Think of the classroom seating options during the 1950s, and then think of classroom seating today. The similarities outnumber the differences. Maybe the composition has changed, as wood has been replaced with plastics, but many classrooms still have all students in rows with desk-and-chair combinations that restrict movement and lack padding.

While the world we live in has changed dramatically since the 1950s, why do many educational practices remain stagnant? Time is a valuable resource in education. As such, implementation of flexible seating needs to be researched for its impact on student behavior and achievement. Educators need to make data-driven decisions about new practices that are most likely to impact students in positive ways.

What is Flexible Seating?

With flexible seating, traditional desk-and-chair combinations are replaced with a range of seating options and workstations that aim to increase engagement. A singular definition of flexible seating is not easy to develop as the phrase applies to a wide variety of options.

In its most simplistic form, flexible seating might involve replacing a few traditional desks with standing desks, desks with moveable chairs, or stability balls for seats. It could also be used only in small-group settings, such as reading centers resembling a living room arrangement or beanbags for students to sit on while reading.

In its purest form, flexible seating replaces all traditional seating with a variety of seating arrangements found throughout the room. Often times, students are allowed to choose seats within this environment. Regardless of form, flexible seating aims to increase activity, engagement, and focus.

What are the Benefits of Flexible Seating?

Students come from diverse backgrounds and situations. As such, it is more difficult for some students to stay focused in the classroom. In fact, movement in the classroom stimulates learning and engagement for most students. Songs that reinforce learning and grab attention are regularly used in today’s classrooms. Many teachers also incorporate movement through dances and exercise at key intervals. Flexible seating offers another potential avenue to maximize engagement and focus.

Proponents of flexible seating argue that movement in the classroom increases engagement, productivity, and, with time, students’ love of learning. Focus is a prerequisite to the learning process. By decreasing off-task time, there is more time for purposeful instruction. Merritt (2014) conducted a study to assess the effects of flexible seating options for preschool students on literacy acquisition and off-task behavior. The study found no statistically significant difference in literacy acquisition, but found a significant decrease in the number of times learning was disrupted to address behaviors.

In addition to potential increases in learning, flexible seating could have potential health benefits as students are not remaining rigid in one position for extended durations. Educators need to reflect on practices. One big question to ask is whether you would want to be a student in your own classroom. I often think about how it is hard for me to remain seated for hours of interviews or meetings. Yet, my chairs often provide movement and padding. Would you want to want remain seated in the chairs in your classroom all day?

Flexible seating reduces sedentary time while the increased movement increases blood flow, oxygen to the brain, and boosts metabolism. Further, flexible seating options are likely to appeal to the sensory needs of some students.

A classroom should be welcoming and inviting. Students spend approximately a third of the day in the classroom. As such, classrooms should be comfortable and conducive to learning. The comfort and arrangement of flexible seating can bring a sense of community and foster collaboration among peers.

Transition time to group work can also be reduced. By easing classroom transitions, there will be more opportunities to appeal to the various learning styles found in a classroom. The classroom environment plays a role in focus. Although collaborative work can unease some educators who fear loss of control or worsened classroom management, it more closely mirrors future job scenarios. How many students will find themselves sitting in hard desks lined in rows performing repetitive processes? Very few, as routine processes are likely to be done through automation. Creativity and innovation will form the backbone of the future job market.

How to Create a Flexible Seating Classroom

Far too often educators want to operate as independent contractors. Often times, the best professional development opportunities are found down the hall or in a school in a neighboring town. Good advice when creating a flexible seating classroom is to explore what is currently being implemented. If you hear about a teacher who is using this option in his or her classroom, ask your supervisor about being granted some professional leave to explore. Observation will let you see how students work within a flexible seating classroom. Further, fellow educators are likely to offer genuine feedback about both the benefits and struggles when implementing a flexible seating classroom.

Costs to implement flexible seating ideas can vary widely according to the approach. An incremental approach to implementation can have two benefits. First, the costs can be spread out over a longer duration. In addition, teachers can implement a few pieces at a time allowing for greater teacher control and comfort with the change process.

