Why make the switch to alternative seating?

Desks and chairs were the bane of my existence last year.  All year long kids were tipping, wiggling, falling out of- come on, you know- their chairs.  On top of it, since I teach first grade it was the first time they had a desk... so they were secretly cutting, gluing, playing with toys, anything but paying attention- in the secrecy of their own desk.  Teaching kindergarten last year, it was my first time with desks as well, and let me tell you, I was wondering what all the hype was about.  Thats why when I got moved into my new itty bitty room I said "There's  no way I'm putting 20 desks in here!"  Seriously.  That would be my whole room!  And you could only tetris them  in one specific way to make them all fit!  No thank you!  I went with tables.

Not only that, I went with two tables.  Like- as in, seating for 8.  Now add my horseshoe table for small groups and you have seating for 13.  I'll have 20 kids.  But it's okay because I'll be doing alternative seating.  When I went to the Daily 5 conference last month and one of the sisters, Joan, said that she only had seating for half of her students.  She uses alternative seating... in fact, she said that all of the classrooms in her school use alternative seating.  If it works for them, it will surely work for me.

Think about it.   If someone told you that you have to exhaust your stamina reading books and practicing writing, where would you choose to tackle this task?  I would choose my bed.  Seriously. I love reading or writing while propped up in my cozy bed... I'm there right now!  I'm guessing not that many people chose to work in rigid plastic chairs at a table or desk, right next to others who were more than likely audibly mouthing their own stories to themselves.  Why should we expect kids to do it??

By letting a child sit/stand/crouch in a spot that is best for him, it will completely change his ability to work independently in reading and writing.  Meaning, it will make him a better reader and writer!  Who doesn't want that!!

A Pediatric Physical Therapy study conducted in 2006 indicated that when a group of children diagnosed with ADHD were given alternative seating instead of school chairs they paid better attention and scored higher on standardized tests.  When kids with an extra amount of energy are given the freedom to sit the way they choose, and switch positions freely, they are more likely to be engaged than if they were forced to sit a certain way for a long period of time.  Take it from me, a person who has struggled with ADD since grade school myself, this is HUGE.

Apart from the academic benefits, there are also behavior benefits.  Children that are constantly out of their seat can feel at ease in their new comfy spot, and will more likely remain there for longer.  Kids that prove to always be a distraction will be more engaged, so they won't take learning away from others.  Kids that get tired and ornery half way through the day are more likely to stay alert.

Other benefits include:

x      It creates a community in the classroom.

x      It forces kids to be more organized.

x      It fosters independence.

x      It helps develop metacognitive skills.

x      It's so stinkin' fun!


Stop by later, and I'll show you some pictures of what I'll be using for my alternative seating!


Here is a few articles on the benefits of alternative seating:


What? Not every student has a Desk? --The Sisters talk about their own experience with alternative seating.


Students stand, balance and bounce to learn -- An news report about alternative seating in the classroom.  A lot about standing at tables.

Standing Room Only in Classroom of the Future -- This study conducted by the Mayo Clinic was set up to study the effects of "no seats" on fighting obesity in a classroom.  Scroll to page 4 for the article.

Teachers, parents favor exercise balls in classrooms (with video) -- A news article that shares the benefits of a "chairless classroom".

Effects of Alternative Seating on the Academic Engagement of Children With Autism  -- Just the  abstract.

Alternative Seating Brain Research -- Benefits of using stability balls instead of chairs.

Health Benefits of Alternative Seating -- Health benefits for adults using alternative seating in the office.

Lap Boards

Since I am doing alternative seating this year, I will only have table space for about 12 out of 20 kids.  *GASP!* Where will the other sit to do their work?!  Why the floor of course!

I took it upon myself to take a little trip to Home Depot last week to see what I could find to make my own lap boards (since I will not be buying anything fancy).  I asked an employee where I might find shower board, since I knew that that is what they used to make our white boards at school.

Here it is called "Thrifty White Panel Board.  Thrifty indeed!

I found the stuff, and at $13.65 for a board the size of one of our big white boards at school it was pretty cheap.

I explained to the employee that I needed these to make lap boards for school because I am a teacher (magic words, you'll find) and he was more than happy to cut them to whatever size I needed. Happy day!

