Last week some student teacher's went to the Gary Anaka presentation on "Special Brains, Special Needs." One of the key focuses on his presentation was about movement in the classroom. Anaka believes that the best way for student's to learn is integrating movement strategies into lessons to stimulate the brain and body for learning. My practicum placement is mostly in physical education and I was wondering if you have seen any movement strategies in your practicum or if you plan on including them.
My questions for everyone are:
Do you sponsor teachers include movement in their lessons?
Do you believe that it is possible to include movement into your lessons at the High School level (if yes or no, please explain)?
If you have included movement strategies what worked, what did not work, and what the student's reactions?
http://www.braincoach.ca/
My questions for everyone are:
Do you sponsor teachers include movement in their lessons?
Do you believe that it is possible to include movement into your lessons at the High School level (if yes or no, please explain)?
If you have included movement strategies what worked, what did not work, and what the student's reactions?
http://www.braincoach.ca/
7 comments:
So far I haven't seen my sponsor teacher use any movement strategies in her lesson. I'm finding that the kids are really chatty and really high energy (especially since there are 30 kids smushed together in a really small space), and I think some movement would likely be helpful.
I have considered using movement in my lessons but have been a bit hesitant to do so. I think my students might find it a bit childish or "lame" and because it's not something they do regularly, I think it could make them a bit more out of control and it might be difficult to refocus them. If I do decide to use movement, it will definitely be over my three week practicum.
If I had my own classroom, though, I would definitely give them breaks throughout the day - even just 30 second breaks to stretch or do brain gym. I know as a student, I really need the break!
I agree with Laura. I have not seen any movement in the lessons I have observed at the high school level. I do think the kids NEED it but it is hard to implement it in a way that doesn't seem childish or silly. I could see myself using a variation of many of the typical brain gym activities in my own classroom one day but I do not feel like it would go over well in my practicum classes as they do not do this very often and I am just there once a week. It may seem a little foolish and like a joke if I show up once a week and have them touch their nose and ears
then expect them to take me seriously just one day a week.
I tried the stand up-sit down strategy Gary Anaka talked about in my lesson last week. It was a first block class and it was the first activity I did. I felt that it worked really well as part of my hook and it got all the students engaged quickly. Compared to the week before, they did seem more alert and ready to do something.
My pod leader suggested trying a "brain break" for my students as they are grade nine social butterflies. After a period of quiet work time or just when the kids are seeming particularly antsy, give them a few minutes when they can get up, move around, and chat with their friends about their social lives. I think it will benefit the kids who think that socialization is more important than academics but it will be interesting to see how they come back to the academic work following the break. I will try this on Tuesday and see how it goes!
I really enjoy Gary Anaka and after seeing his presentation in third year I began incorporating movement activities into my practicums - both in third year and fourth year. Going into this high school placement I started thinking about how I could bring movement into my lessons without it coming across as cheesy and childish... My sponsor doesn't use any movement breaks that I have seen and I haven't attempted any myself for the same reasons Laura and Lindsay have stated above... I worry that my students will find it to be a bit of a joke and I worry about being able to regain control afterwards. It is hard when we are only there one day a week!
I find that with lots of my students they don't want to move. I sometimes give them options as to whether they want to stay where they are and have resources circulate to them or whether they want to move between different stations - they always unanimously choose to not have to move! Maybe I shouldn't give the choice? I'm not sure....
My younger brother is in grade 12 this year and at the beginning of my practicum I asked him if any of his teachers give the class movement breaks, what types of things they do and how he felt about it. He suggested one strategy that his social studies teacher uses occasionally at the start of class that he really enjoys...
Its called a snowball fight. The teacher crumples up pieces of paper and has the class spread out around the room. When he says "go" he dumps all of the paper balls onto the floor and the students are allowed to grab them and throw them at one another. My brother said that it gets everyone moving because they are running to both get the "snowballs" and escape being hit. The teacher has a whistle that he blows after a minute or two of this game and all students pick up the snowballs, put them back in the bucket and return to their desks.
I was a little bit intimidated by this strategy and think you would need to have a very strong relationship with your students if you were to regain control of them at the end of the game. I haven't been brave enough to try it yet but I am considering using it during my three-week practicum with a particularly rowdy group of students... I think I would build in a few more "safety" rules such as aiming from the shoulders down only and maybe give options to whether or not they want to participate. I think some students might find this terrifying! It definitely depends on the group of students and the relationship the teacher has formed with them.
Firstly, I agree with Lisa that yeah it will take a lot of time to regain the class compred to any other type of activity. I had 4 PE classes last semester and yeah between every transiton that involves students getting active and heart rates going it will take a little while to settle them back down to sitting, but man how fun would that be to do before a history class, where there probably is a lot of lecture.
Along with that there will always be more time taken out of a lesson when you add movement. But there are definetally benefits that are proven when you add these strategies.
i think its as easy as doing a stand and stretch or a shake out or something you don't necessarilly have them pat their head and rub their tummy's. But my grade 12english teacher taught us these and ya we thought he was crazy but it was fun and didn't rubbing your ears feel good (I didn't go to this presentation but have seen him twice so not sure if you did that strategy but its a gooder)
Hi Kelly,
None of my sponsor teachers use movement. Funny you should mention this too... I remember when we had Gary Anaka present in our first year of the education program. I remember him giving us the little lesson about getting students to wiggle their pencils in the air, and sit on their pencils to keep them occupied and alert prior to teaching the lesson. I used this technique with my grade 5 students in my first practicum. It worked like a charm. I also used stand up sit down, walk around, jump up, sit down (imagine doing a chair dance). My sponsor teacher loved the idea and began to use it in her own lessons. This year I have used this technique with a grade 9 leadership class. I told them they were started to look tired and not engaged; sure enough I had 20 students doing jumping jacks in the class with smiles on their faces. They thought it was hilarious, I thought it was genious because I knew I had their attention back for the duration of the lesson.
So my answer is yes, I think it is possible to include movement into my lessons at the high school level.
I am a fan of movement in the classroom but am hesitant to incorporate it into my lessons, especially in a high school setting. I am thinking this is because it's something that I haven't tried before am afraid the students will think I am cheesy if I ask them to do brain gym. I do, however, really like how Ashleigh directly told the students that hey, they look tired, and you need them to get moving to pay attention--brilliant!
My sponsors do not incorporate movement into their lessons. In the secondary school that I am at, the blocks are only an hour long and students have a 5 minute break inbetween classes to walk around and stretch their legs. That being said, you can definitely sense when students have been working diligently writing notes or listening attentively, and need a "mind break." Knowing your group of students, you can decide whether you want to incorporate movement subtly through stretching or boldly like chair dancing and snowball fights.
Either way, just find a way to get students moving!
In my first practicum (grade 6 at a middle school), I learned a game called "Silent Ball". In this game, the kids all sit on their desks and they throw the ball from person to person. If you miss the ball you sit down. It was usually played to end the day or the class. As a parting gift...and for my TOC "kit" , my sponsor gave me a fabulous ball to use with future classes.
Recently, I played it with my grade 6 practicum class (this year) to end a crazy class, and even dimmed the lights...but I haven't played it with my eights... I wonder what their reaction would be?
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