To help with costs, teachers have used grants associated with innovation. Also, as seating needs replacement, the funds that would be used to purchase traditional classroom seating could be used to cover the costs of more creative seating options. High-cost solutions need to be studied so funding is utilized in the best manner. Future studies should continue to focus on the impacts of flexible seating on student behavior and achievement.

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I invite my students to travel back with me to yesteryear, a time when streaming services had not yet been born. I tell them about the anticipation I felt every Friday evening as my sisters and I parked on the couch to indulge in ABC’s TGIF line-up. I explain the tragic loss of cool points on the morning school bus ride for those who missed the previous night’s hit show and had nothing to add to the routine recap. Then, I tell them that the most memorable part of these experiences was the theme songs. These songs encapsulated the essence of each show, and inspired many sing-your-heart-out family moments in my household. Finally, I invite my students to collaboratively analyze theme as portrayed through the nostalgia of 90s sitcom theme song lyrics. This is storytelling in the classroom. It wins every single time and is a valuable, cross-curricular tool.

Get Personal

Effective classroom storytelling cannot exist apart from transparency. When you tell stories about your experiences, students get a rare and valuable window into who you are and how they can relate to you. One of my favorite ways to incorporate storytelling is telling students about my imperfections as a former student. They particularly like the story about how senioritis almost cost me my graduation due to a failing AP economics grade. These stories humanize me before my students, and it inspires them to push past their own shortcomings and give themselves grace. Believe it or not, some students who seem unmotivated are suffering from a lack of self-forgiveness for their own mistakes.

Aside from sharing about your academic experiences, you can share other personal experiences as relevancy arises. My students love hearing funny stories about sibling rivalries when we analyze family culture, and they also appreciate me sharing the challenges my Muslim-American grandfather faced following the September 11^th terrorist attacks. Personal stories can range from light-hearted to deep and will go a long way when building rapport with your students.

Storytelling Builds Valuable Skills

Storytelling isn’t only valuable because of the bridges it builds between you and your students; it also works to develop valuable skills in the classroom. Students learn to become active and critical listeners through storytelling. Stories are typically far more engaging than lectures, thus students are more likely to truly tune in and interact. They automatically begin making connections, evaluating actions and motives, and forming questions. These are the interpersonal communication skills that our students desperately need but often can’t learn through lectures and notes.

The ability to build complex questions based upon information is a key to effective communication. This is an excellent by-product of storytelling in the classroom. Students are intrigued by your story and ask questions that cause you to provide more detail. Without knowing, students are building effective interviewing skills and engaging in inquiry-based learning.

Teaching Content through Storytelling

As an English teacher, storytelling feels both natural and necessary. Teachers of other content areas may take our natural inclination to tell stories in the English classroom as evidence that storytelling is unsuitable for their classrooms. This is a misconception, however, as storytelling is applicable to all subject areas.

Math, though seemingly the most ill fit, presents a plethora of opportunities for classroom storytelling. Imbedding numbers into a story to relay a word problem is one example. In a geometry class, for example, the teacher could tell a story that includes different shapes and angles observed. This not only enhances students’ mathematical skills, but it also serves your auditory learners well and provides a different exposure to word problems.

I learned the power of storytelling in the history classroom while making historical connections in my American literature class. When we read August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, for example, I told students a story about The Great Migration and what factors persuaded African American families to move north. This piqued students’ interest in the novel and encouraged them to ask critical questions about characters and their decisions throughout our study.

Science is not excluded from the storytelling effect. I distinctly remember writing a story about a young boy who shrunk and got stuck inside a cell for my seventh-grade science class. This storytelling experience has cemented the cell parts and their functions in my brain all these years later.

Interactive Storytelling

When you implement storytelling in the classroom, the act does not have to be a one-man-show. You can include your students in your endeavors through interactive storytelling. During interactive storytelling, students are invited to pose questions, chime in, act out scenes, and much more while a teacher tells a story. The possibilities are endless, and the engagement is always high!

