A Little Getting Used To...

This year I left the classroom and began working as an Educational Technology Facilitator for my county. I still get to be in the classroom working with students but its not my space so I don't get a say in the set up or how things are run of course. I knew all this going in and, even though I love the new role I get to play in educating students, I do kind of miss being able to shape the learning environment in my room and see the look on peoples faces when they walk in and see yoga balls and kids sitting on counters and under counters and working in as many different ways as there are students!


Yesterday, though, I walked into a 5th grade classroom and I instantly felt at home. Comfortable. Excited. I saw stability balls atop several desks. I saw desks as short as they could go for kids to sit on the floor. I saw desks as tall as they could go so students could stand up and work. I even saw something I had never seen before- stretchy bands attached to the legs of the desk for students to use when they get fidgety or need to get out some energy. My heart just smiled inside.

When I began talking to Molly Gilbert, the teacher, she said something that reminded me of a similar epiphany I had a few years back. She said, "One day I realized just how often I was telling them to sit still, sit down and stop moving. Then I realized they couldn't!" After that Molly explained how she started bringing in these tools to give her students an outlet for their energy while they worked. We talked about how we are all taught that students have a short attention span and the importance of giving them breaks but how difficult it is to really incorporate those as often as they need with so much content to cover. Molly told me how she is still trying to work out the best option for each student, but how much of a difference it has made in their attention and productivity. All I could do was smile and nod as I remembered the exact same process playing out in my classroom in years past.

As a mom with 3 energetic boys, I am excited to see this kind of change taking place in classrooms. I know for them, in particular, sitting still and quiet for long stretches will bring about nothing but trouble. I can hardly do it as an adult (ever look around during a faculty meeting?) so I know it's hard for them. Seeing rooms like Molly's give me hope that teachers are starting to take to heart all the research we learned about in college but were never taught to implement.

It can be a long process to help kids figure out how they work and learn best but what an amazing gift you are giving them. When you give students power over their learning environment and empower them to use what they need, you are impacting the way they will learn for the rest of their life!

It may take a little getting used to, for both teachers and students, but what a difference it can make!