Brain Break Strategies for the Classroom

Jul 2, 2022 | Uncategorized

Brain Break Strategies for the Classroom

Teachers learn quickly that it’s best to have an activity or game in their back pocket for those spare five minutes between lessons or as a means of shamelessly bargaining with students for ten more minutes of focus. But as more and more research into the benefits of brain breaks emerges, these ‘games’ have begun to be viewed in a different light. So what are brain breaks?

Brain breaks are short, planned activities within lessons that allow the restoration of neurotransmitters and the engagement of different regions in the brain. When students struggle to concentrate, become bored, or are disruptive, brain breaks can allow students to refocus, continue learning, and retain this learning.

As every teacher will know, the beginning of lessons are often the most productive where students are fully engaged and more likely to retain new information or skills. However, as the lesson progresses this focus can begin to decline. Students suddenly need the restroom more frequently or pencils that need sharpening unexpectedly emerge. There will be students who silently zone out becoming statuesque while others will have the sudden urge to regale you with their cheese sandwich from lunch. Whatever the reason, the one thing you know for sure is that the lesson has most definitely come to an end.

As a new teacher, my first instinct was often to plow on, come what may, even though those dreaded double-period blocks with no end in sight. With a curriculum already feeling impossible to cover, who had time for brain breaks!

With experience came the understanding that pushing through when students were evidently no longer engaged was essentially a waste of time and frustrating for both students and myself. Brain breaks are now an essential strategy that I employ whenever needed that have significantly improved student engagement and learning.

Brain Break Strategies

Sooner rather than later
I have found it far more effective to employ brain breaks preemptively rather than waiting too long and watching the classroom descend into chaos. How long into the lesson before you use a brain break will depend on the age of the students and the task. Lessons that require greater focus than usual or where students are sitting still working independently may require a brain break sooner compared to other lessons.
Know your students
When creating your repertoire of brain break activities, knowing your students is key. For example, I would have had greater success sprouting pink polka dot wings than getting my previous Grade 5 students to dance. They were however an athletic bunch so plank challenges and paired stretching activities were far more effective! If your class is overly excitable then certain games may be too stimulating, making it harder to get students back on task. Having a good understanding of your class’s strengths and likes will make the use of brain breaks more effective and time-efficient.

How long should brain breaks last?
The length of a brain break will depend on your students and their needs. Start with five to ten minutes and then adjust based on how your students respond and how much time you have within the lesson. When brain breaks are first introduced they can often take longer than expected as students will be learning a new routine and how to transition between brain breaks and the lesson. However, I have found these transitions become more efficient with practice with students also gaining more independence.

Introducing brain breaks for the first time
I have found that explaining the purpose of brain breaks to students and discussing how they can be helpful in terms of their learning to be an important step. It is also best to introduce one activity at a time and ensure that students understand how it should be run before introducing a new one. Setting clear boundaries and practicing how to transition to the activity and back to the task will be time well spent and something your future self will thank you for!

Self-regulation
Brain breaks can range from independent activities to whole-class games. Once a set of independent and small group activities have been introduced, students can begin to self-regulate themselves and learn to recognize when they need a break. While the aim is not for students to give themselves an hour-long juice box break, you do want them to begin recognizing when they need a break and be able to manage this themselves. Setting parameters around how many brain breaks they can take, which ones they can use and how to use timers can be helpful. Again, this will take additional time to set up but is well worth the effort!

Brain Break Ideas

There are a variety of brain break activities that can be used to suit the needs of your students and the time available. Physical movement, changing the type of mental activity, or simply moving to another part of the room can all serve as effective brain breaks.

Independent Brain Breaks

Stretching or Yoga poses
Have some display sized cards of yoga moves or stretches that students can access and complete themselves

Mindful coloring
Having a mindful coloring pack that students can go to is a quick and easy activity to re-center students

Reading
Reading is another quick and calming activity and doing so in a different part of the room can be even more effective

Handwriting or touch-typing practice
Websites such as Typing.com can be used to practice touch typing if students have access to a laptop or iPad with a keyboard

Whole Class or Small Group Brain Breaks

Wink, Wink, Sleep
Everyone stands in a circle. Choose one student to be the detective and wait outside. Select another student to be the one who puts the others to ‘sleep’. This student will wink at the others without the detective seeing. Invite the detective back in and ask them to stand in the middle of the circle. The student selected to put the others to sleep will discreetly wink at them one by one. When a student is winked at, they must fall to the ground and pretend to be asleep. The objective is to put as many children to sleep as possible before the detective works who is doing the winking! This is a quick and fun game that works well for older and younger students.

