TAKING THE PLUNGE
When fourth grade teacher Michelle Moore visits places like coffee
shops, restaurants, and modern workspaces, she chooses her seat
based on the task at hand.
A meeting might require a round table. A last-minute deadline might
call for a quiet corner. A good book might pair well with a comfy
couch near a sunny window.
“It makes sense that if something isn’t working for me, I can move,”
Moore says. “So if I apply that to my own life, why aren’t we applying
that to our students’ lives?”
Earlier this year, she decided to go all in. Over a three-day weekend,
Moore overhauled her room at Our Lady of Mercy Regional Catholic
School, rearranging it with tables, stools, carpets, and desks. She
wrote a parent and student contract outlining rules for selecting and
moving between seats. Then she waited for the feedback to pour in.
THE BEST
SEAT IN THE
CLASSROOM
THIS SCHOOL IS USING FLEXIBLE SEATING
TO FOSTER INDEPENDENCE.
Photography Provided by Montserrat Guerra-Solano
The students loved it. The parents encouraged it. The school
supported it. What started as a weekend experiment blossomed into
a schoolwide pilot program led by Moore and fellow fourth grade
teacher, Stephanie Cox.
Moore and Cox found that flexible seating offered more than mere
comfort and Facebook-friendly photo opps. Their classes became
more focused and productive. And students were empowered by
their ability to choose, engaging with assignments in a new way —
and learning about themselves in the process.
THE STATS ON SEATING
Take a look at most classrooms today, and they’re already strikingly different from the spaces parents
and teachers might remember from their own childhoods.
“Some classes are set up in a U shape, and some are set up in groups of four,” says OLM Director of
Advancement, Julie Bebey. “But none of the classrooms are set up with just traditional rows of desks.”
The key, Moore says, is engagement. Students stuck in desks all day just don’t get work done. Even
before flexible seating, it was common for OLM students to gather in a hallway for a project, or to sit
on a rug to read.
Flexible seating simply takes that freedom a bit further, introducing options like stability balls,
wobble stools, and standing desks to improve student focus. And the research seems to back it up.
Moore pored over countless articles, blogs, and studies before rearranging her room. She sought hard
data that supported the success stories she found online.
“It’s not as though we’re doing this on a whim,” she says. “When I set up my contract, I gave parents
some of the research behind it, and the ‘why.’ It was always, ‘Why am I doing this for your children,
and how is this going to benefit them?’”
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