My Kids Hate Their Desks! (And What I Did About It!)

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Brooke Markle, a veteran middle-level English educator, realized that her kids hated their desks. They wiggled. They moved. They struggled to pay attention. So, with a limited budget, she decided to change her classroom to give students a choice. The results are exciting.

Listen to Brooke talk about Flexible Seating

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Pictures of Brooke's Room

Brooke Markle – Bio as Submitted

Brooke Markle is a veteran middle-level English educator at Mechanicsburg Middle School in Mechanicsburg, PA. She holds a B.A. in English writing, 6-12 English certification, an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Assessment, and K-12 Pennsylvania Principal certification.

In addition to teaching seventh grade English, Brooke serves as Team Leader of the Trailblazers Team and as a new teacher induction trainer specializing in backward design. She utilizes her expertise in lesson planning and classroom management to mentor new teachers. Brooke enjoys being a part of district committees to impact student academic, social, and emotional well being, and implemented the first fully flexible seating classroom in her middle school two years ago. She is a winner of the Shippensburg University School Study Council Outstanding Teacher Award.

Outside of the classroom, Brooke is an auditor for Pennsylvania Higher Level Education programs and serves as a member of the Pennsylvania State program guidelines committee for English Language Arts and reading.

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Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis is a full-time classroom teacher and IT Director in Georgia, USA. She is Mom of three, wife of one, and loves talking about the wise, transformational use of technology for teaching and doing good in the world. She hosts the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast which interviews teachers around the world about remarkable classroom practices to inspire and help teachers. Vicki focuses on what unites us -- a quest for truly remarkable life-changing teaching and learning. The goal of her work is to provide actionable, encouraging, relevant ideas for teachers that are grounded in the truth and shared with love. Vicki has been teaching since 2002 and blogging since 2005. Vicki has spoken around the world to inspire and help teachers reach their students. She is passionate about helping every child find purpose, passion, and meaning in life with a lifelong commitment to the joy and responsibility of learning. If you talk to Vicki for very long, she will encourage you to "Relate to Educate" or "innovate like a turtle" or to be "a remarkable teacher." She loves to talk to teachers who love their students and are trying to do their best. Twitter is her favorite place to share and she loves to make homemade sourdough bread and cinnamon rolls and enjoys running half marathons with her sisters. You can usually find her laughing with her students or digging into a book.

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4 comments

Sarah Shainfeld May 8, 2019 - 3:01 pm

Hi! I commented on twitter as well – super beautiful room. So appealing! What do you do for fire codes? Talk to admin first?

Vicki Davis May 9, 2019 - 6:26 am

I’m not sure if she’ll be checking these comments, however, you want to always check with administration. I believe she talked about getting permission from the administration to pilot this approach.

Paula August 23, 2020 - 8:56 pm

Would have been wonderful before the pandemic!

Vicki Davis October 25, 2020 - 8:08 pm

It was posted way before the pandemic and hopefully you’ll get back in-person soon. We’ve been in person for 11 weeks now and it is going well.