Rhythm Maker
Begin by asking the students to sit in a circle. One student is chosen to be the detective and is sent outside while another student is chosen to be the rhythm maker. Their job is to create a rhythm by clapping their hands and tapping their knees. As this student changes the rhythm or pattern the other students must copy this. The detective then comes back into the room and must work out who the rhythm maker is!

Silent Ball
You will need a medium-sized softball such as a foam ball or beach ball. Ask the students to spread out in the available space. The player selected to start passes the ball to another student. Students are out and must sit down if they;
– Drop the ball
– They talk or make a sound
– They make a bad throw
– Pass the ball back and forth between the same 2 or 3 players
– Take longer than 3 seconds to throw (This time can be increased for younger players)

Continue until one player remains standing. There are many variations to this game such as decreasing the passing time, banning overhead throws, using a smaller ball, and having one hand behind their backs. This is a great brain break activity as it is quick, requires few resources, and includes physical movement, change of mental activity, and change of location.

Silent Line Up!
Ask students to line up silently based on different criteria;
– Line up from youngest to oldest
– Line up by height
– Line up by hair length
– Line by alphabetically
Dancing
Freestyle dancing is always a fun option but if this is too intimidating for your students then guided dances are a great option. Go Noodle is a fun resource for and has a range of options.
Paired Yoga
Similar to the individual stretching or yoga poses, cards can also be made to allow students to stretch in pairs.

Key Takeaways

Brain breaks are short, planned activities that allow the restoration of neurotransmitters and the engagement of different regions in the brain
Physical movement, changing the type of mental activity, or simply moving to another part of the room can all serve as effective brain breaks
Brain breaks can be used when you notice students are struggling to concentrate or becoming distracted
Implement brain breaks before students become too distracted
Create a repertoire of brain break activities based on your student’s strengths and interests
Brain breaks can last between 5 and 10 minutes
Introduce activities one at a time to ensure students can use them efficiently to reduce
transition times
Encourage students to self-regulate and learn to recognize how to take brain breaks independently

Supporting Students’ Working Memory in the Classroom

Feb 13, 2022 | Uncategorized

Supporting Students’ Working Memory in the Classroom

Most people are familiar with the terms short-term and long-term memory but our memory is a complex system and having a better understanding of how it works can be crucial for supporting students in the classroom.

Our long-term memory stores information about important facts, skills, or events in our lives, for example, remembering our pin number, wedding day, or skills such as riding a bike. Our short-term memory is like a mental notepad where we can store information but only for a few seconds. A person’s working memory allows them to use or manipulate the information in their short-term memory to achieve a particular purpose. For example, solving mental calculations.

Our working memories are a key part of functioning in everyday life but it’s especially important for students. Everyone has a different working memory capacity, with some having more than others. However, there are strategies that we can employ in the classroom to support students with a reduced working memory capacity. The first step is recognizing if students have an issue with their working memory. Here are some signs that can help identify students.

6 signs a student has a reduced working memory capacity

Tasks take longer
If a student has a reduced working memory, they may take longer to generally complete tasks. These students can often find remembering more than a couple of steps at a time challenging and as a result, may take longer than others to complete an activity.

Unfinished tasks
One consequence of taking longer to complete tasks can mean students often just don’t complete work within the time. You may notice that these students have multiple pieces of work that remain unfinished across all subjects.

Spelling errors
You may notice that these students often misspell words, even when copying words off the board or from a text in front of them. They may repeatedly look at the board or text but will still make errors when spelling the word. They may even have trouble copying simple information like the date.

Verbal instructions
You may think you have given a few simple instructions, such as “put your book on the back table, get a pencil and come to the mat” but a student struggling with their working memory may only remember one of these steps. They can often seem confused and unsure of what to do next as they are unable to remember all the steps, let alone the sequence.

Mental math
Mental calculations in particular rely on your working memory so for these students math can be especially stressful. Solving a simple calculation mentally requires carrying out the calculation, then holding the answer in your short-term memory, before completing the final step of the calculation. For example, to carry out 23 + 13, the student would have to add the tens, hold the answer in their short-term memory while they add the ones and then add the two answers together. Even simple calculations like this can be challenging so you can see how multi-step math problems could be daunting for students who have a reduced working memory capacity.

Keeping place
Issues with working memory can also cause students to lose their place when reading or writing. Losing their place when reading, in particular, can mean that students not only take longer to read texts but can then struggle to comprehend what they have read. This in turn can make it harder for students to enjoy reading as the plot can often seem confusing.

