Dayton Students Stand Tall (or not)

DAYTON – Students in Shayna Hutchens classroom aren't likely to be told to "sit down and be quiet." They may be required to be quiet, but they can choose whether to stand or sit. And often, being quiet isn't important, either.

One way Hutchens engages her students is by providing them with options to learn in the ways they learn best.

Hutchens moved from Portland, Ore. to Dayton last year and began teaching middle and high school social studies and high school English at DHS. Among her first priorities was to lobby for new desks to replace the mish-mash she inherited.

Hutchens knew she wanted two things: desks that could fit together for collaborative work and desks that allowed students the option of standing.

"I had one student who stood at a bookshelf in the back of the room last year to do his work. If he was sitting, he couldn't work," Hutchens said.

The district ordered adjustable desks, which were only slightly more expensive than traditional desks, that can be fitted together for group activities. Hutchens didn't order chairs, but now uses a variety of unused seating options, which turned out to be ideal.

"At first we had no chairs but the kids in the back couldn't see what was going on in front and some kids hated standing. But it worked out well because now some kids sit in chairs, some kids sit on stools and some stand. We have the whole gamut which is what differentiated learning is all about," she said.

The health benefits of standing vs. sitting have been widely publicized in recent years. Research conducted by Mayo Clinic endocrinologist James Levine, indicates that spending more of the day standing can reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. These days, it's not unusual to see standing desks in traditional offices.

Though the health benefits are a bonus, Hutchens said the decision to add standing desks to her classroom was mostly focused on student engagement.

"Kids have been told to sit down, sit down, sit down, for many years. Some don't want to sit down. Part of it was just to allow the kids some options in their school day," she said.

"Today my eight graders were working on vocabulary and I looked around the classroom and realized some teachers would be appalled. Four were sitting on the ground with their dictionaries, two were standing and Googling answers on their phone, some were sitting and using Chromebooks, and some were standing at desks with their textbooks open.

"Every kid got to choose how they were going to do the assignment. The heart of it is that they get to choose how they learn and work best," Hutchens said. "My goal is to meet the needs of each student and this is just one tiny piece of that puzzle," she added.