Moving from brain breaks to brain energizers

If you are a teacher who thinks that last week's subject, "brain breaks," is something that you and your students simply don't have time for in a crowded curriculum, you might, instead, want to think about them as "brain energizers.”

Finland is frequently touted as one of the top educational systems in the world. Interestingly, though, according to author Tom Rath in Are You Fully Charged?, elementary students in Finland get a 15-minute break for every 45 minutes in class. An American teacher who moved to Finland in 2014 reported that he eventually started "to test the 45/15 model" and found that kids returned to class with a "renewed bounce in their step...more focused on learning throughout the day" (61-62).

Likewise, Rath reports that a software application called Desk Time that tracks employees time use found that the most productive 10 percent of their 36,000-employee user base were those who worked for about 52 minutes and then took a 17-minute break.  They worked "with intense purpose," but then took a walk or tuned out to recharge themselves (62).

And while no one in education would be naive enough to recommend 15-17 minute breaks once every hour J, you might want to consider trying a brain energizer at least once during your class.  After the brain energizer, do you see more student engagement? More interest? More focus?  If so, maybe after Memorial Day, you could add a second brain energizer to your class period.  If it works in Finland and for adult employees, the results should be equally good in your classroom!

Here are three brain energizers to get you started, all from Energizing Brain Breaks by David Sladke. You might  ask an energetic, charismatic student to be the leader for each brain energiizer.

Letter Spots:
1. Stand up and find a partner.
2. Take a second and think of a word that involves the letters A,B,C,D, and E. Don't say your word aloud.
3. Here are the spot values: right shoulder = A, right ear = B, nose = C, left ear = D, and left shoulder is E.
4. Without talking, the first person will make a word by touching a few of their own letter spots, and the second person will have to say each of the letters out loud, and then say the word.
5. Once the first person has given a word, switch and have the next person give a word.

Bizz-Buzz
1. Stand up  and get in a gorup of two, three, or four.
2. The goal is to count from 1-40 using the following rules: Say "Bizz" for every multiple of 5 or every number that has a 5 in it. Say "Buzz" for every multiple of 7 or every number that has a 7 in it. You will also need to say "Bizz-Buzz" when the number is a multiple of 5 and 7. (Example--first person says "1," next person says, "2," next person says, "3," then next says, "4," and next person must say "Bizz.").
3. Continue until you get to 40, following the rules above.

T Stretch
1. Stand up, and put your arms straight out at shoulder height like a T.
2. Keeping your arms straight, try to bend down to touch  your left hand to your right toe. Your right hand should be high in the air. Hold for a count of five, and return to standing.
3. Now bend and touch your right hand to your left toe for a five count. Repeat.  Be careful not to hit the person next to you when stretching.

Incorporating Brain Breaks

It’s spring, and the weather is stunning, and teachers are packing and the walls are bare…so, how do you maintain student engagement, motivation, and mood?

According to Judy Willis, MD, in “Using Brain Breaks Restore Students’ Focus,” “Brain breaks are planned learning activity shifts that mobilize different networks of the brain. These shifts allow those regions that are blocked by stress or high-intensity work to revitalize. Brain breaks, by switching activity to different brain networks, allow the resting pathways to restore their calm focus and foster optimal mood, attention, and memory.”  She adds that middle and high school students need 3-5 minutes of brain break following 20-30 minutes of focus.

So, what are some quick and easy brain breaks to build in to your lesson plans?

• Lead students in mindful breathing or meditation
• Read aloud to class a short passage from a relevant, engaging book or article or poem
• Have students do some stretches, or move to a different part of the room
• Lead them in singing a song relevant to content
• Create a classroom-appropriate limerick or poem together dealing with the content
•  Have students pretend to jump rope
• Ask students to share with their partners a personal connection to the learning
• Have a two-minute music break--even better if the music can connect to the content
• Have students toss a beach ball to the next person who is going to respond to a question
• Have students move, or act as if they were a biological process, a mathematical process, a social studies concept, a literary character, etc.
• Ask students to stand with a partner and perform an energizing brain break (example: Lap Tap: stand up, take right hand and tap a slow beat on left thigh, tap right foot  to the ground faster than the right-hand tap, then switch sides. Last, tap opposite thighs with hands and then tap both feet faster than hands).  This is from the book Energizing Brain Breaks by David Sladkey, which contains 49 additional energizing movements and challenging physical maneuvers. You might also ask your Health and Fitness teacher for movement ideas.

