If you walk into a Spanish classroom at Woodford County High School, you will notice a stark difference between these rooms and the typical classroom setup; the Spanish teachers at WCHS have all opted for “deskless” classrooms. Instead of the traditional desk with an attached chair and basket for books underneath, you will see chairs arranged around the room in whatever structure best suits the day’s lesson plan and activities.
Jessica Basanta was the first of the four Spanish teachers at the high school to implement this change. She says, “My Spanish teacher in high school had a deskless room. I had been thinking about it for awhile.” After attending a conference with several teachers from around the country who had made this change, Mrs. Basanta decided to take the plunge. She had to consider how going deskless would affect the everyday procedures of her classroom. “I had to think about what they would need and how to manage...The hardest thing was figuring out how [students] would write, so I have little, white boards for them to use.” Mrs. Basanta also has clipboards available for students, and she says that several students enjoy spreading out on the floor and using it as a hard surface on which to write. Lastly, a quick peek into her classroom will show that Mrs. Basanta does have a few desks lined up against the walls. If the day’s lesson requires writing, turning around to use a desk as a table for a few minutes is another option for students.
Olivia Damm, a senior at WCHS, has taken several Spanish classes over the course of her high school career. When she began Spanish, Mrs. Basanta still had the traditional, classroom setup. Olivia says that it was an unusual adjustment at first when Mrs. Basanta went deskless because she had never experienced a classroom with only chairs. She says, “It was strange in the sense that there wasn’t any place to hide...You’re also forced to get out of your comfort zone, meet new people, and talk to new people. Now that I’ve had this experience for going on two years, I can definitely say that I enjoy it...There’s a lot more space and you can have better conversations. You can see everybody rather than just the person in front of you.”
The benefits of a deskless classroom that Olivia mentions reflect many of the reasons why the Spanish department chose to implement this setup. Mrs. Basanta says, “[Students] can’t lay their heads down, hide their phones, or work on things for other classes. They’re forced to be engaged.” Additionally, the foreign language teachers utilize space and movement to help students learn. Without traditional desks lined up in rows, students are able to move about the classroom with ease. Kelly Crager, Spanish teacher at WCHS, remarks, “It’s offered flexibility in grouping, so it’s easier for us to move around and do a little bit more. In the language classroom, we really want people to feel comfortable talking to each other and practicing the language. We move around a lot and use motions to practice vocabulary.”
The deskless classroom setup has certainly been a huge benefit for the Spanish department. In regards to making this change, Mrs. Basanta says, “I think it’s important to try to figure out ways to help the students learn the best. Just because we’ve always been doing something doesn’t mean that’s the best way to do it. Trying something new may work or may not, but it’s important to try.”
The Spanish teachers were very grateful for the support of the administration when they decided to make this change. Kevin Faris, associate principal of WCHS, remarks on the importance of encouraging teachers to implement strategies that they believe are in the students’ best interest. He says, “Our greatest resource at WCHS is our teachers. No one knows the content better than the teachers, so when they have ideas to help students learn, we try to do our best to help turn those ideas into reality. This is a great example of why professional development for our teachers is so important. These opportunities to go and learn from other teachers and then bring that knowledge back to WCHS is exactly what we hope happens.”
We love to see how this interesting change in the setup of a classroom has so positively impacted student learning, and we are appreciative of our teachers for constantly having our students at the forefront of every decision.
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