Flexible seating is all the rage. ALL. THE. RAGE!
And
it's awesome! Truly, it is. But, it's not something that works for everyone.
Let
me tell you about my flexible seating journey...
Two
years ago I decided I would offer some flexible seating options. Nothing
major, just some stability balls and wiggle seats. I already let my kids move
to sit on the floor, etc when they are reading or working in groups (or even
independently). So, this was no big deal to me for them to have some choices.
Last
year
(before the school year started) I decided I'd go for this completely. I was
all in on this. So, I bought stools, had tall stools donated, bought scoop
rockers, more stability balls, yoga mats, lap desks, short tables for floor
sitting... I had it all! And I was so excited. I loved it.
 |
| This shows one side of my classroom. |
So,
what happened? Well, I think that the lack of structure was a bit much for them
to handle. They craved a space to call their own. When I decided to fully jump
into this, I gave up the idea of them having assigned seats. They sat where
ever. That quickly became a nightmare. It wasn't their fault. Not at all. I
take full responsibility. The year before those children loved it. They loved
having seat choices and they hated being tied down to a certain spot. The kids
I had last year were different.
 |
| This has pictures that show most of my classroom. You can see the short tables for floor sitting, the stability balls, lap desks, and scoop rockers. |
 |
| This shows more of my room (while I was still setting it up.) |
 |
| These were used for the kids to pick their seats. Each table bucket (they held pencils) had a certain amount of gold dot stickers at the top. Those gold dot stickers represented the number of seats at that table. Each child had a clothes pin with their name on it and they put their clip somewhere different at the end of each day for the next day. |
You
see, I failed to remember one huge part of teaching- and that is that you teach the kids
you HAVE. The ones in your room right now. Not the ones from last year, in
years past, or next year... the kids sitting in the room right now. That's who
you teach. So, I did an awesome job of setting up my room and prepping it...
for the kids I had the year before. But, the kids I had last year needed
something different.
I
struggled. I'll admit it. I wanted so badly for it to work. I spent so much
time and money on flexible seating and then it BLEW UP in my face. It was ugly.
And I only had myself to blame. I'd like to say I immediately saw the error of
my ways and changed. But I didn't. It took me a loooonnngggg while to figure
out what the problem was.
So,
we stopped moving seats. We didn't use stability balls unless they were reading
independently. They could still use the wiggle seats and the scoop rockers.
They had their own seats, but they still had the opportunity to move around
like I've always allowed my kids to do. So many issues stopped when the
flexible seating stopped.
I'm
not trying to discourage the use of flexible seating. In fact, I still fully support it. I
just don't participate in it any more.
If
you're interested in flexible seating I have a few tips and tricks for you:
1.
Start small and simple. Get a few yoga mats or a stability ball or two. Don't
overhaul your room at once.
2.
Set clear expectations and consequences. Make sure these are communicated to
parents.
3.
Make sure parents know and understand the positives of flexible seating and how
their child (or other children in the room) will benefit from these options.
(Many parents see it as a distraction... and it certainly can be.)
4.
Check Goodwill, for sale pages on Facebook, yard sales, etc. A coat of paint
can fix so much!
5.
Donors' Choose is AMAZING for this! If you've never used Donors' Choose you're
missing out! (More on that in another post.)
6.
Make sure your administration supports the use of flexible seating. My admin is
amazing and always supports what we feel is best for our kids, but some admin
are not crazy about the idea. So, check before you spend!
7.
As with anything you ever do as a teacher- make sure it is actually hat is best
for YOUR KIDS. Your current kids. It may take some being flexible on your part
for it to truly work.
8.
Don't feel like a failure if it fails. There's always next year! :)
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