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Step 1
Scrap alphabetical order. Unless your students are very young, they have been placed in alphabetical order seating charts for years. Odds are they are very accustomed to the other students they are surrounded by and more than willing to talk to them. This is the very situation you most want to avoid. Do not use alphabetical order (or reverse alphabetical order, since it results in the exact same scenario).
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Step 2
Ask who needs to be up at the front. Never turn down a student who requests to sit up front. These kids may have trouble seeing the board yet be afraid to mention it.
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Step 3
Mix up the letters in the alphabet and create a brand new "alphabetical order". Make the seating chart for your classroom accordingly.
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Step 4
Number each desk. Write corresponding numbers on small slips of paper and place them in a container. On the first day of school allow students to pick one of the numbers. The number they pick is the desk they sit at. This also helps prevent "Why do I have to sit here????" and other various whines and complaints. They chose their own number, after all. It cannot be blamed on you.
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Step 5
Move students when necessary. Just because your classroom has a seating chart that does not mean that the seating arrangements cannot change at a moment's notice. No matter what method you choose to establish seating, you will have to move a few students who end up near their friends.
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Step 6
Keep an extra desk next to your desk. Occasionally you will have students who are willing to talk to whomever they happen to be sitting near. This causes a constant disruption in the classroom. Move this student up to the desk right next to yours. In some cases, the student is just too distracted to concentrate and sitting next to you (facing away from the classroom) helps him or her quite a bit. I have had students ask to stay near my desk; openly admitting that they would not be able to concentrate otherwise.
