The Active Classroom Field Book

Success Stories From the Active Classroom

Ron Nash

• Publisher: Corwin
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781452271651
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Metodi di insegnamento

Discover what really works in the classroom through success stories from educators like you!

Expanding on the strategies in The Active Classroom, best-selling author and educational consultant Ron Nash shares the stories of teachers who have successfully implemented active teaching methods in their classrooms to engage students in learning. Ideal as a companion to the original book or as a standalone resource, this field book includes:

• Chapters on student-to-student conversations, classroom process, student movement, feedback, and continuous improvement through reflection
• Vignettes that set the stage for each chapter
• Lesson plan segments and anecdotes from teachers in Grades K–12 and college settings

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1

Squeeze Play

Donnie was too quick, and I had strayed too far from the can. He had the shorter route to the tree; before I could react, he kicked the can across the graveled driveway and into the neighbor’s yard. Donnie raised his hands in triumph and declared victory at the top of his lungs. The rest of the kids came running as they realized the game was over. As we all gathered under the huge oak tree, Donnie’s mom came to the side door of his house to announce that it was time for dinner. As we all scattered to our own homes for the evening meal, someone retrieved the can from the yard next door and threw it under the oak tree, where it would remain until the neighborhood kids made it the centerpiece of yet another afternoon’s fun and games … including kick the can.

When I was growing up in Pennsylvania in the 1950s, outdoor games like kick the can, red rover come over, hide and seek, tag, four square, and a dozen others occupied the kids in my neighborhood for hours on end. Twisted ankles, skinned knees, and broken bones were the widely accepted consequences of preadolescent years that were very much lived outside. We held neighborhood parades, spent hours in the creek that ran between properties at the end of the street, and chased each other through backyards up and down Gibson Street. One neighbor had a swimming pool and a small basketball court, and in good weather both were crowded. Winter storms did not deter us; we built snow forts and played snow football for hours on end. I can remember spending a great deal of time shivering and thawing out on a little chair over the living room register, sipping hot cocoa provided by my grandmother. We slept well at night because we had played well during the day.

I can remember the day my grandparents, with whom I spent my early youth, brought home their very first television set. It was a black and white TV—there were few color sets at the time—and my grandfather would watch the evening news and his beloved baseball; for my part, I discovered The Mickey Mouse Club and The Howdy Doody Show. These were pleasant diversions, but as kids, our time was spent outdoors. Walking home from school, I anticipated doing my homework (mandatory) and watching Annette, Cubby, and the rest of the Mickey Mouse Club gang before washing up and reporting to our kitchen for dinner (also mandatory). Then, it was outside again while it was still light enough to play and perhaps get into trouble (optional, but relatively frequent, as I recall). During any given week, I was outside far more often than I was in the house, and I watched perhaps five hours of television per week—most of that very early on Saturday mornings—before heading back outdoors.

We burned off calories by the ton, and obesity was a vocabulary word. Dinner was a regularly scheduled event, and conversation with adults during mealtime was part of the deal. During the summer vacation and on weekends, we came inside long enough to eat lunch—then it was back outside. Exercise and conversation were two sides of the coin of life in the fifties—at least for the kids in the two-dozen or so houses on my block. We enjoyed watching television, but the main event took place on a daily basis in the yards, creeks, streets, and alleys of my small hometown in northwestern Pennsylvania. It was rough and tumble; it was often highly competitive; and it was outdoors.

Smith (2005) emphasizes the importance of play in the lives of kids, pointing out that it is like “the best learning” in that “play involves lots of rehearsal and repetition” as “children do the same things again and again” (p. 160). To play kick the can in our neighborhood required three things:

1. We needed a can, of course. A new can was preferable, but one that was well battered, but functional, was acceptable.
2. We had to be physically present for the game. There were no “virtual” kick-the-can sessions; as long as we could assemble at least five neighborhood kids for that or any other outdoor pastime, we were ready to go.
3. In any number of different outdoor games, we would invariably agree on a set of rules, determine as a group if a rule had been broken, and subsequently—and collaboratively—work out any number of problems or sticky situations related to the game or activity.

We were active, and if inclement weather seemed likely, we put on our galoshes and raincoats, and we went outside anyway. The use of the family car for any purpose was limited; most of the kids in town walked to school. Smith (2005) recommends, in light of a reduction in the amount of outdoor exercise they get, we not lose sight of the value of play in the lives of children:

With more and more children being delivered to and picked up from neighborhood schools, sitting in front of televisions or computer screens, and losing the skills of cooperative play their grandparents learned, maybe it is time to start teaching children to play. (p. 160)

Play that combines exercise with social interaction is healthy, and it enhances cognition.