This is not an exhaustive list and there may be other signs that a student has a reduced working memory capacity, however, once these students have been identified, there are several strategies that can be put into place to support them.

Strategies to support students with a reduced working memory capacity

Repetition, repetition, repetition!
Repetition is an important and often underutilized strategy. Repeating the same information in multiple ways can help students remember and recall more of it. This can include repeating key pieces of information at the beginning of lessons as well as throughout the lesson to ensure students know what to do and have all the information they need to succeed.

Delivery
The way we relay instructions or information can be just as important. Make a point to speak slowly and clearly and check that you have the student’s full attention. Finding a quiet place to give and review instructions can ensure that students are not distracted and can help them retain more of the information.

Written, audio and visual instructions
Writing down instructions or key information for students with working memory issues can be invaluable. Students are then free to refer to this as often as they need to without feeling embarrassed or needing to ask for additional help. This can not only reduce their anxiety but will also make it more likely that they complete the task in the given timeframe. Using technology to create audio instructions can also be useful as well as using visual aids for younger students.

Active recall
Active recall is a great strategy to help engage students and ensure they have understood the information. Break down the instructions or information into 2 to 4 steps. Then ask students to recall these steps in their own words. This strategy will also help you identify what information students have missed and allow you to fill these gaps before they begin.

Pre-teaching
Introducing new vocabulary before a lesson begins can help reduce the load of new information on students’ working memories and allow them to focus more of their attention on the task. It can also help students’ confidence going into the lesson and provide some context, especially if it’s a new unit of study.

Chunking instructions
Rather than giving students all the information at once, chunking it into smaller steps can reduce the burden on their working memories. Information or instructions can be organized into phases and then given to students as they complete each phase. Each student will have a different working memory capacity so having a good understanding of your student’s limits will be helpful when implementing this strategy and deciding how many steps to include in each phase.

Recognizing the signs of students with a reduced working memory capacity is crucial as, without this understanding, they can often be labeled as “lazy” or “disengaged”. By implementing these strategies, you don’t need to change the outcome of the lesson or adjust the expectations for these students. These modifications will allow students with a reduced working memory capacity to access the lesson and be just as successful as their peers.

Key Takeaway

Everyone has a different working memory capacity
There are strategies that can be used to support students with a reduced working memory
Repetition is vital when learning a new skill
Ensure new skills are taught slowly and clearly and with few distractions
Provide information using different senses
Pre-teach key vocabulary
Provide information in chunks
Use active recall strategies such as encouraging students to repeat key information in their own words

Effective Strategies to Develop a Growth Mindset in Students

Jan 3, 2022 | Uncategorized

Effective Strategies to Develop a Growth Mindset in Students

What is a Growth Mindset?

Carol Dweck’s growth mindset theory refers to people’s attitudes and beliefs around intelligence and how this can influence their learning behaviours. Dweck found that those with a growth mindset believed intelligence could be developed and as a result, tended to embrace challenges, try harder and generally persevere more.

In contrast, those with a fixed mindset believed that intelligence is something you are born with and cannot be changed. This led to students avoiding tasks they thought to be too challenging or giving up at the first sign of difficulty.

There are several ways to cultivate a growth mindset in students. Effective strategies include learning about the brain, embracing mistakes, valuing feedback, seeking out challenges, self-talk, focusing on the learning process and not worrying about what other people think.

So what does this look like in the classroom? As a teacher, I have found the following strategies to be the most effective in not only developing a growth mindset in students but changing a fixed mindset.

Learn about brain plasticity

According to Robinson (2017), exploring different parts of the brain with students and helping them understand the concept of Neuroplasticity is key to developing a growth mindset. When students understand the function of different parts of the brain and how neural connections are created through learning, it can empower students and help them understand the impact practice can have when learning a new skill.

There are several ways students can explore the brain. This video is useful for introducing the concept of neuroplasticity in simple terms that will be easily accessible for students.

The Open College website also has an interactive 3-D brain map that students can explore to learn about the different parts of the brain and their functions.

Embrace mistakes!

As students get older, they can conflate the idea of success with perfection. When students fall into the trap of wanting to answer every question correctly or complete every assignment with a perfect grade, they can become reluctant to take on challenges for fear of failing.

One way to tackle the perfection trap is to embrace and normalize mistakes. Explicitly discussing the idea that mistakes can help us learn and that they’re a sign that we took on a challenge can help students attempt more demanding tasks. Making mistakes should be normalized and openly discussed as learning opportunities.

