Wow! What an exciting semester it has been and where has the time gone?  When the four of us entered this class on the first day (well, truthfully...the first few weeks) we were a bit overwhelmed, confused, and had more questions than answers.  It took several weeks, and a lot of brainstorming,  before we were even able to narrow down a topic.  Slowly, but surely, things started to fall into place.  Our topic began to take it's shape, we began to see the real life application in our classrooms, and truly began to develop interest and excitement surrounding "brain breaks!"  Step-by-step, we identified how we would develop a methodology around our research questions and most importantly, how to analyze the results after conducting our study.  At this point, we are very anxious to actually DO our project.  ENOUGH PLANNING, let's get to it already! : )  We are a close group of friends and plan on discussing and comparing the results of our projects with each other and ultimately with our school, and the smartpd community. 

We just stumbled upon an article that offers a new perspective on why students need to keep moving during the school day. A pediatric occupational therapist weighs in and says that kids are sitting too long, affecting kid’s ability to learn and also leading to incorrect ADHD diagnoses. Children need to move in a variety of different ways in order to create the changes needed in the sensory system to improve attention. Lack of movement actually hinders attention, which leads many doctors to incorrectly diagnose children with ADHD when that is not the true problem. 

 

Very interesting! Read the whole article here :)

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/07/the-right-and-surprisingly-wrong-ways-to-get-kids-to-sit-still-in-class/

Why we really should be taking Brain Breaks..

Over the holiday break I came across an interesting article identifying some of the most important reasons we should be incorporating Brain Breaks into our classrooms. By now many of us know that Brain Breaks improve the function of the brain, allowing our students to perform better academically but there are many other reasons for us to incorporating all types of Brain Breaks as often as we possibly can. 

According to Dr. Spencer Kagan, there are 9 reasons to incorporate Brain Breaks:

1. Character Education
2. Emotional Intelligence
3. Positive Social Orientation
4. Creativity
5. Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence
6. Process Orientation
7. Equal Participation
8. Engagement
9. Instinctual Playfulness

All of these reasons are an added benefit to the academic stimulus Brain Breaks provide to students. Kagan states that Brain Breaks are best and most effective when they are incorporated on an on-going basis for the reasons listed above, not strictly just for academic motivation and achievement. Areas such as creativity, social orientation and bodily/kinesthetic intelligence can greatly improve the circulatory system's function within the brain and provide the necessary nourishment to the brain. When we combine the reasons states by Kagan and the academic portion of Brain Breaks, we are allowing our students to become refreshed in a safe, active environment in which teachers can manage the energy and attention level of each student. The optimal environment for layering is that of relaxed alertness, which can be achieved through Brain Breaks and using them for reasons such as the 9 listed above. 

Check out Kagan's website to see more instructional tips and tricks for teachers based on his research. 

Collecting and Analyzing Our Data

Happy almost Thanksgiving!! As we are all packing up and heading home for the holidays, we wanted to let you know that we have finalized how we are going to collect and analyze data about brain breaks and their effectiveness. Hopefully we can entertain at least a few fellow commuters who may need a bit of light reading on their long and (hopefully) traffic-free trips home.

We have five ways that we are going to collect data during the course of our action research project:

1. Primary Behavioral Observation Chart: We will have two of these charts each day. The first chart will be filled in during the lesson directly before that day's brain break and the second chart will be filled in during the lesson directly after the brain break.

2. General Attitude Survey: This survey will be administered at the beginning of the study, before any brain breaks have been administered, and at the end of the study, after the three weeks of brain breaks have been completed. The survey will ask students how they feel about brain breaks in general and how they feel about each of the three specific brain breaks. A snapshot of the survey is included below.

3. Weekly Specific Attitude Survey: This survey will be in the same format as the General Attitudes Survey but will be given to the students at the end of each week of brain breaks, asking their opinion on that specific week's brain break (yoga, dancing, and fitness).

4. Pre/Post Academic Assessment: Although unclear on the specifics for this assessment, we are going to give a pretest at the beginning of the week and a posttest at the end of the week on the specific material being covered over the five-day period. This will be a way to measure academic success, and allow us to see if there is a correlation between type of brain break and academic success.

5. Anecdotal Notes: The observer(s) will record anecdotal notes about student behavior during the lesson directly before and directly after each brain break.

We will let you know more as we talk to our mentor teachers and find out exactly when this will all take place. Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!!

An Interesting Read For This Cold and Windy Day...

