A More Active Classroom

http://blog.uwgb.edu/alumni/files/2010/04/00012-UWGB-students-in-classroom-ca.1969-1970.jpg

One of the things that always bothered me as a student was sitting in my seat.  I wanted to get up, move around.  Was the student that drove you crazy because my leg couldn't stop bouncing up and down, or I couldn't help but click my pen about a million times because I had to have at least my thumb move.  The list of excuses I would come up with just to move around the classroom was extraordinary.  I needed to sharpen my pencil, get a tissue, get a book from my locker, I would even rough through assignments just so I could get up and hand it in.

As our students come back from a long winter break, I thinks about education today I wonder how much movement we allow our students to have.  My guess is an elementary classroom there is some movement activities throughout the day.  We all understand those little guys can't sit still for too long.  But how much of the movement those students are doing is centered around a lesson?  As students enter middle school and high school they move between classes, but the movement in class decreases greatly.  Once students arrive in college the movement all but stops.

I can only remember 1 entire lesson that was taught to me in college and that was by a professor who took us outside and taught us how to play an educational game.  It was amazing, I used it in my classroom as a teacher, and still remember it today.  If he had passed out notes on the game, or put it in a PowerPoint I still would have received the information, but he would not have 'taught' me the game.

I am not saying we need have students move for the sake of moving, nor am I saying that lecturing is never appropriate.  Teachers still need to talk with a class and provide direction and instructions in that manner, but the research shows it should be in short bursts.

The question then becomes --> What do we have the students do to learn and move about the classroom at the same time?  Here are a few ideas I have borrowed form Kagen and The Teaching Channel:

• Pump in Some Tunes
• Have students wait outside of class before they come in and turn on the music.  Then give them all a review of yesterday's lesson something that will take 5 minutes to do independently.  When they enter the room they need to have all the answers filled in by other classmates, no classmate is allowed to answer a question more than once on a student's paper.  Students will be walking, hopefully dancing, around the room answering each-other's questions.  Once a student has finished stop the music all students return to their seats and go over the answers.   Students are much more energized to start the class.
• Scavenger Hunt
• The room has eight to twelve cards (with answers on the outside and questions on the inside) scattered around the room. As soon as students enter the room they move to a card of their choosing, solve a problem, and then look for the answer on the outside of another card. The students must work with a partner and write down all their math work. The first team to finish all problems correctly, and show their work properly, wins.  Students will hopefully be motivated to show up to class on time.
• Rally Coach
• The teacher partners up students with only one pencil for the two of them.  The 'player' sits and answers the question or solves the problem while the 'coach' stands behind him to watch and encourage him.  The 'player' must talk his way through the entire problem, his thought process etc.  If he does not the 'coach' takes the pencil away and asks for clarification.  After the 'player' has answered the question the 'coach' checks to see if it is correct and the two engage in a ridiculous handshakes or touchdown dance.  Students then switch roles.  

These are three of my favorite ways to have students move around the classroom, while learning a great deal.  I would love to hear what ideas or resources others have to increase student movement in a classroom, and let's get students moving this year.