How often do you get your students up and moving physically? In what ways? [Or why not?]
Does this make a difference in their academic performance? Explain your reasoning.
Does this make a difference in their academic performance? Explain your reasoning.
I teach kindergarten, so movement breaks are a must. When I am teaching whole group, I do some teaching at their desks, and some at our rug. I always have them do some kind of physical activity when transitioning between the two areas. I may have them hop like a bunny or walk on their tip-toes. When I am teaching on the rug, if I notice they are looking wiggly, I have them stand up and march the abc's or jump and count to a given number. I have noticed that students are able to listen more attentively if they have movement breaks. In addition to the movement breaks from desk to rug, I like to have a movement break about every 20 minutes. Some of our favorites are Danny go, Koo Koo Kangaroo and Jack Hartmann. I can't imagine trying to teach without movement.
ReplyDeleteAs a high school math teacher, I wish exercise could be more included in EVERYBODY (student AND teacher's) day. America definitely is failing miserably in this and it shows. The loooooong list of standards that have to be met does not allow hardly any wiggle room for out-of-curriculum activity. I wish some real evidence based logic would be applied to this problem.
ReplyDeleteKami Bodine--I posted significant quotes from our recent novel There There for the Seniors. I had students walk around with sticky notes and write responses to these "snapshots" of the most shocking lines from the novel. It was interesting when they used them to make predictions. With my juniors, I placed different themes from The Crucible around the room. Students would go around and discuss them and then give examples of these themes in the real world. Having them up and moving and discussing made it more engaging because students could not be sitting with their heads down and disengaging. It was harder for the wall flowers to hide in their group. In fact, some of more silent students stepped and took the lead in discussions. It was great and effective. I continued doing it throughout the semester, as I will continue to do it the rest of my teaching career.
ReplyDeleteKami Bodine--I posted significant quotes from our recent novel There There for the Seniors. I had students walk around with sticky notes and write responses to these "snapshots" of the most shocking lines from the novel. It was interesting when they used them to make predictions. With my juniors, I placed different themes from The Crucible around the room. Students would go around and discuss them and then give examples of these themes in the real world. Having them up and moving and discussing made it more engaging because students could not be sitting with their heads down and disengaging. It was harder for the wall flowers to hide in their group. In fact, some of more silent students stepped and took the lead in discussions. It was great and effective. I continued doing it throughout the semester, as I will continue to do it the rest of my teaching career. (Reposted so that it was not anonymous.
ReplyDeleteI teach 39-minute science classes. After or before my class, they have a 3-minute passing period. I try to get them back at the lab stations and moving around as much as I can. My class is very inquiry and lab-based, so this makes it very easy for me to incorporate movement in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe students retain the information and new learning so much better if they can be actively doing something, rather than sitting and getting the information. We will often do a lab and then finish processing the information the next day. If it looks like they are getting sleepy or bored during this time, I will often try to switch it up and make them walk back to the lab stations for a short brain break or to analyze the information in a new way. However, with such short classes, we do sometimes struggle to fit everything in with the pressure of all the standards that we are expected to meet.
I teach a two hour block rotation for 5th grade reading so it is very important that I have ways to get students moving. It is not always structured or routine on when they will move but I provide a variety of activities that can involve them sitting around the room, laying on the floor as they read, four corners, etc... I also try and provide them with a choice board of activities for them to take ownership of their learning. In some activities it is more of learning based play like practicing their spelling on a whiteboard with a friend so it becomes very odd in the room but the students are on task and learning social skills. When we do things like four corners the kids are eager to move and this particular class loves to debate/discuss why they think their answer is correct or incorrect. I can tell the class is more awake and ready for the next task after doing these however it can take a moment to get them back on track depending on the activity.
ReplyDeleteHow often do you get your students up and moving physically? In what ways? [Or why not?]
ReplyDeleteDoes this make a difference in their academic performance? Explain your reasoning.
I teach first grade and movement throughout direct instruction is very important. My students enjoy brain breaks and it gets them up and moving in between subject areas. I will get students up and moving to a brain break before and after a subject area as it gets their wiggles and jiggles out. Students look forward to brain breaks. During a lesson, if I see students start to get antsy, I will pause and I will either have them stand up and do jumping jacks or I will turn on a short brain break. If students start to get antsy and you ignore that cue from them, they are going to have a difficult time engaging with the learning content. I believe that incorporating movement into students’ everyday learning routine does improve their academic performance because their attention is high and they can focus on the learning at hand. If they are starting to get antsy, they are going to start to seek out interruptive behaviors such as talking to peers and their focus is going to shift to not learning.