As a teacher, sharing my own mistakes is a powerful way to model this message. Exploring the mistakes and failures of famous people can also be a useful strategy. Thinking about how they faced obstacles and persevered can effectively demonstrate the impact of a growth mindset.

Valuing feedback

Feedback is a crucial part of learning whether it be a coach giving feedback on the football pitch or feedback about a writing assignment. Students with a growth mindset don’t view feedback as criticism but recognize that the more feedback you receive, the more progress you can potentially make.

I have found the acceptance of feedback to be something students struggle with most. Teachers can give thoughtful and insightful feedback but if the student doesn’t accept it, it’s likely to have little impact on their learning. As with normalizing mistakes, explicitly discussing the value of feedback and doing this regularly is key to helping students develop a growth mindset. When students take on feedback and make improvements to their work, take the time to celebrate this and help them recognize how the feedback positively impacted their learning.

When students fully realize the value of feedback, they will actively seek it out and learn to ask for advice and help independently.

Focus on the process

When attempting to cultivate a growth mindset, Dweck emphasizes the importance of valuing the process rather than the result. Rather than praising a student for getting all the answers in a test correct, she suggests focusing on how well the student persevered or the strategies they successfully used. Dweck also recommends having discussions with students about tests and helping them understand that tests do not measure a students intelligence or their potential but is rather a snapshot of their understanding at that moment.

I have found this strategy to be particularly useful in my own classroom. Following a test or assignment, I will sit with a student and work with them to identify any misconceptions they have and to evaluate the success of particular strategies they used. Such conversations shift the focus to the process and their level of effort rather than the number of correct answers. By shifting the focus to the process, students feel empowered as they understand what they need to do next time to succeed.

Students with a growth mindset also tend to feel less anxious about tests as they understand that one test does not define their intelligence or what they are capable of.

Seeking challenges

A key indicator of a student with a growth mindset is how they respond to challenges. Those with a growth mindset understand that to continue learning they need to be challenged. They tend not to get overwhelmed or discouraged when they feel stuck or are unsure of how to proceed. Furthermore, they will often choose tasks that are challenging for them and enjoy being pushed.

One way to help students embrace challenges is to provide them with options and allow them to select the level of difficulty. By providing students with a selection of tasks and making it clear which ones are more demanding, students can begin to challenge themselves at their own pace. Using a star or chilli rating system allows students to appropriately select tasks. I can see when a student is beginning to develop a growth mindset because they start attempting tasks that they would not have at the beginning of the year.

Self-talk

A key difference between a student with a growth mindset and a student with a fixed mindset is how they talk to themselves when faced with a challenge. Students with a fixed mindset will often feel defeated and assume the reason they are struggling is because they are not smart enough. In contrast, those with a growth mindset focus on what they can do to overcome the hurdle. Here are some questions that students can be encouraged to use when they come across a challenging task;

Which part do I not understand?
What tools can I use to help me?
What question can I ask to help me understand this better?
What strategies have we already learned that I can use here?
What does this remind me of that I have already done?
What strategies have other students used?

Having these questions displayed and asking students to add to the list throughout the year is a great way to encourage students to try and help themselves. They may not always be successful but the goal is to help students understand that when they face a challenge they should be proactive in trying to find a solution. The first thought of a student with a growth mindset when feeling stuck is more likely to be what can I do to overcome this problem? rather than, I can’t do this.

Worrying about what others think

Just as with the perfection trap, it becomes obvious that as students get older they become increasingly self-conscious and reluctant to ask questions in front of their peers. Not wanting to appear unintelligent often results in students not asking questions that could resolve a misconception or clarify an instruction. I have found that students who care less about what their peers think tend to approach new tasks with greater enthusiasm, engage in more conversations about their learning, ask more questions when something is unclear and pay less attention to what those around them are doing.

A key component of developing a growth mindset is recognizing that it takes time and that these strategies will have to be discussed explicitly and regularly. Simply introducing these concepts once is likely to have little long-term impact.

Furthermore, it is worth considering what implicit messages we as educators are sending around what it means to be successful, the value of test scores, and what we praise students for. Developing a growth mindset not only takes time but requires continuous effort.

Key Takeaways

Those with a growth mindset believe intelligence can be developed and as a result, embrace challenges, try harder, and generally persevere more.
Those with a fixed mindset believed that intelligence is something you are born with and cannot be changed.
Teaching students about neuroplasticity can help them understand the value of effort and practice.
Embrace and normalize mistakes.
Encourage students to value feedback.
Allow students to select the level of difficulty for tasks and encourage them to take on challenges.
Empower students to be proactive when faced with a challenge; what can I do to overcome this problem?
Encourage students to ask questions and worry less about how they are perceived by their peers.

