have received at the end of each trimester.