Back to school in two weeks

As the opening of school is only a few days away, I’m reflecting on the past school year. What’s something that went well that I plan to continue? I’m an optimistic person, hence the focus on positives. Here are some examples of areas that I’m reflecting on:

• Building relationships with my students
• Flexible seating
• Classroom management
• Parent Communication
• PLN (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc.)

Why last year? Last year was very special to me, I got hired for my first full-time job as a teacher after 7 years. It was last year, that I got a classroom in advance, knew where I was teaching and what grade I was teaching. This gave me an opportunity to plan and put my vision into practise. As I write this reflection, I recall how happy and thankful I felt. I want to say a great big ‘THANK YOU’ to all the people who inspired, built confidence and supported me in my journey of success to be a teacher.

This is also my first blog post and I’m super excited to share how flexible seating impacted and transformed my classroom.

Well, this all starts with developing an understanding by observing how me and my children learn first. I am a visual learner and I love to learn sitting on a comfortable chair. My son is a kinesthetic learner and loves to learn on the carpet. Whereas, my daughter is a visual and kinesthetic learner and loves to learn sitting on a comfy couch. I planned to extend my learning and research to kids and fellow colleagues at school. I found not may adults or kids would want to work at a desk, most people prefer a comfortable seating position for them. The question then arises, why should our students learn in these rigid ways. Then, I started to research on the internet about flexible seating. All the articles and blogs indicated that flexible seating is not only about decorating the class with a variety of furniture, it’s above and beyond what most people think. I decided to give myself a challenge and explore flexible seating further.

I then set out to find out what I needed to make flexible seating in my classroom. Luckily, I was relocating houses at that time. It gave me an edge. I could use some of the additional furniture in my classroom and for an alternative, I did some shopping. Some engaging flexible seating options include:

• Tall tables
• Traditional tables & chairs
• Revolving chairs
• Rocking chairs
• Low stools and tables
• Sofa seats
• Couches
• Carpet

Here I would like to mention, that my principal is very encouraging and fully supported the plans. She gave me a heads up that custodians will not take the extra responsibility to move, remove or clean the extra spaces. Despite this, I changed the layout of my classroom. Honestly, putting everything together wasn’t easy. It wouldn’t have been easy without the support of my family and principal. THANK YOU once again.

 

On the very first day of school, my students admired the classroom setting. They loved the flexible seating options and arrangement. They loved the flexible seating arrangement and the opportunity to sit where they want and with who they want. This gave them the comfort and alternate seating options. To my surprise, one of my parents wrote a positive remark describing how her son loved our new and improved classroom. This built my confidence that my parents are completely on board with this. Keep in mind, I still had desks and chairs in the room placed in groups. There were always a few who preferred sitting at a desk.

With each passing day, I noticed that our classroom transformed into a community wherein students took the opportunity to be more responsible and organized. As they would have things stored in different parts of the room. Students often produced their best work and took responsibility to make good choices. Students were engaged and focused. They absolutely loved to sit where they want and didn’t want to loose this opportunity. The layout of the classroom created open space that would allow students to learn, collaborate, connect and communicate. Students found new ways to support one another. They took the initiative and responsibility to clean all the extra spaces. Throughout the year, they worked hard to keep this privilege.

Flexible seating empowered my students to achieve personal excellence by being open, flexible and responsive to each others needs. They experienced sense of ownership to learning and responsibility towards consciously making good choices. As an educator, it transformed my teaching practices. I found myself able to reach students in many ways. I went from predominantly whole group lessons to more student centered ways of working with kids. I realized I needed to better refine my methods of instruction to better meet the needs of my students. I myself realized that flexible seating isn’t about decorating your classroom with expensive furniture. Infact, its about creating a culture of learning that would inspire students to learn more. It’s about creating that dynamic culture that allows our kids to take purposeful risk and engage in the learning process. It’s creating inclusive spaces that would support learning and well being. It’s about respecting and recognizing student choices in a changing world.