I truly enjoy my classroom—it’s a unique, comfortable, student-friendly place to learn.

Students are unique—and so are groups of students. Some years, my students have needed a lot of structure and little to no freedom. Other years, my students have been able to have total freedom. For flexible seating to work, teachers have to know their students and what they can and can’t handle. So at the beginning of the year, I take time to get to know my students, and I have more of a say in where they sit. As they come to understand the different seating options, I give them more freedom. On occasion, students don’t work well with one type of seating, and I give them limited access to that type. Strong classroom management is key to this model.

Each month, students help me select their new work spots. In addition to the work spots, students have a row spot (for whole group instruction), circle spot (for morning meeting), math spot, reading spot, pod spot (for collaborative times like science experiments), and a test spot (where all students have a flat surface for testing). We tend to use the work spots the most.

cons

pros

I’d encourage any teacher interested in experimenting with flexible seating to go slow, pick one thing to add to your classroom, and continue to add items slowly. I strongly suggest buying quality over quantity. I typically only purchase items that are plastic and can be wiped down, and I avoid fabric—with the exception of my office chairs—because it’s hard to keep clean.

I’ve won several grants over the last eight years to collect my nontraditional seating options

14 tables with wheels, eight wobble stools, six lap desks, six scoop rockers, four ball chairs, four office chairs, and four standing station spots. I still have 10 regular chairs.

I started by asking students to help me come up with design ideas and to brainstorm ways to transform our classroom with the furniture we had at the time