Hi guys! The other day I was looking up ideas for working with kids who have behavioral problems. I have seen a lot of physical and verbal aggression in the classroom recently and was searching for ways to lower the chances of these instances occurring. I found an article about using yoga to deal with different stressors both at school and at home, specifically focusing on kids who come from broken homes where support is lacking. The article states that "through yoga movements and conscious breathing, youth are learning to be still, to focus, and to relax and have greater self-control." The article says that yoga is providing an outlet for kids to express anger, anxiety, and stress. Although it focuses on entire yoga programs and not three-to-five-minute brain breaks, I think that we can use this information to make sure that the yoga that we do with our kids specifically focuses on moves that lead to relaxation. Hopefully kids that are wound up, angry, or stressed before a yoga brain break can find some sort of relaxation after a short yoga session. Fingers crossed!!

Read the article here!

Our Timeline

Thought all you brain breakers out there would be interested in the timeline of our research.

Because some of our team is switching classrooms in March, we have a limited amount of time to work with. We decided on the following setup and think it's pretty awesome:

Brain Break Implementation

We decided to have one week for each type of brain breaks, with two days of 3 minutes and two days of 5 minutes for each week. We also wanted to have a day of no brain breaks to test our questions against. 

 Let us know if you have any questions or comments!

And Voila…Our Methodology For Our Action Research Project!

Hey guys! Just wanted to share with you our finalized methodology for our action research project…we are all super excited to see things starting to come together and to show you our "map" of where we will go from here.

Again, here are our two research questions:

1. Does the type of brain break (yoga, dance, or fitness) elicit different academic and behavioral     performance results in first and second grade?

2. Is there a signifigant difference in student performance between a three or five minute brain break in the first and second grade classroom? 

We will all be conducting our research in our respective classrooms (two of us are in first grade in Baltimore City and two of us are in second grade in Howard County). Our classes have between 20 and 28 students, all of whom will be used.

Although we are not sure of exact dates at this moment, we estimate that the research itself will happen over three weeks, spending one week at a time on each of our three types of brain breaks (yoga, dance, and fitness). The research will be compiled between January and May of 2015.

Our independent variables are the type and length of the brain break. Our dependent variables are the students' behavior and their academic performance. To collect data, we envision using surveys that tell us how student's feel about each type of brain break. The surveys will measure attitudes and motivation before and after the brain breaks. In addition, we will use some sort of academic assessment---TBD---and observations.

Other than ourselves, our mentor teachers will help us collect and analyze data needed for this project. If necessary, some of us may use our PDS coordinators, school administrators, and grade team leaders if we decide that they would be helpful further on down the road.

We will keep you updated about new developments as they happen! We are excited to share this project with you all!! 

This is a very interesting article and take on the importance for physical movement in the classroom being aligned with the curriculum. 

According to Kristen Hess, the principal and founder of Hess Academy, movement in the classroom is an extension of student choice.

"As adults we have the option of movement available to us," she told me. "We fidget or doodle, we get up to stretch our legs, we walk to the back of the room, but we don't give this option to children."

The best learning environment, she said, has different options, not just a standard solution for all students. I could see her philosophy at work in a classroom where students worked, some sitting at tables, some stretched across the floor and some using their chairs as writing surfaces.

No Sitting Still: Movement in Schools

Program teaches girls to dance and do math and BOOSTS scores!

This was a really cool video I recently saw on CNN.  This teacher combines Kinesthetic movement through dance combined with teaching math skills.

"Sinha realized that not only did dance boost confidence, but that movement in general had been integral to her ability to learn.

That Eureka moment became the birth of SHINE, a tutoring program Sinha began while at MIT. It incorporates dance, movement and math in a new approach designed to boost girls' confidence and performance.

The basis for SHINE is the concept of "Kinesthetic learning," which essentially means moving your body in order to better retain information.

Interested middle school girls come to the program after school, and work with mentors on activities that put math concepts into action. They might, for example, hold hands to create a shape on a grid, then move to reflect the shape across an axis drawn on the floor. Playing games using corners and instructions helps show how probability works, and choreographed dance moves illustrate the principles behind trigonometry.

Later, they work out math problems on the board based on what they learned, and frequently finish with a break-out dance session just for fun. When I was there, they learned a routine to Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off," then tweeted a video of the results to the singer."

CNN.com

I'm a Gummy Bear!