Exercise and Cognition

Medina (2008) laments that in our headlong rush to pass end-of-year state tests, schools are squeezing physical education and recess out of the school day, thus reducing the amount of exercise students get in school. Medina affirms, “cutting off physical exercise—the very activity most likely to improve cognitive performance—to do better on a test score is like trying to gain weight by starving yourself” (p. 25). Ratey (2008) reminds us, “In today’s technology-driven, plasma-screened-in world, it’s easy to forget that we are born movers—animals, in fact—because we’ve engineered movement right out of our lives” (p. 3). When a kid today announces he is going to go play baseball, he may in fact mean he is headed for his bedroom and an individual session with a video game. A snowstorm was an invitation to go outdoors for snowball fights and snow football; how many kids today look out the window at the falling snow and think to themselves, “I hope we don’t lose power.”

If indeed there is a trend away from regular physical exercise on the part of children, this is doubly disturbing because the same physical exercise that has a positive effect on the health of our kids also improves cognition. Medina (2008) cites a study that found that kids who jogged for half an hour two or three times per week began to show improvement in cognitive performance 12 weeks into the study. According to Medina, “When the exercise program was withdrawn, the scores plummeted back to pre-jogging levels” (p. 15). Physical exercise is critically important for kids; it keeps them physically healthy while it enhances their ability to think.

In one Canadian study (Shephard, 1996, in Trost & van der Mars, 2009–2010), over 500 elementary students were given a full extra hour of PE every day. The result was that “students in grades two through six who received additional physical education earned better grades in French, mathematics, English, and science than did students who received the standard one period per week” (p. 62). When I present in schools around the country, I often have the PE teachers stand and be recognized. While they are standing, I explain that “these people are your first line of offense against obesity and lethargy, and they prepare your kids for their next stint in your classrooms by improving blood flow, increasing heart rate, and releasing neurotransmitters by the ton.”

The clear connection between movement and cognition has implications for teachers. Movement, as we have seen, increases blood flow; that increased blood flow benefits the brain by carrying to it more glucose (for energy) and oxygen. Teachers who have their students sit for extended periods in an effort to help them concentrate are working at cross-purposes. If movement sends more blood to the brain, it follows that teachers should give students every opportunity to move in the classroom. Rather than squeeze physical education out of the curriculum, districts need to make certain kids get plenty of exercise every school day.

Changing Classroom Habits

For many years, frequent classroom observations around the country have brought me to at least one firm conclusion: As kids get older and move through the educational system, there is less intentional movement in the classroom. I have had teachers tell me that seated, quiet kids are well-behaved kids; having them move more would likely lead to chaos and a loss of control. Allen (2010) encourages teachers to think carefully about this:

If our students are uncomfortable, fidgeting, and incapable of concentrating on our lesson, making them sit still only gives us the illusion of control. So, let us surrender this illusion, and deal with the reality that student engagement requires them to move—frequently. (p. 101)

Rather than fighting the students’ natural inclination to move, teachers can enhance cognition by getting them up and moving. This has the happy effect of cutting down on classroom-management problems because, simply put, the level of student boredom drops. When I coach teachers, I typically spend 30 minutes in a classroom, and I spend that time observing the students—not the teacher. If the students are seated for the entire half hour, I often notice body language (yawning, gazing at the window, tapping a pencil, passing notes, or making any number of exaggerated gestures) that indicates an increasing level of disengagement. Teachers often put this kind of behavior down to “students who no longer want to learn!” Any teacher who thinks this is a uniquely modern comment based on “the kids not being the way they used to be” might consider that when I started teaching in 1971, we sat around the faculty lounge and said the same thing. Continually playing the blame game is frustrating and draining, and it is simply not productive.

It is indeed true that kids have changed. Teenagers who stay up until the wee hours, texting and checking Facebook in their bedrooms, drag themselves to school in the morning. Sheryl Feinstein (2004), in Secrets of the Teenage Brain, points out that puberty brings with it a hormone (melatonin) that causes teens to go to bed later and sleep well into the next morning—assuming they have a choice. High schools that begin classes as early as 7:30 a.m. disrupt this natural pattern, and kids come to school tired and grumpy. Many districts have shifted their start time for high schools because they understand the value of a bit of extra sleep for their students.

Regardless of when the school day begins, when one high-school student after another begins to nod off in a 90-minute block, it may be easy to blame the student. In fact, much of the problem could be solved by making students less passive and more active—and that includes getting them up and moving as much as possible. I recommend that teachers in middle and high school do something different every 10 minutes or so. If the kids have been sitting, have them stand and engage in a paired or group activity. If they have been standing, have them sit and do something else. If they have been working individually for 10 minutes, let them stand and find a partner for a purposeful conversation about what they just read or wrote about. Teachers need to work movement into their plans; the alternative is to let students work movement into their plans. When teachers do not allow for movement, or for brief periods of exercise, classroom-management issues invariably come to the surface.

