I found the idea allowing for the choice of different work spaces in the classroom to be so interesting. A classroom does not need to only have traditional desks. There can be places where a child can stand or sit on the floor. I think this really struck me because I am the type of person who has difficulty sitting still. Even when I am sitting at a traditional desk, I tend to fidget. Inevitably I end up sitting in a variety of positions in my chair. As an adult I look around our classroom and I see that I am the only one who is sitting with their legs crisscrossed or their knees under their chin. I am sometimes embarrassed that the way I like to sit does not fall “into line”. Everyone else seems to be fine sitting up straight with both feet on the floor, so why not me? But, this is not how I learn best. For me to focus, I need to be able to move and sit in ways that are comfortable to me. I would have been the student who really benefited from a table that allowed me to sit on the floor. I love the idea of there being no one “right” way to learn. A student does not have to feel badly that they do not “fall into line” because there is no one right way to sit at your desk. If the goal is to have students engaged in learning, then who cares how and where they need to sit to do it?
I love how Ayers explains it in his book To Teach, “Every youngster should be afforded multiple occasions to accomplish something of value in school. The range of opportunities to experience success should be wide, not narrow.” One of the many ways to allow for different paths to success can be as simple as allowing choice in where and how the student sits.
Check out this blog post to see an example of a teacher who uses this type of choice in her classroom.
http://emdffi.blogspot.com/2009/08/choices-choices-choices.html
The Teacher-To-Be 
TTB,
Just as we saw when the architects visited us, children (and adults) do not always conveniently fir or function in the spaces we want them to. I think this is actually a symptom of the “divergent thinking” we want to encourage in our students. Just as you or I might wiggle or reposition ourselves to get comfortable in our chairs, I see no reason why we should expect kids to be comfortable in the spaces we carve out for them in our classroom if we don’t leave room for them to be themselves! One thing I will throw out here is that I think kids will be more confident and comfortable in their spaces if we demonstrate that it’s ok to be confident and comfortable in our spaces as well.