Can we talk about classroom furniture for a bit?

I don’t know how it is at most schools, but at my school we get default furniture from administration and then are given the freedom to build up our classroom from that base. Naturally, any accouterments beyond the basic things come out of our own personal wealth… so it’s not like I go wild in decorating my classroom, but I do buy a lot of stuff.

I try to get it as cheaply as possible, I think almost everything I’ve bought for it are from shopping at thrift stores. The rest I’ve acquired by inheriting from other teachers as they leave my school, or bringing in my personal stuff that we’re no longer using in my house. Unfortunately, my mismatched furniture in the classroom doesn’t hide its origins well. I like to think that it rides that fine line between ‘ongoing garage sale’ and ‘bohemian cafe’ that I strive for it to be, but I’ve heard that it leans a little left on that point.

I should definitely throw away some of the things before next school year, but it isn’t easy. I think a lot of teachers struggle with hoarding- a bit because we’re overwhelmed by all of the resources and strategies we want to utilize, but also because so much of what we do comes out of our own pocket. Why risk throwing away those… slightly damaged clipboards, if I have a future potential art project or a survey that the kids could possibly use those for. The same impulse applies to our classroom furniture. It’s fairly obvious why I have an eclectic collection of tables, couches, and chairs in my room. I can’t seem to get rid of the fear of “what if I am inspired to make a new ‘learning zone’ in the future but don’t have the right furniture?”

What is Flexible Seating?

To me, and in an ideal world:
Flexible Seating is like designing a cool tech giant workspace. Based on zero evidence, I’ve always imagined that Google or Facebook have rooms where computer programmers and geniuses can pick from couches, standing desks, yoga balls, wide open workspaces, or cozy study rooms (maybe even a ball-pit or sandbox? I don’t know). These employees are thus supported as they brainstorm and create and make all my favorite things in the world.

In my classroom this means that I’d like to have at least a few different options for students as they learn and do activities. A couch is a definite must. What better place to curl up with a good book? A wide, group-work focused table is another non-negotiable. Individual desks, ideally with room so that they can be moved into various configurations. Yoga Balls, Bean-bag chairs, or plush carpets would also not be out of place in such a room. I’ve even heard of a teacher who has a bunk bed in her room so that her 1st graders can make double use of the same space. (Can’t see myself pulling that off in a middle school classroom though).

Why do I want to use this tool?

I want students to be comfortable. Well, really I want them to be productive and creative, and I firmly believe that some level of comfort is necessary to achieve these things. There is a rigid, cold efficiency that comes with rows of desks, but I don’t think that encourages the types of skills that my students will need in the future. I want students to want to come to school. My classroom won’t feel like a home if it’s built to resemble an assembly line or lecture hall.

Equally importantly, students with different sensory needs can be catered to if I already provide multiple options for students.

How do I currently do it in my room?

I’ve tried a lot over the years…

• For some time, I had a massive shag carpet in my room. It worked out… okay… but middle schoolers defeated it in about a year, so it wasn’t super usable beyond that.
• Five different Yoga Balls each did a tour of service in my room. None of them survived more than a couple of months.
• Pillows on a thinner carpet worked out okay. Students would lie out and read fairly comfortably in a corner of my room. It got dirty pretty fast as well though… I tried to ban having shoes on it, but it was already too late.

The best success I’ve had is with a pair of couches that have lasted me several years now. I buy a new couch cover for them each September, and have utilized them at various times to either to create reading nooks, or priority seating at the front of my room. I do recommend trying to have your couches up front if you buy some. It tends to lure the types of students who are exactly who you want at the front of the room!

Another major challenge with flexible seating is how to utilize it and a seating chart. Currently my happy medium is to have ‘free seating’ sometimes, and a seating chart other times. As I get better at classroom management, or a class gets its behavior together, I lean more towards free seating. That’s the whole point of having all those choices.

My room’s furniture is constantly being moved. We move it in the morning to create a circle. We move it for different lessons depending on the needs. Some lessons are lecture-based so all the furniture has to be rotated to face forward. Some lessons are small groups, so we build 3 mini-circles around the middle of the room (where my own desk tends to be). Lately, I’ve been using the couches to wall off a special “VR” zone for the Oculus that I’ve written about before. Luckily, I teach middle school, so shifting furniture throughout the day isn’t a big challenge. That said, often I’ll do the moving myself during break times or lunch time in preparation for the next subject.

Future Goals?

I imagine it would be rough experimenting with flexible seating without the support of administration. (Luckily at my school, they’re on board with the idea). It’s bad enough that most of these trials were self-funded, but I also think I get a lot of flak from teachers who favor more traditional classrooms. I mean, I can definitely understand their concerns. It doesn’t look super professional to have my current mismatched, patchwork furniture. I’ve had to endure skepticism from other teachers when they see kids studying underneath a table. I think my students enjoy it though, and as long as they perform ‘equal or better’ to straight rows of desks, I’m satisfied with the experiment.

My future goal would be to acquire some better couches (my current one are falling apart), and to get some new tables (maybe ones that students could easily raise and lower?). I’m sort of in love with the idea of bartop seating along one wall of the room. I think it could be a fun place to study or use a laptop.

My Top Flexible Seating Resources:

Thrift stores all the way. I’ve impulse bought a few things from Ikea, but nothing beats the value of the hardy furniture that I’ve been able to snack for 40$ at random thrift stores over summer vacation.