Have you ever been to an all day workshop where you sat in the same spot all day long? When I have those kinds of days I feel tired and achy. I find that I start to lose my focus by mid-afternoon or earlier.
As a teacher you have multiple opportunities during each period to sit and stand and walk about. What about our students? What is their day like? A high school teacher shadowed students for two days and has this report: https://goo.gl/utB7iA.
Many teachers I know have been experimenting with different designs of classroom furniture. In our goal of being planned, purposeful and proactive it may be worth examining how you arrange both your classroom desks and how much movement your students get during their time in your classroom. No one method is “the answer” but all may be worth a thought or two.
Sometimes students may wish to work in groups and sometimes on their own. Having a variety of seating arrangements available may be easier than moving desks around all the time. Within a single class students may move to different seating or standing arrangements to work.
Some teachers are experimenting with desks facing the wall. It both provides students with an opportunity to work on their own and for students to be more accountable with their technology as you can easily monitor what they are doing. Plus, it will give you a lot more floor space–read on.
There is a trend towards standing desks. Standing while you work should be an option for all students. Particularly students with ADHD will find this beneficial. Studies have shown that students use 17% more calories just by standing at their desks.
We tend to use PDA/outside time as a “reward” at the end of class. Two teachers I know are having their students do 10-15 minutes of DPA at the beginning of class and find that their students have much more focus.
In most classes the guided learning table as become the centre of instruction where students know that they can get support and help. Teachers who use this space regularly find that students ask to work there.
When students are doing group work, try having them work standing up at the white board. If you can find enough space try having all your groups stand up and work on non-permanent surfaces. The standing up means they can move as they talk and the non-permanent part means that they will take more risks.
One teacher has let her students sit on the window ledge. I sat there and it was fun (and I could focus). The students were able to stretch out in ways they can’t in their desks.
Think about having a few exercise balls that replace chairs. Although our natural inclination is to think of all the negatives, the classrooms I know that use them find that after a few days the novelty wears off and students who need the balls for seating, use them.
Students often like to work on the floor in the hallways. It allows them to spread out. Of course, the difficulty with the hall is that it is often hard for you to supervise. Can you arrange the room, even temporarily to give all groups a space?
Table groupings based on a specific theme are also useful. Grade 7 history students adopted a particular perspective for the War of 1812. They sat in their 1812 communities, using their 1812 identify. Some of them started to sign all their work with their 1812 name! The grouping of the students helped them to stay in character and enhanced their understanding.
And a caveat….in the midst of all this movement and flexibility, there will be some students who need to sit in the same spot every day. It is comforting for them. Even grownups tend to gravitate towards the same place in the room time and time again (think about staff meetings). So, do keep that in mind as well. A differentiated classroom is not just about differentiating the assignment. It is also about differentiating the physical space students have and the amount of movement they may require to be able to focus for the whole day.
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