Staying flexible

Walking into Jennifer Williams’ classroom at Forest Oaks Elementary School, the brightly decorated space does not feel like a classroom. There are no desks lined up in a row and no nametags tying students to one seat. Instead, students can be seen sitting on couches and yoga balls, standing at a tall table or laying on the floor. 

To the untrained eye, it might look like free time. But really, it’s just flexible seating in action.

“They’re kind of all over the room, but I findthat they’re much more engaged than when we were all sitting in the same place every time,” said Williams, who teaches kindergarten. 

This concept, which has recently gained traction in the education world, allows students to choose where and how they want to sit — on the couch with a clipboard, on the floor with a lap desk, kneeling at a lowered table or sitting at atraditional desk. 

“I feel like they absolutely love it, and I tried to create this classroom where the kids are comfortable, you know, and they can have room to spread out, and they’re empowered to have some choice in where they sit,” Williams said. 

Williams first incorporated flexible seating a few months into the 2016-17 school year. She had read a lot on the subject, through teaching blogs and other sources, and thought it would be a good fit for her students. When she approached FOES Principal Sasha Baker, Williams said she got nothing but support.

“She was totally on board,” Williams said. 

“It’s just exciting to see your teachers excited about something,” Baker said. “I think this allows us more flexibility in meeting each child’s needs.”

And parents were on board as well.

To fund the classroom transformation — which costs a few hundred dollars because it requires purchasing new desks, seats and other items — Williams started a page on Donors Choose, a crowd-funding website specifically geared toward teachers and their classroom needs. 

“The parents were just so excited about it, and it was less than a week when it was completely funded,” Williams said. 

Erin Haisten, another FOES kindergarten teacher, was hesitant initially about flexible seating. That changed after she saw how flexible seating worked in Williams’ classroom.

“Once I saw her implement it and watched the kids, I was all for it,” Haisten said. “I knew right away it would be an incredible atmosphere for kindergartners.”

Kindergarten teachers are in an interesting position, Haisten said, in that they do not know from where their students are coming — some have had the structure of preschool or pre-kindergarten classes, and some are stepping into a classroom setting for the first time.

As educators, Haisten said, they should try to meet students “where they’re at.” That means looking at preschool settings, where students are likely to be in groups around the room, rather than stuck in desks all day. 

“At this age, I personally don’t feel it is developmentally appropriate to ask a 5-year-old, and some of these kids come in as 4 and turn 5, to sit still and not move their bodies for seven hours of the day,” Haisten said. “So this allows them the chance to move and get those wiggles out.”

And while a classroom with few desks might seem odd to parents at first, Haisten said they quickly warm up once they hear more about flexible seating. Parents whose students are coming to school for the first time also feel at ease to know the classroom is more adaptable, Haisten said. 

Students can benefit from the alternative classroom style in many ways, Williams said. By choosing where they will sit, the students are more comfortable and more productive.

“At this age, too, they do so much better when they have the ability to kind of move around and not have to sit in the same place every day, every time, all day,” Williams said. 

Some of the seating options — including yoga balls and wobble chairs — let students sit at a stationary desk while slightly moving their bodies. It prevents them from moving in a way that’s distracting to other students. 

“Now they’re motivated to choose their favorite spot, and they’re accountable for that. And they’re more engaged because they’ve chosen where they want to be,” Haisten said.

The choice of seating also gives students ownership over their classroom and their learning style, Haisten said. In Williams’ classroom, she has seen that lead to better behavior with some students as well.

“I have less behavior problems, I feel, with this because they’re just not as crowded and they have room to spread out,” Williams said. “I feel like it’s been a great little journey.”

While there were four kindergarten classrooms with flexible seating as of the start of the 2017-18 school year, Principal Sasha Baker said other classes have hints of the concept. Most of their classrooms have reading nooks with comfy chairs, or allow students to move around for free choice centers.“I’m starting to see this have a ‘trickle up’ effect,” Baker said.

And Williams and Haisten said through their research, they are seeing benefits for older students as well.

“I have a daughter who is 13 and a son who is 10, and they say all the time, ‘I wish my classroom was like this.’ They’re the same [as my students]. They would love to be able to relax and do their work where they’re comfortable,” Williams said.

Flexible seating also allows students to realize the way they learn best, Haisten said, which is a valuable skill for older students. 

“I think it would be even great in middle and high school, as you’re getting closer to ages where you go to college,” Haisten said. If students know what environment best fits them — sitting in a quiet library, laying on their bed or posting up at a coffee shop — they can have a better study experience. 

And flexible seating is helping place that foundation.

“The fact that they get to choose their spot gives them motivation and makes it feel like it’s their classroom,” Haisten said.