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What’s a Gamer Brain and How Can We Harness It in Class?

What’s a Gamer Brain and How Can We Harness It in Class?
Leverage your students’ favorite video and board games to unlock what engages them.
By Andrew Miller
February 7, 2017

In the past, I’ve written on ideas for gamification—using games in the classroom—but lately I’ve been reflecting on some of the bigger ideas that games open up in terms of pedagogy and the classroom experience. While we can use games as tools and perhaps build units that are gamified, we might also adopt some basic ideas from the experience of playing games.

 Here are four takeaways from games that we can instill in our classrooms.

1. Leverage the Gamer Brain
People like different kinds of games. You may love a game that your friends don’t like. This is only natural, as different games have different motivations, mechanics, and other design elements. However, these games access different parts of the “gamer brain,” a concept developed by Rob Beeson, a game marketer and producer. Perhaps you’re a Socializer who likes to talk and support other people while you game. People play World of Warcraft for this reason. Or maybe you’re an Achiever who enjoys the process of collecting objects and completing every available goal. Obviously, Pokémon—the card game and the mobile app—aligns well here. Games may leverage one or more gamer types in their design, and our lessons can too.

How can you use this in your classroom?
- Have students self-assess what type of gamer brain they might be.
- Have students discuss their favorite games to uncover how they like to engage in their gaming time.
- Playing games with students and have them reflect on why they like the games. Use that information as feedback for lesson and unit design.
- Create a lesson with different types of activities for different gamer types to pick from—perhaps a collection-based activity or a more social one, for example.

TPEP Criteria Connection: 3.3: Strategies that capitalize on learning needs of students; 3.4: Differentiated Instruction


2. Embrace Failure

This is not a new idea, but it’s still an important one. Games can be played over and over, and we can fail and make mistakes and try again. Can you imagine what it would be like to play a game like Super Mario Brothers and only have one shot to get it right? Crazy! Unfortunately, much of the school system and our classroom structures are set up that way. While it is challenging, we need to find ways to allow students to redo work and try again. Games give the just-in-time feedback that shows us what we need to do better, and we teachers can do the same to make failure simply part of the process, not an end. Watch Edutopia’s “5-Minute Film Festival: Freedom to Fail Forward” for more inspiration.

How can you use this in your classroom?- Assess your grading practices to ensure they allow for multiple tries and redos.
- Don’t grade practice—grade students at their best.
- Embed reflection throughout your lessons to help students learn from their failures and mistakes.
- Share famous failures and inspirational quotes to help reframe failure into a more positive experience.

TPEP Criteria Connection: 2.2: Expectation, support and opportunity for participation and meaning making; 5.3: Use of learning time; 6.2: Demonstration of Learning; 

3. Celebrate Epic Wins
Have you played a game and had a moment when you won and were so excited that you blurted out “Yes!” in celebration? That’s the epic win or “fiero,” as Jane McGonigal explains in her book Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World: “Fiero is what we feel after we triumph over adversity. You know it when you feel it—and when you see it. That’s because we almost all express fiero in exactly the same way: We throw our arms over our head and yell.” To me, this means that learning should be challenging, but appropriately so. We should create challenging learning experiences so that students are given enough support to triumph and feel the epic win. We should also celebrate ourselves and each other when we get those wins in the classroom.

How can you use this in your classroom?
- Have students celebrate everyday wins regularly as a discussion or journal activity.
- Record reactions of students being successful and share them with the class.
- Share your successes and wins as a teacher with your colleagues.

TPEP Criteria Connections: 3.1: Teaching point(s) are based on students' learning needs; 3.2: Ownership of Learning

4. Foster Voluntary Learning
We don’t—or at least we shouldn’t—play games because we have to. We do it because we choose to. When we pick up a controller or a chess piece, we’re volunteering into that experience. Games would not be as powerful if we had to play. We can stop when we want, which creates a feeling of safety. When we step into a game, we accept “the goals, the rules, and the feedback” of the game. This is probably the hardest aspect of games to instill in education. Students are required to go to school, and what they learn is mandated. However, we can do our best to create invitations to learn and to create spaces where students volunteer to learn.

