Учительница из Коннектикута организовала класс по знакам зодиака: результаты шокировали

When Kathryn Prouse started teaching third grade in Connecticut in 2020, she couldn’t decide how to set up her classroom seating chart. “When you’re a new teacher, you’re just so nervous and you’re just overthinking everything,” she tells TODAY.com. Because her students were simply names on a piece of paper and not fully-fleshed out personalities, she couldn’t figure out how to arrange their seats to give her — and them — the best start for a successful year. “My best friend was like, ‘Why don’t you seat them by zodiac sign?’” Prouse says. Though she doesn’t consider herself to be an astrology devotee, she decided to give it a shot. Prouse divided her students into four tables based on their zodiac signs: earth, air, water and fire. The results, she laughs, “are so on the nose that no one’s going to believe me.” Here’s what happened that first year. “Earth signs are very motivated to get things done,” she says. “Nobody was at my earth sign table because they were always finished with their work and helping other people.” Prouse placed the water sign table near her classroom “calm corner” because “they were crying all the time.” The kids at the fire sign table “fought with each other nonstop” but when Prouse threatened to separate them, they begged to stay together. The air sign students were “a little dreamy,” and Prouse mistakenly placed them at the back of the classroom, causing her to constantly redirect them when they stopped paying attention. “It was almost like they were too powerful,” Prouse jokes about grouping the kids by zodiac sign. After that first year, she decided to intentionally mix signs so that the tables have a representative from each group. “I found that putting one of each at each table works so they balance each other out,” Prouse shares. When she created a TikTok video explaining her seating technique last year, it went viral. This year, she shared a similar post and it earned even more views. Prouse says that reactions to her technique are dramatically distinct: either, “I’ve been teaching for 30 years and never thought of this — it’s brilliant!” or, “What’s wrong with you?!” The zodiac seating chart is often temporary, but she considers it a much better way to organize the classroom than using test scores or reading levels. “I don’t live by it, but when I’m thinking of what’s going to get us through the craziness of September, I lean on this a little bit,” she says. This year Prouse is teaching first grade, and she was assigned “a very fire sign-heavy” group of students. “I’ve been asking everyone what I should expect,” she says. “And they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s going to be a lot of bossy little people.’”