Teacher Using Stand-Up Desks
Stacy Parks, a math teacher at McDonald County High School, received a grant from the McDonald County School Foundation, which she used to replace the desks in her classroom.
She replaced the traditional desks with new stand-up desks with stools.
“To me it seemed like a very intelligent idea,” she said. “If we’re trying to get our kids ready for careers — there’s not a lot of careers where they sit at a desk all day.”
She didn’t like the one-sizefits-all traditional desks, because her students were all different sizes. Some struggled to fit their legs under a desk, she said. The
stand-up desks come in different sizes to accommodate differing heights.
“These make it easier, I think, for all of them to feel comfortable,” she said.
Freshman Yzabelle Delacruz likes the new desks.
“I feel like I have more space. I can have all my work up here,” Delacruz said. “It’s so much better. I like (the storage space) so I don’t have to put my bag on the floor.”
Freshman Keagan Spurgeon added that “They’re fun. It keeps me occupied because I have ADHD. I can’t sit still.”
After researching the stand-up desks, Parks applied for two grants in an effort to secure them for her classroom. One was from Toshiba America, which was denied. The second was from the McDonald County School Foundation, which was approved. She got a letter after school was out last spring stating they would fund her request, she said. The desks arrived in June, and she, her husband and her son put them together over the course of a few days.
“I was really excited after we got the first desk together. My students have complained for several years that the desks weren’t big enough for everything we need on them and these desks are much larger and user-friendly for what we do in my class,” she said.
Asked whether the desks have led to a change in learning, she said, “I hope there has been a change in learning, but I really can’t quantify that. I know my teaching has changed, as my students are making interactive notebooks for algebra this year, that involves more active learning which has been made easier with desks that have more space and allow more mobility for students. It has also increased my ability to have students work with partners or in small groups because it doesn’t require rearranging of my classroom space.”
The desks also offer health benefits, she added. Because they are standing more and slumping less, students increase their oxygen intake, she said.
“They feel like they’re in a PE class. It takes more energy to sit on a stool and stand than just slump in a chair and stay there.”
The desks are equipped with a rocking bar where students can rest their feet, as well as a storage area for backpacks.
“It really helps kids that have a lot of energy,” Parks said. “The bar lets them move their feet.” She said this energy release means she hears less tapping of pencils on desktops and other distractions.
“Many of my former students come by and express envy that they didn’t have these desks when they were in my room, and most of the talking among students about the desks has been positive from what I have overheard.”