How can you use this in your classroom?- Focus on engaging strategies like project-based learning to open the door to learning, instead of forcing students through it.
-- Provide as much choice as possible for students, from grouping to product and topics.
- Give a student a pass if they don’t want to engage, and seek to understand why that is. Then follow up and invite them back to the task.
- Ask students what they want to learn about, and do your best to leverage this in lesson and unit design.

TPEP Criteria Connection: 2.5: Gradual release of responsibility; 3.2: Ownership of learning.

Five More Strategies from "17 Ways to Combat Learned Helplessness in the Classroom" By Sarah Tantillo
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Tantillo says:

13. Assigned reading should always have a purpose
IF: You assign reading with students without establishing a purpose for reading…

THEN: Students don’t know what they are supposed to look for or pay attention to. The default is NOTHING. So you can’t blame them if they stare out the window and think about lunch.

SO DO THIS INSTEAD: Clarify why you are reading this particular bit of text and what they are supposed to do while reading. Either provide a question or ask them to generate their own questions about the text.

Bridget and Brooke say:

• Having one or a series of "focus questions" for kids to read for can benefit their understanding of the text and can provoke great discussion--especially if  the reading offers different perspectives. 
• Providing a note-taking template or organizer can also help kids focus on what you intend them to read and comprehend. 
• TPEP Criteria Connection:  4.3: Discipline-specific conceptual understanding

Tantillo says:

14. Define the reading partnership

IF: You tell students to “read and work with a partner”…

THEN: You will see a lot of chatting and no reading. This is because students are unclear about their roles, so they wait for each other to take the lead, with the result that neither does. It’s easier to chat.

SO DO THIS INSTEAD: Clarify the role that each partner will play in the work: e.g., “Partner A will read aloud while Partner B will raise and record questions about this page. On the next page, you will switch roles. Partner B will read, and Partner A will surface the questions and write them down.” Choose the partners ahead of time so that you are purposeful in the groups with respect to ability/personality, etc.

Bridget and Brooke say:

• The A/B partner is a GREAT idea for any subject area. 
• This also helps students who are English language learners, who are still navigating the language, work with  a partner to hear the words and help them with their comprehension.
• TPEP Criteria Connection: 4.2: Alignment of instructional materials and tasks.

Tantillo says:

15. Don’t overdo the partnership work strategy
IF: You do ALL the work as a group or in partners…

THEN: Students learn they don’t need to do the hard work since it’s always done together and for them by others if they choose not to.

SO DO THIS INSTEAD: Plan and keep independent work time sacred in class with aggressive monitoring and personal feedback.

Bridget and Brooke say:

• This reminds us of the idea of gradual release. Starting with partners is a great idea, especially in the beginning phases of new learning. However, as kids start to get the hang of things then that would be a great time to allow them to work independently.
• TPEP Criteria Connection:  2.4: Scaffolds the task; 2.5: Gradual release of responsibility; 4.2: Alignment of instructional materials and tasks

Tantillo says:

16. Stop sweeping in to save the day
IF: You answer student questions immediately during independent work time…

THEN: Students learn not to try or struggle on their own. They’ll always wait for you to swoop in!

SO DO THIS INSTEAD: Set a timer as soon as 100% of students are actually working and you have announced that you will address questions after 5 minutes of sustained work time. When the timer goes off, you can say, “Raise your hand if you need my attention,” and write student names on the board. Students then return to work and you address questions in the order of the names on the board so students aren’t sitting there waiting with their hands up.

Bridget and Brooke say: 

• It's so easy to fall into the habit of answering kids' questions right as they raise their hand. We find that allowing some kids to conduct in some struggle can be a good thing! This allows kids to try and fail in a safe environment where they know they can eventually get some help from their teacher. 
• The strategy "3 Before Me" can also apply in this situation. Students must ask three peers for support before they can ask the teacher for help. Students can make great resources for each other. 
• TPEP Criteria Connection: 2.5: Gradual release of responsibility; 3.3: Strategies that capitalize on learning needs of students

Tantillo says:

17. Always encourage wonder
IF: You ask all the questions…

THEN: Students never learn to ask their own or invest themselves enough to wonder.

SO DO THIS INSTEAD: Create time for asking and answering questions about the text, problem, or content at hand. Invest students in seeking their own answers. Keep the wonder alive!

