Seating by Design An action research project by Sara Mayo The University of Texas at Arlington May 1, 2011

Where should I sit? In special education classes where life skill instruction is the primary goal, sofas are present to facilitate real life scenarios for socialization. What is the best instructional arrangement in a life skills classroom to ensure effective instruction and classroom management when comfortable seating is present?

Life Skills vs. General Ed In life skills classrooms, sofas are often present to facilitate real life living scenarios. *At Sam Houston High School, 4 out of 8 life skills classrooms have a sofa present. *At Lamar High School, 2 out of 4 life skills classrooms have a sofa present. In most standard classrooms in America, sofas are not present as seating for any type of instruction. *At Sam Houston High School, 4 out of 74 general education classrooms have a sofa present.

The sofa seating presents a challenge for classroom management and instructional flow in the life skills classrooms. Students will sit on sofas instead of at an instructional table upon entering the classroom. Students will leave instruction to sit on sofas to avoid instruction. Students will refuse to comply with request to begin or return to tasks when sitting on sofas.

Literature Review Most educators consider seating in their classroom to optimize student learning. In 1978, McCorskey and McVetta discussed instructional seating and student preferences. Weinstein (1992) and Webster (2010) also researched instructional seating arrangements. Webster specifically focused on special education.

Desired Outcomes Students will sit in sofas during break time or living room instruction only. Students will start/return to task when requested by leaving the sofa area.

Data Sources For the past 2 years, the sofas were in 3 different areas of the classroom. Data is examined for the three locations. Data used: Student point sheets Classroom IEP data sheets Teacher Incident Reports Data collection sheet regarding sofa use

Breakdown of Data by Location of Sofa in Classroom Sofa in rear of classroom: March 2010-June 2010 Student Point Sheets:10 incidents Classroom IEP Data Sheets: 1 incident Teacher Incident Reports: 1 incident Data collection regarding use: 4 incidents TOTAL:16 incidents Sofa behind closed door: August 2010 to December 2010 Student Point Sheets: 4 incidents Classroom IEP Data Sheets: 1 incident Teacher Incident Reports: 1 incident Data collection regarding use: 0 incidents TOTAL: 6 incidents Sofa in center area of classroom: January 2011 to April 2011 Student Point Sheets: 47 incidents Classroom IEP Data Sheets: 24 incidents Teacher Incident Reports: 9 incidents Data collection regarding use: 14 incidents TOTAL: 94 incidents Incident defined as: noted issue of one student sitting on the sofa at either an inappropriate time or sitting and refusing to start/return to task.

Findings Only 6 incidents occurred with the sofa behind closed door. When the sofa was in the rear of the classroom, students were three times more likely to misuse the sofa. When the sofa was in the central area of the classroom, students were 16 times more likely to be involved in an incident involving the sofa.

Conclusions The sofa is best placed behind a closed door. This placement reduces incidents of students are using the sofa inappropriately. The sofa should not be in a central location in the classroom, as incidents increased 1500% with this location.

Implications for the future Given that the best location for the sofa is behind a closed door, the sofa has been moved back behind a closed door. Future research possibilities include examining other campus’ for sofa use in the daily living classrooms.

References Beauchamp, D. (Jan – June 2010) Classroom IEP Data Sheets. Retrieved April 18, Beauchamp, D. (Jan – June 2010) Student Point Sheets. Retrieved April 18, Beauchamp, D. (Jan – June 2010) Teacher Incident Reports. Retrieved April 18, 2011 McCorskey, J.C. & McVetta, R.W. (1978). Classroom seating arrangements: Instructional communication theory versus student preferences. Communcation Education, 27, Mayo, S. (Jan – Apr. 2011) Classroom IEP Data Sheets. Retrieved April 18, Mayo, S. (Jan – Apr. 2011) Data Collection Concerning Use Sheet. Retrieved April 18, Mayo, S. (Jan – Apr. 2011) Student Point Sheets. Retrieved April 18, Mayo, S. (Jan – Apr. 2011) Teacher Incident Reports. Retrieved April 18, 2011

References Rolston, M. (Jan – Apr. 2011) Classroom IEP Data Sheets. Retrieved April 18, Rolston, M. (Jan – Apr. 2011) Student Point Sheets. Retrieved April 18, Rolston, M. (Jan – Apr. 2011) Teacher Incident Reports. Retrieved April 18, 2011 Stalcup, A. (Jan – Nov. 2010) Classroom IEP Data Sheets. Retrieved April 18, Stalcup, A. (Jan – Nov. 2010) Student Point Sheets. Retrieved April 18, Stalcup, A. (Jan – Nov. 2010) Teacher Incident Reports. Retrieved April 18, 2011 Webster, J. (2010) A seating plan for resource room of self contained classroom. Retrieved from: Resource-Room-Or-Self-Contained-Classroom.htmhttp://specialed.about.com/od/managementstrategies/ss/A-Seating-Plan-For-A- Resource-Room-Or-Self-Contained-Classroom.htm Weinstein, C.S. (1992). Proceedings of selected research and development presentations at the Convention of the Association For Educational Communication and Technology: Designing the instructional environment: Focus on seating.