Movement is something we strive for with the learners in our program, but we are always looking to make improvements as well. Currently, learners take a morning and afternoon brain break, as well as game breaks in both reading and math. Students have flexible seating options in the classrooms including a couch, pillows on the floor, wobble stools and standing desks. Teachers do utilize "gallery walks" as mentioned in the book and we've done some "vote with your feet" activities as well that incorporate motion. We also are fortunate to have a flex area we call the learning commons where learners can spread out and use a variety of seating options as well as open space for different activities. Our science units are mostly hands-on and our social studies units have some simulations that also get learners actively moving and learning through experiential activities. It does get tricky to get fresh air in the very cold stretches in the winter, and we can definitely feel that different energy when the kids aren't able to get fresh air. I would love if we could open our windows as mentioned in the book, but we don't have that option at our school.
ReplyDeleteIn my Kindergarten classroom, I try to get my students up and moving quite frequently between lessons. In the morning after our morning meeting, we will do a brain break video from YouTube before we start our first lesson of the day. After we finish our first lesson, I do something different where I pick three students to lead us in exercises. This provides another good break to get my students up and moving before it is time to focus again. We also have a morning, lunch and afternoon recess which get us up and moving as well. I would like to think that by having these movement activities would increase their academic performance. I feel like students are more able to be engaged when they have a little break.
ReplyDeleteHow often do you get your students up and moving physically? In what ways? [Or why not?]
ReplyDeleteDoes this make a difference in their academic performance? Explain your reasoning.
I work in the Title I room so my students have the opportunity to walk to my room from the regular classroom which gives them a break from learning for a moment. However if I see that my kids are not focusing very well in the 25 minutes that I work with them I will have them stand up and do some exercises to wake up the brain. I also subscribe to Fluency and Fitness so we will do activities from that website which incorporates movement in their learning. I feel once the students have had time to move and refresh they are better prepared to learn. However on some days it is hard for them to settle down and concentrate. It all depends on what is happening through out the school day.
How often do you get your students up and moving physically? In what ways? [Or why not?]
ReplyDeleteDoes this make a difference in their academic performance? Explain your reasoning.
As a Kindergarten teacher, motion and movement are key. I had many ELL students; therefore, attaching movement to words with song and dance was a teaching strategy that I utilized often. For example, we would start our day with carpet time and calendar time a 30-minute activity and would incorporate 3 or 4 songs that we would sing and dance or sing and add movement to. I do feel that this strategy made a difference in the success and learning of the children. One reason I felt this strategy had a positive effect was the students were engaged and wanted to take part in the morning calendar time. The second reason I feel like this strategy was impactful was during testing, some students would refer back to songs or movement that they associated to whatever they were testing on. One example of this was testing letter sounds. Overall, I do feel like movement in the classroom is so very important to keep the students engaged and brain-based studies have proven that when you incorporate movement to learning, the likelihood that you will recover what you are learning from memory has a high percentage of a success rate.
As a classroom teacher, I built breaks with movement into our regular routine. One example was that we would have four 12-15-minute math rotations, students would move from activity to activity, and then we would also take a longer 5-7-minute brain break in the middle where we would stretch, dance to a song, or participate in some sort of larger movement. These breaks were super helpful and helped our last two rotations go smoothly, and helped students stay on task. I think that because of this, students did better on their work than before I implemented this routine. Students, especially in younger grades learn so much through play and movement. Integrating these things into regular classroom activities can help students' brains make more connections and help them to process all the information they are taking in.
ReplyDeleteIn some of my courses we do gallerywalks about once a month. In others I have students randomly come write answers to problems on the board. There have been times I have them stand and move to an area in the room as a way of voting on answers. I have also had them get up and stretch when I notice many are sleepy. I teach high school math and we have 53 minute classes, so I do not feel we have a lot of time for movement breaks. They do transition to classes, so they are walking every hour. I feel like having them get up to vote, or come to the board does help them remain focused and helps keep boredom and/or avoidance away. I know when I have to sit for extended periods of time it is easy to become sleepy so I never have a problem when students get up to move.