Bridget and Brooke say:

• One strategy we've seen put in place is a class "Parking Lot." Kids put their questions about the day's lesson on a sticky note and place it on a big chart paper where the teacher can read it during class or after to be answered the next day. 
• No chart paper? We've used our windows to post questions from students, too! White board markers work well on windows. 
• A fun strategy called "Snowball" is another way for kids to ask questions. Kids write a question on a piece of paper, ball it up like a snowball and throw it into the middle of the room. Kids then pick up a paper and take turns reading the questions aloud for either other students to answer or for the teacher to answer. This also keeps things anonymous so kids might be afraid to ask in front of the class has the opportunity to do so.  
• TPEP Criteria Connection:  2.1: Quality of questioning; 3.3: Strategies that capitalize on the learning needs of the students. 

Waiting Strategies to Meet Student Needs

For many, the holiday season is packed so full of things that we have to do and things that we want to do that the stress can be overwhelming. Throw in lessons to plan, papers to grade, restless students (all the way through December 22--eek!), staff parties and holidayevents, and, suddenly, we wonder if we can even survive.  Perhaps what we need most is to settle back, take a deep breath, and practice waiting.

In “Waiting is the Hardest (and Best) Part,” Neil Finney reminds us that our students often   learn even more when we wait, rather than act immediately. Read his full blog here 

(https://www.edutopia.org/blog/waiting-hardest-and-best-part-neil-finney).  

Enhancing Learning Through Movement

To keep your students engaged despite the excitement of the holidays AND to help them learn more efficiently and retain learning longer, consider adding some movement to your classroom.

Why should you add movement?  

• ·         A much-referenced study from 1976 showed that students can focus on a teacher lecturing for 10-18 minutes before their mind wanders. Note: this was before computers, phones, headphones, DVDs, video games, etc., etc., etc.).
• ·         In a nutshell, movement and exercise facilitate learning.
• ·          Do you want a more scientific reason? John J. Ratey, MD, author of Spark, The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, says that exercise “[first] optimizes your mind-set to improve alertness, attention, and motivation; second, it prepares and encourages nerve cells to bind to one another, which is the cellular basis for logging in new information; and, third, it spurs the development of new nerve cells from stem cells in the hippocampus.”

What are some easy ways to integrate movement into your lesson?

• ·         In a math or science class, have students use their bodies to measure things around the room and report the results. Example: “This diagram is five pinkies long.”
• ·         Play Simon Says game with content you have just covered: “Simon says point to the square root. Simon says point to five things in this room that are the color ‘rojo.’” “Simon says to point toward a word that could be used as a metaphor.”
• ·         Model a move-around system using memory cue words. For example, “Move to the place in the room where we first learned about the life cycle of. . .”
• ·         Use a ball toss for a review.
•          Have students do arm and leg crossover activities that can force both of their brain hemispheres to “talk” to each other better. “Pat your head and rub your belly” is an example of a crossover activity. Other examples include marching in place while patting opposite knees, patting yourself on the opposite shoulder, and touching opposite elbows or heels. Even better, have them recite or review new learning while patting and rubbing.

(The above were adapted from  http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104013/chapters/Movement-and-Learning.aspx, taken from Teaching with the Brain in Mind, 2nd Edition by Eric Jensen, Chapter 4. Movement and Learning) 

•  Chalk Talks or Graffiti Wall, in which students read their peers' ideas and add their own
•  Gallery Walks, in which students walk around the room, reading texts or graphic organizers posted on the wall, and adding their own ideas, either on the poster or in their notes
• Musical Mingle—ask students to stand. When music starts, they should find  a partner and answer a designated question.  When the music stops, they must find a new partner, share their answers, and answer a new question.

(The above were adapted from http://kennycmckee.com/five-movement-strategies-in-the-high-school-classroom/)

•  Move small groups of students around the room to the white board or poster paper.  Give a problem or a question, and have them record a response.  They step back, and then others examine their responses.
•  Ask students to pair up and walk around the building or down the hall while reviewing specific content. Tell them that you will cold-call on students to share when the return.
•  Ask students to create a tableau, a living image representing a concept. They form this with their bodies, as in a small group depicting the life cycle of a plant

More Resources

    

•       Go to http://kennycmckee.com/five-more-strategies-to-get-students-moving/
•          Get a copy of Energizing Brain Breaks by David Sladkey
•       Your Health and Fitness teachers