References

ROBINSON, CHESKA. “Growth Mindset in the Classroom.” Science Scope, vol. 41, no. 2, National Science Teachers Association, 2017, pp. 18–21, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26387192.

“MINDSETS: HOW TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS (AND YOURSELF).” Educational Horizons, vol. 91, no. 2, [Sage Publications, Ltd., Phi Delta Kappa International], 2012, pp. 16–21, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42927161.

How do you Build a Classroom Community when Teaching Online?

Jan 3, 2022 | Uncategorized

How do you Build a Classroom Community when Teaching Online?

The start of the school year can be an exciting time, filled with many emotions for both students and teachers. These first few days and weeks can be crucial in helping students adjust and feel settled so they are ready to learn. For this reason, creating opportunities for students to get to know each other and build a sense of community is often a priority.

But how can this be achieved in the same way when starting the school year online? While there are many natural opportunities during the school day for students to interact, many of these are not possible when teaching virtually. We can often underestimate the impact recess and other unstructured periods of the day can have on student’s ability to bond and build relationships. With periods of online learning become more likely, it is worth considering how traditional lessons and methods can be adapted for online learning.

The value of names

Recognising the importance of our names and taking the time to learn other people’s names can be an important part of building trust and feeling valued. For students of different nationalities, their names can often be unfamiliar to other students which can be a source of anxiety. Taking the time to learn each other’s names and the correct pronunciation can go a long way in building a sense of community.

Your Name is Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow is a great book to introduce the importance of names. In this story, the young girl is frustrated that her teachers and classmates struggle to pronounce her name. Her mother encourages her to understand names as songs which helps her teacher and classmates to be able to pronounce her name.

Your Name is Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow

Begin the lesson by reading the story. Encourage students to empathise with the character and share their own experiences with names. If this is one of the first lessons taught, students can then share their names with the class, encouraging classmates to pay attention to the pronunciation. For the main part of the activity, students will create name cards and add drawings and colours that represent different parts of their identity. Students can draw these on paper or use any number of drawing apps like Paper. Once students have created their name cards they can share them with each other by taking a photo and uploading it to a Google slide or Padlet.

Guess the student!

This is a fun way for students to learn more about each other and to see what interests they have in common.

Create a Google form asking students to list up to three interesting or unique facts about themselves. Give students examples, such as the number of siblings they have, countries they have lived in, or unusual things they like. Students will need to think of at least one fact to be able to play. Once students have complete the Google form, use this information to create a quiz. There are a number of online tools you can use to make a quiz. Kahoot is one of my favourites!

The simplest way to create the quiz is to have student names as the answers. For example, ‘Who has live in Tanzania?’ Then list 4 students as the answers. I also like to add photos of students under their names to help them recognise each other and learn their names.

This activity not only helps students relax and feel more comfortable but it also helps them make connections with other students, discovering similar hobbies or interests.

Heart maps

Heart maps provide another opportunity for students to learn more about each other and create connections. For this activity, students draw clues about themselves to help others learn more about them. For example, a character from their favourite book, the flag of a country they have lived in, or an artifact that represents their culture.

I like to begin this lesson by sharing my heart map with students. This provides a model for those students who need it and can also help students learn more about me. Encourage students to think about how they can include clues that may be less obvious. For example, rather than drawing their favourite food, they could draw the flag of the country the dish originates from. Less obvious clues will provide students with discussion points and encourage them to ask questions when they share their heart maps.

Students can draw their heart maps on paper and then take a photo to share with the class or use a drawing app like Paper. Once they have finished, each student can share their heart map with the class so other students can guess what the drawings represent or mean. They can be shared on a Google slide or Padlet.

Heart Map to help students express their identity through drawing.

Classroom agreements

Classroom agreements or rules are often created at the beginning of the school year to set clear expectations. Online learning is no different and creating your own essential agreements can not only help students adjust to this new learning environment faster but can also provide an insight into student’s values when it comes to learning and working with others.

Place students into groups and ask them to rank these agreements from most important to least. Ranking these agreements will encourage students to articulate what they think is important and reveal their values around learning. For example, some students may value and rank behaviours such as being on time or raising their hand as more important while other students may value learning behaviours such as perseverance more. This activity can provide the basis for conversations around what should and should not be included in your own classroom agreement.

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