Third-grade teacher trades in desks for bean bags

It can be a tough task for a teacher to find ways for students to stay concentrated on their work but third grade teacher in Blackfoot has found a way.

Shellie Jensen has said goodbye to old-fashioned seating and hello to “flexible seating.”

Jensen got rid of most of her desks and traded them in for bean bags and swiggly stools.

This is her first year doing it and other teachers at I.T. Stoddard Elementary are following suit.

She was the first at the school to do it.

“At the end of last year, I just noticed that there are so many students that are wiggly and fidgety and, my myself when I go to a conference do not like to sit in a desk or in a chair all day long. I get tired too,” Jensen said.

Kids need to have a safe and comfortable environment, Jensen said. So, Jensen was determined and did some research all last summer and got the things she needed for this school year.

She pitched the idea to the principal, who then gave her the green light.

Jensen is one semester into the seating arrangement and said she has definitely noticed her students’ grades improving.

“Do I say it’s that? No, I mean because we do interventions with all the third grades and stuff so, it’s a combined effort,” Jensen said.

Parents and the students been giving great feedback about Jensen’s classroom.

“I ask the kids, ‘Do you ever want to go back to desks?’ and of course most of them say no. They love it. We’re up and moving all the time,” Jensen said.

Sara Kent is one of Mrs. Jensen’s third grade students. Flexible seating has helped her a lot, she said.

“It’s fun! You can sit where you want, as long as you stay calm and it’s more comfortable than desks because desks, you just have to sit in one seat unless the teacher decides to move it around,” Kent said.

Like every classroom, there are rules and Jensen makes sure her students know that, even with the fun seats.

“I say, ‘OK, go where you feel that you can learn the best.’ and if they feel, ‘Oh this isn’t working for me,’ they get up and move or if I see that it’s not working for them, that’s one of the rules, I can move them,” Jensen said.

Across the hall is third-grade teacher Tracy Folsom, who also implemented flexible seating in her classroom.

“I like it. I don’t think it’s as messy or distracting when they have things in their desks that they’re playing with. A lot of times I do my teaching, they sit on the carpet and I feel like they’re more engaged,” Folsom said.

However, flexible seating is not for everyone. Fourth-grade teacher, Michelle Miles, is classroom-neighbors with Jensen. She tried the flexible seating, for only for a while, she said.

“The kids liked it but then last week, one of the girls came to me and said, ‘Mrs. Miles, could I have a desk?’ and I said, ‘Well, okay if you want that.’ So, the other kids heard and they said, ‘I want a desk too.’ I think it was about ownership and having their own little space. A soon as they got their desks they made name tags for it,” Miles said.

Jensen plans to continue to do this with her classroom next year.

“Will I ever go back (to regular seating)? Not if someone makes me because I love flexible seating and the majority of my kids do too!,” Jensen said.

“It’s scary to jump into at first and like when my husband was helping me set it up, he’s like ‘You are going to get so fired!’ He was so worried about that but it’s been good,” Jensen said. “I love it. I mean, you do have to work with it and practice the routines and stuff but no, I love it.”

The teachers are interested in seeing how this seating arrangement will affect the students when they take the state test in the spring.

Jensen said a teacher from Idaho Falls is actually coming to check out her classroom for ideas as well.