Get Up, Stand Up in the Name of Student Engagement!
My students need standing desks, a high top table, coffee table, and balance balls to increase student engagement, focus, limiting fidgeting, and better posture.
I have a saying in my classroom: "Sorry about the laughter, volume, chaos, and mess, but we are learning here!" I am trying to harness the strengths each scholar possesses by providing them with an environment where they can thrive, using an educational philosophy that is "outside the box."
My students range in ability level, as well as socio-economic class.
We have an incredibly diverse building, where students are exposed to many different types of backgrounds, which is great! The school my scholars attend is a 5-8 building. The scholars in my classroom learn best by doing. Therefore, redesigning the classroom and capitalizing on every possible inch of learning space will be beneficial. Imagine this...Students have opportunities to have different options of learning spaces that best fit their needs. Students will have the chance to move around the classroom, instead of sitting stagnant at their seats. This is how my scholars learn best. The latest research shows that students who use standing desks/table tops and exercise balls have shown an increase in on-task behaviors, which lead to higher achievement and augmented focus. Student voice is prominent in my classroom; I asked students if they'd like to have the option of different seating, the response was "YES!"
My Project
This is our time to think outside the box of what a traditional classroom can look like. This is my eleventh year teaching and I have always liked to push the boundaries of what's possible in order to help each and every scholar that enters my classroom.
Scholars learn best when given choices of how/where they can learn. Having two new stand up desks, two exercise balls, two high top tables, and a coffee table, students will be able to freely move around the classroom and complete their assigned work using the materials mentioned above. Students will be able to read, complete literacy activities, as well as social studies assignments independently and collaboratively. Those are both very important skills to learn, in addition to academics. My students have mentioned that they focus better when standing up and working and/or sitting on exercise balls because it increases their focus. They will then have augmented on-task behavior to have no boundaries between them and their learning.
I can't even begin to express how much a donation would mean to my scholars.
My scholars' lives WILL be changed by using this model because, as I stated above, it will provide them with an engaging and exciting environment to grow as learners. Imagine you are a ten year old child who's given the opportunity to sit and learn in various places around a classroom? I can, let's make this happen! Please consider this donation!
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Sapia and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.