In some classrooms, teachers draw up a diagram of the room and put names on desks and threaten and punish to get the students to sit in the same seats every lesson. In others, the teachers don't care. But I've found this: in any given class the students will sit in the same seats all year round. Every lesson. For example, in physics, I sit 2nd row back 3rd seat in. In English I sit back row 2nd seat in. German is 2nd row 3rd seat. Every time.

Those seats are mine. No one else can take them. If a friend inadvertently takes my seat I give them a blank stare until they move. When someone else takes them, well. Let me tell you a little story. It's not very exciting, but bear with me.

One time someone did take my seat. So her friends came and sat with her and very soon the entire row was taken up by them. There is a reason we sit in that row, me and my friends. There are five of us. The row is six seats long. The other rows are only four. So we take the long row so someone does not have to sit alone. But when those seats are taken there is confusion. First, we walk into the row, confident that we have a seat. We walk to our row. We realize that other people are in it. Our step falters, for a moment we are confused and alone in the world. Then we start scanning the room frantically for another seat before someone notices our panic.

Some teachers are silly, or smart, and decide that our self-made seating plan is not acceptable, and that we'd work better alone. In some subjects this is true. In others it is not. But some teachers, the great teachers, the teachers that want the students to do well, and yes, we know when this is the case, will notice this seating plan of ours. And they will look after it. My English teacher would hand out assignments before we came into the room by laying them face down on our respective desks.

So next time you walk into your class see if you walk to the same seat you sat in yesterday, if the people in front of you are the same people. I'll bet they are; we really are creatures of habit.