ReplyDeleteTeaching 7th & 8th grade, I would use brain breaks fairly often within my regular class time. I had a few different fun activities that would take 5 minutes or so to play out. During the fall and spring, we'd occasionally go outside and sit in the grass while working on the assignment (once instruction time was over). I liked to include other small movements when there was an opportunity as well. It all depended on the lesson. I noticed the breaks and movement helped the students stay awake and attentive. It also improved the mood of the class overall. Though I don't have proof, I'd say it helped their academic performance. If I was to return to teaching, I'd definitely try to include more opportunities for movement.
ReplyDeleteAs a band teacher with a relatively small classroom, I struggle to incorporate movement into teaching. I have recently been giving my middle schoolers a short break in the middle of class, which has been helpful, but I'm not very sure how to incorporate movement with so many instruments all around and so little empty space. I would love to find a way to incorporate movement, but even after searching online for ideas, I still don't see anything.
ReplyDeleteI attempt to incorporate movement into my junior high and high school mathematics classes as much as possible. We generally begin class with some type of Bell Ringer which my students are seated for. After this, they get up to obtain the materials they need for class. These are situated either in the front or the back of the room. After the lesson is presented and notes are taken, I ask for volunteers to come to the board and offer their answers during our guided practice. During independent practice, students are seated again, and usually work individually for about ten minutes. Then I draw popsicle sticks and everyone goes to the board to write up their answers. Some days, I utilize the Gallery Walk that Timothy discussed. Other days, I utilize Scavenger Hunts. To complete a Scavenger Hunt, students start with a question printed on the bottom half of a poster hanging on the wall, then find the answer to that question at the top of a different poster hanging on the wall and then complete the question at the bottom of that poster. This continues, and if all questions are done correctly, they end up back where they started. This gets students moving for about 15 to 20 minutes. "Building Thinking Classrooms" provides many wonderful tasks that students can perform in groups at the board, and I have had success with several of them. At any age or grade level, movement amplifies learning. Keeping the blood flowing keeps the energy flowing which keeps the thinking flowing, assisting students with retaining the material. Incorporating movement breaks, even small ones, throughout lessons is definitely beneficial.
ReplyDeleteAs an art teacher, movement was a natural part of my classroom. Art as a subject lends itself to more physical activity than some other areas of study, since students are often working with materials, moving around the room, or viewing work from different angles. In the past, I allowed students to stand at their desks, stretch, or move around the room when they needed to.
ReplyDeleteI also allowed movement during class discussions and work time, as long as students stayed focused and maintained appropriate discipline. I believe this made a positive difference in their academic performance. When students were able to move, they were less restless and more engaged in their work. Many students were able to concentrate better and stay on task. Overall, allowing movement helped support learning and created a more comfortable and productive classroom environment.
I try to get my students up and moving at least once a day during class. It might be going outside to do our reading for the day, taking a brain break and stretching after independent reading time, or doing an activity that requires them to walk around the room. I do think this makes a difference in their academic performance because it wakes them up and gets their bodies moving so that they can be more attentive during class. Living in the Midwest, it can be hard to utilize the outdoors during the winter but we also try to get outside during study hall as much as possible or use the gym when it's too cold out. I notice that they tend to be in a better mood after, which greatly benefits them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a special education teacher, I definitely incorporated breaks into my instruction. A few examples include: students choosing different corners or sides of the room for different answers, completing stations around the classroom, having flexible seating, or even getting to go outside for learning at times. I tried to include movement multiple times during the day. Students had breaks in between classes at the middle school I taught at which definitely helped, but going from 5th grade and having recess multiple times a day to 6th grade with no recess can be a big change. Some students on my caseload had scheduled breaks built within their IEP, so they were able to make a choice for their scheduled break. I do believe movement improves academic performance. Once a break is over or having done movement in my class, I feel that everyone is in a better mood. To top it off, coming back inside from doing an activity outside or taking a brain-break outside, the fresh air is so good for all of us! In the book, Teach Like Finland, I love how students get a 15-minute break after 45-minutes of instruction. This scheduled break is vital to keeping students engaged in learning as well as socialization.
