During class on Thursday we discussed an introduction to personality, I also had the ability to sit towards the front of the room, when the last time I sat in with the students, I was at the back. All the personality talk, and general observations I made at the two times of implimentation, I felt inspired, and had a few questions that I am not sure have answers.
My first day I was sitting with the students I was in the back of the room, from previous dates of sitting at the back of the room, I knew that there were problems with texting, talking, and lack of paying attention. When I sat imbeded in the back, that is what I found. It was distracting the amount of chatter was heard, the number of phones vibrating or seeing individuals texting. (even though I do not know these individuals personal life, I was still interested in what they were saying for the entire class period). When in the back of the room I also found that there were not as many individuals taking notes, which could be evidence of note sharing, but if you are going to show up for class, why not at least take the notes?
As opposed to the back of the room, when I was sitting in the front of the room I noticed that every student was taking notes, and I saw no cell phones out, and I also heard no cell phones vibrate. In the front of the room, there was no whisper chatter that I heard in the back. I also noticed that those that were in the front of the room were taking notes when Dr. G suggested study tips, or stated that the information was important. I also noticed that the taking of notes on the information mentioned as important was only the case for the first two rows, and slowly decreased as the rows went higher.
While making these observations, I could not help but wonder how personality fits into the picture. Do the students that know they want to talk during class sit in the back? And do the students that know they are going to take notes on all of the information presented sit in the front of the class? Does it mean that the students sitting in the front of the class get better grades because they are lacking the distraction of the back of the room? Or do students in the back of the class do better because they are more comfortable in their learning environment?
It is very possible that the differences was only on the days that I made observations. But it does bring about some interesting questions. Is it possible that where you sit in the room affects your learning? Or does it help define the type of student that you are? Of course there would be outliers, such as me, I prefer the back of the room, but I still get good grades. As I stated earlier, I am not sure if any of these questions have answers, but the personality
This observation nicely fits into this week’s meeting topic of motivation. There is some research that shows that sitting in front is tied to motivation level but your question makes me wonder if it is conscientiousness as well. OR is it that in front I am right there???