It’s All About The Angle: How Flexible Seating Brought Me Closer To The Students

Several years ago I took a photography class for fun. The instructor gave us an unusual task: hold the camera at your hip and shoot a roll of film from there. The lesson I took away from that task stayed with me: by changing the angle from which you view your surroundings, you drastically change how you see what is right in front of you.

So what does that have to do with teaching?

A lot, but I didn’t realize how much until this school year, after many years in the classroom, when I implemented a significant change in my seating arrangement, the results of which reminded me of that roll of film I shot from the hip so long ago.

In spite of my need for order, I undid the neat rows of desks in my classroom and brought in bean bag chairs and exercise balls. I put down a nice rug and removed the legs from some of the desks to make coffee table-style furniture. A neighbor donated a Papasan chair and some old office arm chairs. I added some lamps and plants to the decor. My classroom is now comfortable and very inviting. But that is nothing extraordinary; lots of teachers are trying flexible seating these days. Some love it and some have met serious challenges with it. For me, it meant getting down to the students’ level and I have never loved teaching more.

I was never the type of teacher to stand at the front of the room and lecture; I was up and pacing most of the time, circulating and monitoring like we are encouraged to do, but always from a standing position. I was up, the students were down. The angle was all wrong.

Now, I teach from a bean bag chair, right up beside the lucky winner of the day. Or I scoot around from pod to pod on a rolling chair. I never realized until I started sitting AMONG the students how much this change in angle could mean to the dynamics in the classroom. I’m shooting from the hip now. I’m on the students’ level. I look at them square in the eyes, and I like what I see.

Technology helps me maintain my angle and still project from my laptop if needed, or I can hop up to the whiteboard for a quick written example or explanation. My students all have laptops and can project on the big screen through an Apple TV if necessary. Or they can get up and write on the board or present their work in other ways.

"That angle shift invites interaction that may not take place if I am on the other side of an invisible boundary".

The bean bag chairs are undeniably comfortable and by the end of the day, tired, hungry teenagers might tend to doze off. My solution to this is simple: I strategically place bowls of pretzels and snacks around the room and sit next to the students with a poor track record for falling asleep. Works every time.

Because of physical student disabilities and lack of space, I held on to some of my traditional desks for about a third of the seats. For them, I roll on over to their seating pods if they need help or to check on them, but I stay seated at their level for all interaction. It is amazing how this shift has improved my rapport with even the most negative or difficult students. It is really hard to ignore the teacher when she is right beside you and in your face.

I teach higher-level World Language classes in which round-table discussions, debates and interpersonal assessments are an integral part of the lessons. The flexible seating arrangement I have now is much more conducive to this type of activity. But where I really see a strengthening of relationships between teacher and student due to the angle shift is in the casual conversation at the beginning of class each and every day, about their part-time jobs, new shoes, family trips, dance competitions, game day excitement and the like. The students open up far more now that I am on their level. In a World Language class conducted in the target language, this is spontaneous language production at its most pure. They are talking and that is our primary goal.

I have also noticed that I can ask the class if they have any questions before we start an activity and will get a universal “nope, we’re good” answer, but the minute I sit down and start scooting from pod to pod, the students are much more likely to ask for clarification when I’m on their level. That angle shift invites interaction that may not take place if I am on the other side of an invisible boundary.

Flexible seating for me is more about connecting with the students than offering them comfortable options. It is truly all about the angle.