ReplyDeleteAs an art teacher sometimes we do gallery walks, inside the room or out in the hallway If the weather is nice (hard in south Dakota) we've gone outside to draw. I also utilize a "drink pass" and if I notice a student is having trouble focusing or just needs a mental break, I've given them the pass and say walk up and down the hall then get a drink. I would love if our school had even 10 minutes between classes to take a mental break. We do 5 minutes.
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom, we do not get a lot of movement. I try and have different activates that involve students leaving their seats to hand in assignments and get individual help from the teacher. I like the idea of a 15 minute break for every 45 minutes taught. Our passing periods of 3 minutes could be extended to allow students to have that movement and the ability to focus when moving onto the next subject. I think we would see an improvement focusing on the task at hand.
ReplyDeleteIn our school we follow a MTSS model- students travel to small group guided reading and intervention groups within our building which gives kids movement after thirty minutes. In the classroom I incorporate brain breaks, such as, using sites on our promethean board that utilize movement, as needed by reading the room and the students; games such as Mrs. Stagner says (Simon Says) and four corners; activities that allow kids to move around the room (use clipboards and recording sheets to answer questions posted around the room); work with partners and sit in different areas in the room at times. Students need movement and variety in lessons and activities. They have specific breaks with their groups and I incorporate brain breaks as needed; it varies. I have a very active group this year that can have a hard time settling in and calming down after an active break, so I have had to vary the amount of brain breaks with this group. Using calming yoga for kids that goes along with a story has worked well with this group, which is a different type of movement.
ReplyDeleteIt depends on the day for me in an 8th grade classroom setting. Some days, we do have to read and do questions, but other days we are up and doing stations where they are moving around the classroom or the team area. The hard part about stopping instruction to give them time to move is that it then takes more time to get them to quiet back down and start over, losing more instruction time. If it is an activity to get them moving, I definitely prefer that and find that students are more engaged and do better on the activity with movement. I think it helps them with movement because it gets the blood flowing and they are not able to sit and "day dream" or lose focus instead of completing the assignment.
ReplyDeleteAs a third grade teacher, I realized the importance of movement with my students. I do have to say, after reading the first chapter, I reflected on how I want to do a better job of incorporating more movement within my classroom. When I noticed students struggling to stay on task, I will have them get out of their desk and do jumping jacks, or some other type of movement. I also like to do activities that have the students move out of the classroom to continue learning, for example, we will play Scoot, where there are review cards taped up throughout the hallway and they have to find and answer each question on the card. Lastly, I do group settings for the students to collaborate on their homework, in which they will go throughout my classroom to continue their learning. My students really enjoy any opportunity to be out of their seats or the classroom for learning.
ReplyDeleteAs a preschool teacher, my students move physically throughout the day. Movement is a natural and essential part of early childhood learning. I incorporate movement through play-based activities, center time, songs with actions, and transitions that include stretching, dancing, or movement games. I also have a nature-based teaching certificate, so I take my students outside as much as possible within the public school system. Outdoor learning provides opportunities for exploration, gross motor development, and hands-on experiences that support many areas of development. I have noticed that when students are able to move frequently—especially outdoors—I see fewer behavior challenges and higher engagement. Children often learn and practice skills during movement and play that they can generalize more easily than skills learned during long seated activities. For young learners, movement supports both their physical development and their academic learning
ReplyDeleteAs a 6-12 principal who teaches a couple of upper level courses, I do not get students up moving near enough as I should. I do give them breaks, I just do not really get them moving enough. After reading the first part of the book, I do have some ideas that I can use to get my students up and moving while incorporating lesson concepts. I also need to make it more of a point and take my classes outside, especially on these nice spring days. I do not think that taking a break to be more physically active would hurt my assessment scores. Often I question if some of the things I do in the classroom is just a time filler and as I reflect, my lessons might be better knowing that I had only 35 minutes to teach my content lesson (we have 50 minute periods with a 5 minute passing) and by incorporating a 15 minute assessment in which students are up and moving and collaborating with others would definitely increase moral which might lead to increased scores, but even more important, students might actually enjoy or look forward to school. An overall improved moral by our students might increase test scores, or if nothing else, make them want to not hate coming to school.