He cut them 12 x 18 inches.  Even an adult could use these! :)

I got a solid 15 boards that were exactly 12x18, then an extra 5 more that were like a fraction of an inch off, then an extra little guy that I don't know what his dimensions are.  I'll be keeping 8 of them, and giving the rest to another teacher in my school.  Oh, and I'm sure this goes without saying, but they can be used as dry erase boards too.

Another thing worth mentioning...

At the Daily 5 conference that I attended last month, The Sisters said that having kids lie on the floor using a lap board to write works wonders for kids with underdeveloped fine motor skills.  These are typically the kids that have great gross motor skills (typically highly active boys) that try to use the larger arm muscles to make up for their little hand muscles.  The result is very sloppy handwriting and fleeting stamina.  Here is what they said to do:

Have the child use a lap board and lay them on their stomach with their paper and lap board out in front of them.  Have them prop themselves up on their elbows, and let them write like that.  This way, their elbow acts as an anchor, forcing them to rely on the smaller hand muscles that they clearly need to develop.

The sisters say that it may take a week or two, but they will progress so much faster than if they were sitting at a desk doing drill after handwriting drill.  Sounds good to me!

Workshop Way

Well I have had a very busy summer, between working (mostly) full time at a day care as a full time float teacher (just for extra summer $$$ :)), and switching to a brand new school, attending the required trainings, setting up my new classroom, and just trying to wrap my mind around the philosophy of my new school.

That's not to say that I do not agree with it, or that I do not wish to incorporate the ideals, because it is actually quite the other way around.  I really find the whole thing to be very powerful in theory, beautiful even! It is just that it is very different from many things that I have learned in college, and it is CERTAINLY different from what I saw at my previous public school.  But as I have said in previous posts, I am teaching at a Charter School so they can be a bit more "Out of the Box" when it comes to this type of thing.

It's called Workshop Way (r), and it is based on the work of Grace Pilon.  I just finished a five day training on it, and immediately searched the world wide web for anything, ANYTHING about this program from teachers who have embraced it.  What I found was very vague, limited information that seemed to leave readers more confused than when they started.  Even when I took to the blogging community, it was essentially unheard of.

However, I understand it, at its core, and while it is somewhat confusing at first (and still can be-at times) I really do believe in what the message is here behind this program, and that is that you can't leave Human Growth up to chance.  Meaning, you have to teach students how to live their lives as "fully dignified, intelligent human beings" as Grace Pilon would say.


"It is a way for students to learn how to learn, how to think, and how to manage their lives"

The easiest way to explain this is to take the words straight from her mouth from a quote in an article called The Workshop Way to Student Success.  She says that Workshop way is

"a way for a teacher to organize time, content, and materials so human growth is not left to chance.  It's a way all teachers can give all students the condition that release their remarkable human potentials.  And it works with all students because it does not depend on where students start.  Neither does it depend on prior learning of students or on the background of teachers."

I highly recommend anyone to read the full article above, as it will give you much more information than I can at this time.  Admittedly I still have such limited knowledge on the subject because I have not  taught, or lived rather, this philosophy.

What I can say about it is this.  In my classroom I will be hanging six of the philosophy signs:

Everyone has the right to time to think.


It takes COURAGE to be willing to risk.


We are FREE to make mistakes while learning.


We RESPECT the rights of others.


We don't have to know everything today.


It is intelligent to ask for help.


My students will be familiar with these mantras, and understand them as universal truths inside our classroom.

I will also be setting up tasks for students to be doing independently while I meet with each individual student to listen to their homework, which is a list of vocabulary words and phrases that they read fast in order to develop fluency, word meaning, confidence as a reader, and accountability for studying the list each night.

The homework comes in a pack that my school ordered from the company, as well as the ideas for the tasks.

You can order these items here. 

I will be posting more information about the tasks, homework, and overall climate of my new classroom as everything progresses.  I have a feeling that this year is going to go a lot more smoothly than it has in the past because of this program.  It's all about taking the fear out of taking risks while learning.  We will see how things go!

Please let me know if I have violated any copyright laws with this post, and I will do what I can to fix it!  Like all of my students, I am still learning too!!