I have teenagers in high school and middle school now.
Both my boys are intelligent and well behaved.
I sub in the elementary in their district.
I see many different ways teachers seat kids but it appears they all follow the good kid with one not so good. I have seen a few times where the good kids all sit together and the not so good all sit together. I have seen the very not so good kids sit off by themselves.
My observations....our kids might be perfect angels at home but even the best behaved child who might be a gifted student can behave totally different in school. My kids did it and I see it all the time in the classes I sub in (I have only 2 teachers who I work for so I know their classes and teaching methods well after years of working for them). We all want to think our children who we believe are gifted would NEVER do anything wrong...sorry to say it is a fact they do. Every parent wants to blame someone elses kid for their child's behavior at times. I think if we are ALL honest we have ALL done this. The good child will come home (and I am talking up to 6th grade even) and say I got in trouble cause Billy was talking and bothering me during class and Mrs. Smith sent both of us to the office. So mom and dad get mad and call teacher or principal or go into school. Teacher says kid did do talking but parents blame kid next to their child for being disruptive. Did it ever occur that your gifted child was doing the talking...probably not because we don't want to believe our children would ever do anything wrong. Those who are slightly ahead in class get bored and act out...talk, bother kid next to them, etc.
At times when good kids at one table and no so good at another I find the not so good kids better behaved. The good kids think they won't get in trouble for doing anything. I sent 4 2nd graders to the office once who were 'good' kids for cheating on a paper. They ALL missed the same problems and ALL had the same wrong answer and ALL sat near each other. Not a coincidence. Teacher was fine with it and said girls and parents sad they did nothing wrong.
Sometimes as parents we need to let the teachers do what they think is best. Think of it as a learning experience for our children. We as adults have people we work with who we don't get necessarily like but we get along with...even parents of our kids friends. Teachers get frustrated when parents whine and complain about every little thing and don't make their kids accountable for their actions. Kids get babied too much and parents think their child can do no wrong. The teachers have a class of 20-30 depending on area and they do their best. If you have an issue volunteer to work in the class for the teacher. It is amazing what you see. Also, take note if you are in their YOUR child will be on best behavior.
I learned fast with my first...even though they might be 'gifted' they are not perfect. They might sit next to the kid for 2-3 weeks. Tell them to do their work and ignore the other kid (know in some cases impossible) but it will do kids good to sit by a wide variety of kids. Do you honestly think in HS you can complain about who your child sits with????
JMHO
Honestly, I'd be more concerned about the fact that the whole class has the same 19 page seatwork packet
Yikes. That's where she's failing your bright kid.
Kids need to sit near everyone, but have flexible options to move around and away from distractions, but they also need to think. 19 pages of worksheets? And a parent could correct them, which means it's not differentiated, no critical thinking or open-ended learning?
If I was handed that, I'd hand them right back and ask the purpose of wasting kids' time!
Sorry- soapbox- I just did a consultation for a school that wanted to buy electronic worksheets to "keep the gifted and low-performing students equally occupied" Gasp and horror.
I sent 4 2nd graders to the office once who were 'good' kids for cheating on a paper. They ALL missed the same problems and ALL had the same wrong answer and ALL sat near each other. Not a coincidence. Teacher was fine with it and said girls and parents sad they did nothing wrong.
So the kids couldn't have studied together, but got it wrong? In study groups I've been in there's usually a strong one, the one who feels that they have it right. And if they felt that they had it right, and the other girls believed them, the same result certainly could have happened.
As to the other part...I just don't feel that you understand that sometimes kids are telling the truth. As a 23 year old grad student I was put into an xray class with upwards of 40 students. It was two classes put together with a woman who shouldn't have been anywhere near a classroom. She had absolute favorites, and since one of her favorites didn't much like me (that person was also her TA), and because the woman wasn't very professional, she always looked at me nastily and hated when I asked questions.
One day, as I was sitting in the far back of the room, on the floor (as were about 10 others b/c the classroom was too small), people were talking very very loudly. I was not talking; I was looking to the front, waiting for class to start, hating the people in the classroom with me.
She was trying to get order, and said some sentence that I did not hear. People started quieting down, and I asked, quietly, "what did she say?"
And I was kicked out of the class because what she said was "the next person that talks gets kicked out".
I went straight to the vice president of the school, told him what had just happened. He called her once class was over, got her in the room with me, and had her apologize to me and not have that day count towards my absences (professional school, only a few absences allowed per class per quarter or you fail). I was SO glad that HE believed me and understood the catch-22 situation I had been put in by my classmates and by the teacher believing what she wanted to believe.
I only hope you go into every situation being open to the concept that students do not always lie.
Protecting his work from prying eyes and copying I consider to be a low priority and he would be encouraged not to divert energy from doing the work.
A concept I would like to promote in elementary and junior high school is for kids to raise their hands only when they want to ask questions, not to answer questions.
Family hints: http://www.cockam.com/family.htm
I think it works if you have certain personalities. And it doesn't if you hae different ones.
IMO if you are a leader you ARE a leader. I don't think leadership can be taught. At least, not the calm cool true leadership that, say, my brother has. So I think that statement of the teacher is bogus. To me, putting your son there just makes him a target.
I think the only answer is that there is no one correct answer.
But the model student really needs to be someone with a strong, independent personality and good focus which doesn't always equate with academic giftedness which is a mistake often made by teachers. IMO, personality is a lot more important when sitting kids near each other than academic ability. Some kids aren't bothered by others behavior and some are.