By Aydan Holub-Schultz

Spanish teacher Sue Deibner, English teacher Tom Stephens, and German teacher Tom Wilkinson are trying out a teaching style where no desks are being used. Last year Deibner experimented with the idea of no desks; there would be days where her class would sit at desks and weeks when the class would never touch a desk. This year other teachers have followed her lead in this unconventional teaching method.

“It’s difficult to take tests and notes because I have to find a comfortable way to write,” said sophomore Jorie Randall who is in both Contemporary Literature with Stephens and Spanish 2 with Deibner.  

“One big advantage of no desks is everyone has a front row seat and you don’t have to look around people’s heads. Another perk to this is in Spanish it is a very interactive class and we do a lot of activities, so this is better because we have a large open space to do activities. When I first started teaching I had really bad desks, and I couldn’t separate them when I wanted to and I like to do that in my classes,” said Deibner.  

“I like not using desks because it makes me pay more attention because I don’t have a desk to put my head on, and it makes my posture better,” said Senior Quinnie Rodman who is in a class with Stephens.

Mr Stephens has some of his classes read from plays and he has a very interactive teaching style. He converted to this teaching environment when he noticed that he had 25 students and only 24 desks. “This allows students to be more comfortable in the classroom environment,” said Stephens.   “This also allows us to move around for classrooms for group work and speeches. The flexibility is the best part.”

Using a new curriculum called comprehensible input, Wilkinson brought in the concept of no desks this year. According to Wilkinson, it leads to “less distractions and more focusing and engagement.”