ReplyDeleteDuring the years that I taught in the traditional classroom setting I would have student do several science and ag activities both indoors and outdoors. Students would be assigned different projects involving collecting, measuring, observing in the trees that bordered the school. In general, hands on activities are going to keep students more active weather it is outside or in the classroom. Yes, I believe from past experience with classroom students, that physical activity if very important to keep the student motivated and on-task. Allowing student time to get out of their desk, move around the classroom during lab activities to "see how other lab groups are doing it" provides curiosity, chances for student to collaborate, discuss outcomes and in return, increase academic performance.
ReplyDeleteI teach 2nd grade, so I must get my kids moving. I would say I get them up roughly every 10-15 minutes. It may be something as simple as going from their desk to the carpet to do a task, then back to their desk to do a task, etc. If the instruction time is longer than a solid 15 minutes, I stop and do a brain break. If there's ever a time, I can just see that I'm losing them, I stop and take a break to get them moving.
ReplyDeleteI have been and educator for over 20 years and find it's so important to keep kids active and moving. This includes physical activity as well as various brain breaks where the students have choice time, and are able to take a break. I stop about every 45 minutes to do some time of break; stretching, physical or even a brain break. I've seen the students return to class focused and ready to learn.
ReplyDeleteI have taught JH and HS social studies for the past thirty-four years. I have always seen students as more focused when given the opportunity for movement. I tend to be traditional in my approach about this and know I do not incorporate enough of it. Our periods are 45 minutes with a 3 minute passing time. On Wednesdays, we play a current event game that usually affords the most movement. Students are moved into groupings and perform a lot of kinetic activity through rock-paper-scissors. I've also found that getting students up when classes appear stale seems to re-engage. Doing this more is something I need to continue to build into the courses and strive for. I especially liked Walker's section on a greater aptitude when infusing classrooms with fresh air.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was teaching 2nd Grade, I used movement often in my classroom. We did a lot of hands-on-activities for learning that had them up out of their desks, as well as several different brain breaks to transition. When I moved up to teaching 5th Grade, I found it harder to find ways for my students to move that they would actually get up and do willingly. During the longer stretches of the traditional learning, I tried to keep my lessons short and had the students either interacting with each other or moving around the room in groups, etc.
ReplyDeleteGetting the students moving does make a positive difference in their academic performance. It helps their bodies and brains take a break and refocus. Even as an adult, if I'm sitting working on something too long, I know when my body and my brain need that moment of movement to refocus. I have a first grader and one of the first things he shares with me after school is the number of times his class took brain breaks and got a chance to move. School has been a hard adjustment for him and we (his dad, his teacher and I) all see that he does better academically and behaviorally when he's able to move.
As a physical education teacher, I am very aware of how much time my students are spending moving in my classroom. In the health room, I understand how frustrating it can be to try to allow movement in the classroom and then have the difficulty of bringing the kids back to focus on the lesson. I also understand the stress of trying to cover every standard and feeling like there is not enough time to get it all done. I believe that movement is providing our students with a mental break that we all so desperately need. After being given the opportunity to move and not focus on any given topic, students become more energized and have an increased ability to focus on their learning, When students are more focused on their learning it should translate into higher academic performance.
ReplyDeleteWhen teaching in my resource room classroom I offered flexible seating when doing our small group lessons. I had kiddos sit at the table, on the floor, a big yoga ball. My students could stand with clip board or move their feet on the bands I had along the feet of the chairs. A large portion of my case load were students with attention challenges so I made sure that when they came to see me they could learn how they learn best. We also used the transition time from the classroom to my classroom to get wiggles out. I believe this made a huge difference in how they performed because in my room they could just be themselves and they knew that as long as they were giving it their "Best" they could learn where they needed to learn best.
ReplyDeleteI teach in a personalized learning environment. My students are up and moving more during math and reading than they might be in a traditional classroom. With my group of four teachers (2-5) we swap students based on needs and levels for reading. They are able to go out into the hall to work on Flow Fluency, work in groups in the classroom and move to a spot that works best for them. Students also are self paced during our math block. They will learn their topic, get up and sign up to meet in a small group with me, they will move around the room to get fluency activities or practice pages that go with the topic they are on. They will also be able to move around the room to work where it is best for their learning. This means my students are up and leaving the classroom for reading and math, moving between classrooms. They sit a bit more during Social Studies, Science and Writing as those are run a bit more traditional in my room. Still, I try to build in as much movement into activities as possible.
ReplyDelete