Just wanted to share a fun video that my students have been enjoying the past two weeks:

The kids love it. They think it's so funny and fun. It'll be interesting to see which brain break they prefer once we begin our study!

Anyone out there have any other fun videos they show their students? Any other Gummy Bear lovers out there?

Hello everyone! TGIF!!

Just a few updates from the Primary Professionals team…Last week, we compiled our literature review of scholarly articles that support the need for physical activity in schools. Overwhelmingly, we have found that research and evidence indicates that physical movement in school should be a best practice because it is effective.  Here is a preview:

Research shows that when children and adolescents participate in the recommended level of physical activity-at least 60 minutes per day- there are multiple health benefits (Centers for Disease Control).  Scientific data on brain research already indicates that cognitive development occurs in tandem with mobility and blood circulation.  In addition, there is mounting evidence that physical activity can improve academic achievement including grades and standardized test scores (Centers for Disease Control).  Lastly, research suggests that physical activity can have a positive impact on cognitive skills, attitudes, and academic behavior, all of which are important components of academic performance and a balanced classroom (Centers for Disease Control).  Ever increasing obesity rates, and sedentary lifestyles (video games, phones, social media) contribute to many of the mounting health problems facing children and adolescents today.  Now, more than ever, it is critical that educators and administration keep students moving through physical education classes, recess, extra-curricular activities, and classroom-based physical activity (brain breaks). Through our review of scholarly articles, we have compiled a review of literature supporting the need to keep students physically active in schools and the evidence supporting these claims.

There are five major parts to any action research project:

1.     Problem

2.     Literature

3.     Methodology

4.     Data

5.     Results

This week we have been working on the “methodology” for our action research project.  A few things we are considering for our methodologies:

-Where will our action research project take place?

-What activities and steps will be needed to produce the data?

-Develop the action research design (qualitative, quantitative, both?)

-Describe the data you will collect.

Our team believes we will be using both quantitative and qualitative methods for our action research project.  This will include surveys for our students to fill out and data collection for observable behaviors. Stay tuned for our fine-tuned methodologies section for our project!

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The association between school based physical activity, including physical education, and academic performance.  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2010.

We need to STAND UP for learning!

Happy Sunday!

While reading some research supporting movement in the classroom I came across an interesting idea. According to Eric Jensen's "Moving with the Brain in Mind", published in Educational Leadership in November of 2000, sitting is not a natural or welcomed position for our bodies. In fact, sitting puts 30 percent MORE pressure on our spinal discs than standing does! This additional pressure creates additional fatigue (p. 35)! How can we expect our students to sit in a chair for hours on end and not become tired? 

In my student-teaching experience, we use periodic breaks to energize students. We frequently use the "B-More Fit" videos and programs, but as Katie Brown said in her post below, some students refuse to participate because they have the option to. In our classroom however, we do not give the option of not participating at all. If students do not want to dance, they don't have to! But they must at least STAND UP. As I stated above, just standing helps reduce the pressure put on our spinal discs. If they want to defy the system and not participate in the physical movement, they can, but only as long as they stand. 

Through this research project, I plan on looking for ways to promote engagement in the brain breaks. What's the use if students purposely don't participate in the physical movement as an act of defiance? I like to think that getting them to stand is the first step!

Sources: 

Jensen, E. (2000). Moving with the Brain in Mind. Educational Leadership, 34-37.

Student Choice in Brain Breaks

Hey guys!

     I wanted to share with you all an experience that I noticed in my first grade classroom at Holabird Academy. During the first two weeks of school, we used the BMoreFit program for our daily brain breaks. We put one of their videos on the overhead and students were supposed to dance along with the instructor and the kids in the video. Did this motivate some students to get up and move? Of course!  But a decent amount of students slouched in their seats and refused to participate (because why would you participate if the option of defying the teacher is readily available)? That's what we thought at least, so going into week three we tweeked our brain breaks a bit. Although we love the BMoreFit program, we decided that the basic action of telling students what to do, even if it is a fun activity, makes some students want to do the opposite. So we came up with a new idea:

     The team of students who had gotten the most number of points that day for good behavior got to choose that day's brain break. They also got to stand up in front of the class and lead that day's brain break. After implementing this plan, we noticed two major things:

1. Most students got involved and did the brain break when it was lead by their peers.

2. This way of doing brain breaks gives students a choice in what they are doing in school. By doing this, students feel like they are in control of their education and are more activly engaged. STUDENT CHOICE is a necessity in schools.

