By Desiree Williams
The days of assigned seats and working alone are history, at least in one Carmel classroom.
Smoky Row Elementary first-grade teacher Tammy Dillon encourages her students to choose seating that will help them learn best. With help from a $1,500 grant from the Carmel Education Foundation, Dillon has created a variety of options in her classroom.
“The main premise for flexible seating would be that it gives students a choice to decide what is best for them in their ability to learn,” she said. “So if they need to perhaps stand while they’re writing something or maybe sit on a ball or a wobble seat, that helps sensory or movement for some kids.”
Before, kids were expected to sit at their desk during the day, listen, work and go home. Now, Dillon said students are much more mobile. The school is working to promote a collaborative atmosphere in the classroom.
Dillon wants her students to feel like it is “our” classroom, so when she introduced flexible seating, she gave students control to decide how they will learn.
“They just get up and go to a spot that will be best for them, or they may stay in their own seat,” Dillon said. “Some of them have at their own seat a different chair, or they might stand. They kind of work through that, and you’d be surprised at this young of an age how easily they adapt to that and how well they work with it.”
Parents have been supportive as well. Dillon said most parents understand the move toward flexible seating because they experience the constant movement from their kids at home.
“I think it’s really good for people to see that education is changing,” Dillon said. “We are always trying to figure out what’s best for these kids as individuals, not just as a whole.”