Harnessing Movement as a Tool

Over the years, I have had the pleasure of visiting scores of classrooms where teachers understand the importance of getting kids up and moving on a regular basis. In classrooms where this is not the case, students tend to become increasingly fidgety and disengaged. Teachers who clearly understand the relationship between exercise and cognition make certain their students don’t have to sit too long without a change of pace in the form of standing, moving, and interacting with other classmates.

I can report that, in my early days of teaching, I believed that if I could get my students to simply sit there and remain quiet they would be able to concentrate and focus. It never occurred to me that a brain break every few minutes might help them focus when they sat back down. I failed to consider that I was the only one in the room able to move, talk, gesture, and otherwise satisfy my urge to fidget. I strolled while lecturing; I walked around the perimeter of the room while my students were watching a video; I ambled up and down the rows while they were taking a quiz or test. In short, I moved while they sat and took notes. Looking back on it, I’m surprised they did not all fall asleep or run screaming from the classroom.

One timeless ritual teachers can modify to allow for more movement in the classroom is the distribution of handouts and other materials. On more occasions than I can count, I stood at the front of each of five rows and gave the first person in each row enough work-sheets, test sheets, or handouts for everyone in the row. Once again, the kids stayed seated while I walked along the front and distributed the materials. One way to change this is to have students stand up and go get the handout somewhere in the room to the accompaniment of an upbeat song (“The Wanderer?”). The music and the movement serve as energizers, and the whole task can be accomplished in the same approximate amount of time it used to take to give a handout to each student. Or, the teacher can simply fan out the sheets of paper in her hand, throwing them up in the air and letting them cascade down while students scramble for them. An appropriate song can accompany the event (“Let It Snow?”). The resultant movement and laughter at this novel way to distribute paper can once again serve as a great energizer.

Emma Jeter—Grade 5 Math/Science

While I was in her classroom, Jeter’s fifth graders were taking a math quiz; she had them pause twice and stand in order to do the “chicken dance” before resuming their seats and continuing with the quiz. She did this because she understands the connection between exercise and cognition, and she put that understanding to good use during the quiz. Frequent movement is a hallmark of Jeter’s lesson plans, and painted on her classroom floor is a number grid on which students practice basic mathematical computations. The kids in her classroom love being able to get up and move frequently; it should be pointed out that 100% of her students passed the state math exams the first year she transitioned from a traditional to a more-active classroom. Also notable is the fact that Jeter was one of two teachers on the fifth-grade inclusion team at her school. She clearly understands that students in special-education programs are often highly kinesthetic learners who really value the change of pace.

I can personally attest to the fact that the fifth graders in Jeter’s care love coming to that classroom. She puts a great deal of time and effort into frontloading success by creating lessons and activities that require movement. I observed her classroom for the better part of three hours. The students were never seated for more than a few minutes, and she used music to get them to and from their seats. The contrast between this and traditional classrooms (lots of seat-work, videos, lecture, and worksheets) is stark. Fifth graders, who have a natural inclination to move, sing, dance, wiggle, fidget, and talk, find an outlet in Jeter’s classroom. Moreover, they often go home and talk about what they did in class today—without being prompted. We interviewed one parent who said her twins talked incessantly about what happened most days; she said the evening meal often resembled dinner theater.

Marylise Cobey—Elementary Special Education

Cobey takes every opportunity to encourage movement. In her special-education classroom, she has replaced her chairs with stability balls. According to Cobey, her students love being able to bounce while they work; the use of the stability balls allows them to move and concentrate at the same time. One student who had been procrastinating on a writing assignment in another classroom was sent to her class to complete the work. Sitting on one of the stability balls at an empty desk, he went to work. A few minutes later, he looked up and said to Cobey, “I finished—how did I do that?” He had rolled, bounced, and written his way to assignment completion.

In Cobey’s classroom, seatwork can be done at the students’ desks or anywhere space is available. The kids are the ones who stand and get the supplies when needed; they take hokey pokey breaks during nine-weeks testing; her review games involve movement. Cobey has them do exercises frequently. Movement is also incorporated into the songs she writes for science and social studies units. Cobey’s students respond well to this purposeful movement, and it has become ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Dedication
• Introduction
• 1. Squeeze Play
• 2. For Whom the (Dinner) Bell Tolls
• 3. Setting the Table for Success
• 4. First One at the Bus Stop
• 5. Feedback Pure and Simple
• 6. When Teachers Tick and Classrooms Click
• 7. Energize, Energize, Energize
• 8. Reflecting on Reflection
• Appendix A: Paired Verbal Fluency
• Appendix B: Appointment Clock
• References
• Index