Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Get Up and Get Moving

Teachers can really be sticklers about keeping students in their seats at all time. From the time the time they arrive to the time they leave, we are asking them to stay seated and be quite. As we all know this can be very hard for a middle school child to do. Students come to school every day with high energy, and that energy is often discourage in classrooms. For me, I love the energy and encourage it....but this energy needs to be channeled. Our solution? Dancing....why not?

In class I demonstrated to my students the mirror dance. This dance involves two students and some good music. Student number one will be asked to repeat all of the dance moves performed by student number two. This goes on for about a minute then we switch. Below are a couple of videos of this practice in action.





In addition to this exercise we also add stretching and jumping to our science lessons to get our blood flowing and get our brains working before we start learning. As for the students, they love it. It gives them an opportunity to get out of their seat and they are much more alert afterward.

Mr. McClung

8 comments:

Jarrod Lamshed said...

This is great. I have an all boys year (grade) 5/6 class and movement is a big part of everyday. I agree that it is so important to harness the natural energy and need to move that kids have and use it to HELP learning. I think we can do a disservice to kids by forcing them to remain quiet and still in their seats all day. There are so many GREAT learning activities that involve movement.

Mr Lamshed

MissF said...

What a truely interesting idea. A activity that all students can enjoy and burn off a little energy is always a positive especially when it is fun. Your dancing showed some real talent, maybe you could choose 4-5 of the best moves created and make up a class dance. In room 10 we have a policy where if a student feels they need a quick run or walk around they can do so. They only need 5 mins and i agree it helps their levels of concentration throughout the day. How often do you dance?
Miss F

jkmcclung said...

This is actually a new practice for us but we will definitely be using it more often. This works wonderfully and it really increases student involvement.

Anonymous said...

Oh boy, do I wish I would have had you as a teacher, the hours of sitting with hands folded, no wonder restless leg/back/arms is so prevalent now, We Old people HAVE to "move-it, move-it".....great post

Wm Chamberlain said...

This explains why my walls were vibrating.

Nita said...

Your awesome!! what lucky students you have in your class.
My grandson was in a private school and had to be in one class all day even lunch at his desk. they didnt have a cafe or a gym.
He was so unhappy and had way too much energy.
he is now in public school and loves it!
I always said maybe someday he will meet that one special teacher that will change his attitude about
school. It hasnt happened yet, but I hope someday he will be in a classroom like yours.
maybe you can put your dancers on you tube someday
Nita
storiesbystregga.blogspot.com

The Trucker's Wife said...

I saw this yesterday and really enjoyed seeing Courtney have so much fun. She's told me about some of the activities that all of the classes have been doing and I have to admit that I'm a little jealous. We rarely did things like that when I was in school. Thank you all for taking the time to make learning fun for these kids!

Anonymous said...

your dancing was cool we like the new program mr mcclung our 6th grade behaveior probably going to get better
Jeff and Carlos O