Unfortunately, the prevalence of storytelling has decreased in our society over the years, but we can keep this art alive in our classrooms. Listening is a most important skill of communication, and this is a sure way to build those skills. Finding ways to incorporate storytelling in your classroom will build rapport and increase engagement.

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Why Classroom Isolation can Limit Learning Experiences

Classroom isolation can limit learning experiences when teachers only use resources within their classroom. With the immense amount of teaching activities and instructional content available on the web, it could do students an injustice if teachers don’t dig into their digital toolbox. Simple searches on websites like Discovery Ed open the door to hundreds of resources that take learning beyond the classroom walls and into the real world. Additionally, teachers can use one of the most readily available resources they have access to: their colleagues. One of the easiest ways to combat classroom isolation is by walking next door and asking for help or for ideas from teammates. After all, these teaching partners are teaching the same content and likely come with the experience of shaping various resources to meet each student’s individual needs.

Create Virtual Classroom Partners

Another way to overcome classroom isolation is by creating virtual classroom partners. This 21st century makes it easier than ever to connect with classrooms around the world. One virtual classroom tool that has become popular is called Empatico. This website is 100% free for educators and is great for students ages 6-11. It combines live video with research-based activities that are designed to foster meaningful connections among students. There are 148 countries connected by Empatico and nearly 48,000 students who have shared experiences from the people they have met by using this educational tool. Virtual classroom tools such as this are helping to connect students and cultivate their global citizenship skills. What better way to stop classroom isolation then by virtually connecting with students around the world?

Get in Touch with the Real-World

Another easy way to get in touch with the world outside the classroom walls is by bringing in real people from the community. Is your class studying agriculture? Why not bring in a local farmer to share what it’s like to farm crops. Are your students learning about businesses? How about bringing in a store owner from the community to share what it’s like to manage their business. Members in the community are often very willing and eager to help out local classrooms. Also, how inspiring is it for students to learn from the people that live and work in the houses and buildings around them? If teachers are not sure who to invite into their classrooms first, why not turn to the parents of the students in the class. Students often are proud to have their parents as guest speakers, and parents love seeing the dynamics and energy of eager learners.

Reach out to Scientists

Bringing in members from the community is a great way to help overcome classroom isolation. Another idea that is sure to engage young learners is to use websites such as Skype a Scientist to connect with real professionals. This website allows real life scientists to reach students from all over the world without leaving their labs. There are thousands of scientists ready to chat or available to schedule a Skype session with. Global citizenship can be fostered by giving students a look into scientists around the world and what roles they have in taking care of our world.

Connect Nationally and Internationally

Connecting nationally and internationally with professionals such as scientists can help broaden students’ perspectives. Another way to foster students’ global perspectives is to get involved with events and initiatives happening outside of the school district. One Tree Planted is a non-profit program focused on global reforestation in North America, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The website provides access for teachers to lesson plans, resources, and fundraisers that they can take part in. There is also an interactive global forest watch tool students can use to explore tree cover loss and forest change. One Tree Planted and other international initiatives are just one way to help widen students’ worldly understandings.

Partnership with Other Grades

A final idea to help overcome classroom isolation is to create a partnership with other grades in the building or in neighboring elementary, middle, and high schools. For example, an elementary science class could connect with a high school science class. They could participate in an experiment together or give a joint presentation. Activities such as these build collaboration skills and teach students how to work with people outside of their close-knit classroom. Connecting with other grades can help develop the understanding that people have different ideas, perspectives, and viewpoints and that everyone can still work together towards a shared goal.

Conclusion

Students today need to learn not only reading and math skills but also the skills to work globally and cross-culturally. Classroom isolation, when teachers only use the resources and ideas inside their classroom walls, can limit learning experiences and hinder the development of the global citizen. By using resources such as virtual classrooms, connecting with real-world people such as scientists, and reaching out to colleagues for ideas and resources, students’ awareness of the wider world and their understanding of how they fit in it is strengthened.

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