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

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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• Stream by clicking here.

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.