Blog #10 Supporting Independent Reading with Flexible Seating

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On Monday, I will begin my ninth year of teaching and as I excitedly prepare for a new school year I am wondering how the physical environment in my classroom can better facilitate learning specifically to enhance independent reading. During independent reading, students read books of their choosing for a sustained period of time. Fountas and Pinnell (2019) explain there are numerous benefits to independent reading including: 

  • Offers the opportunity to develop habits, attitudes, and tastes as a reader
  • Builds students’ mileage and stamina as readers
  • Allows students to exercise full control of the reading process
  • Provides opportunities to share thinking about books with other readers through discussion and writing about reading
  • Allows readers to apply independently what they have learned through who-group minilessons, guided and shared reading lessons, and book clubs. 

As I prepare my classroom for another school year, I want to consider the benefits of flexible seating during independent reading time. 



What is Flexible Seating: 

In a classroom with flexible seating traditional assigned seating in desks and chairs is replaced with a variety of different seating options including couches, pillows, chairs, stools, and bean bags and students are able to choose where they sit. 

Comfy teal and pink flexible seating classrooms
(Bored Teacher) 


In this Edutopia video teachers at Albemarle County, Public Schools share how flexible seating empower student choice, increase student engagement, and improve student participation. 



Benefits of Flexible Seating:
Merrill (2018) explains, "there are plenty of studies that isolate the effects of light, acoustics, or air quality on learning. But the research on flexible classrooms is frustratingly scarce". Merrill highlights a study from Barrett et al (2015) which investigated the effects of three dimensions of classroom design: naturalness (factors like light and temperature), simulation (factors like color and visual complexity), and individualization (factors like flexibility and students ownership). The study found that among primary classrooms (children age 5-11) optimizing all of these physical characteristics improved academic performance in reading, writing, and mathematics by 16 percent.

New Space, New Year:

As I enter a new school year, I am planning to create more flexible seating in my classroom. By proving students with a variety of seating options in the classroom I hope to create a warm and inviting classroom which will promote the learning and engagement of all students during independent reading and throughout the day.


Sources: 
[Edutopia]. (2015, August 4) Flexible Classrooms: Providing the Learning Environment That Kids Need. [Video File].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cscJcRKYxA&t=32s
Merrill, S. (2018, June 14). Flexible Classrooms: Research Is Scarce, But Promising. Retrieved from
https://www.edutopia.org/article/flexible-classrooms-research-scarce-promising

Fountas, I., & Pinnell G. (2019). What is Independent Reading?.
Retrieved from https://fpblog.fountasandpinnell.com/what-is-independent-reading

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 10, 2019 at 10:18 PM

    I love the idea of flexible seating! This is something I have been interested in for a while, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around how it would work. As a grade 9 teacher, my classes can be energetic. I have played around with this a little, with choice of table seating, individual seating or (particularly during independent reading), a sit or lounge anywhere you are bothering others seating. I find that the success has varied - more mature classes do well with this, and it causes a much better classroom environment. However, I have had classes that just could not handle the option of sitting with friends, or in a non-traditional seat.

    I am also curious about assessment - in my class we have to a certain number of essays, and prepare for provincial wide exams. What would this look like in a flexible seating classroom?

    I look forward to reading some of the linked articles. Thank you for a thought provoking article.

    ReplyDelete

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