Ted Talks: What is good for your waistline is good for your bottom line

I found an interesting Ted Talks from Dr. Antronette Yancey who pioneered "Instant Recess."  Instant Recess® is a MOVEment of ACTIVE-ists dedicated to making America healthier 10 minutes at a time. By introducing brief activity breaks in the middle of the day, we can make activity the norm.

According to Instant Recess, Inactivity has a lot to do with the obesity epidemic in our society. Prolonged sitting increases the risk of premature death by 40% and doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease, even in lean people who exercise regularly. It shuts off our ability to burn calories and the electrical activity in leg muscles, drops fat-burning enzymes by 90%, and limits the effectiveness of good cholesterol and insulin.

Experiences this week...

Hello!

As our team has mentioned in earlier posts, we are excited to study and research the use of "brain breaks" in the elementary classroom.  One of the key components of the brain break is to have some sort of physical movement.  First, we wanted to share some of our personal experiences with brain breaks in school this week (and please share your personal experiences with our team as well).  In one of our classrooms, the teacher played "Happy" by: Pharrell Williams and the students were allowed to sing and dance around the classroom for the entirety of the song.  The children absolutely loved the freedom to move around the classroom and sing/dance to a popular song!  Both my mentor teacher and I danced and sang with the students.  Katie Brown's teacher incorporates PBIS (positive behavior intervention and supports) into their brain break routine.  Each table (set of 4-5 student desks) gets points for good, on-task behavior. Whichever team receives the most points at the end of the day gets to pick a brain break of their choice-they are allowed to pick from a short exercise video or choose from exercise cards.  **Does anyone have any thoughts on brain breaks being at the END of the day?  This brings up an interesting question: if the goal of brain breaks is to keep children engaged and relieve a lot of the tensions/stresses from sitting for too long, is it effective to have a break at the end of the day?  One of the ways we will investigate during this research project is trying to identify "which" brain breaks seem to be most effective, and "when" is an optimal time to incorporate them.  Stay tuned for our upcoming posts.  We are interested in interviewing a fellow classmate about her experiences as a yoga instructor, and specifically her work with children's yoga!

Unfortunately, this event just passed, but this would have been a great conference to attend to learn more about children's yoga and it's use in the classroom!
http://conference.yokid.org/

Our Problem Statement

Welcome back!

Tonight, we collaborated on our team problem statement. We're really interested in "Brain Breaks." A brain break can be defined as "a short mental break, taken at regular intervals during instruction, and used to achieve optimal learning." Our group defines a brain break as "a short break from instruction (before, during, or after) that involves some form of physical activity." In our experience, brain breaks are used to refocus students on the content at hand.

Our Problem Statement
Teachers frequently have difficulties keeping students engaged and motivated during a lesson because young students have a limited attention span. Our team will analyze the effectiveness of "brain breaks" on overall student engagement and student achievement.

We've each experienced a different form of brain breaks in our classroom and are excited to expand the type of brain breaks our students experience:
Lindsey - Yoga breaks, physical activity (pushups, jumping jacks, etc...)
The Katies - B More Fit Breaks (See video below)
Morgan - 1 minute breaks during writing assignments to "Happy" and "Jumping to the Moon" after math assessments.

Does anyone have any experience with brain breaks in the classroom? We'd love to get your perspective!

The Beginning

During our first class, we were immersed in the world of action research. It quickly became apparent that action research is imperative in the classroom, and so we wanted to share with you what it was.

Action research is the constant, even daily, process of posing questions, analyzing the results, and looking for solutions to everyday problems in the classroom. Action research involves using the classroom as the laboratory for teachers to find the best ways to improve instruction and increase academic performance. It allows teachers to self identify specific problems that they are having within the classroom and collaborate with other teachers to improve their areas of needs, ultimately delivering the best education possible to his or her students.

Does anyone have any experience with action research? If so, we'd love to hear about it!

Welcome!

Hi! We're the Primary Professionals! Here is a little bit about our team...

Katie Brown is teaching in a first grade classroom at Holabird Academy in Baltimore City. She is from Baltimore and got her undergraduate degree from University of Maryland in public relations. 

Lindsey Collier is teaching in a second grade classroom at Bollman Bridge Elementary in Howard County. She is from Silver Spring (a SKINS fan) and earned her undergraduate degree from Florida State University in marketing and management. 

Katie Putnam is teaching in a first grade classroom at Holabird Academy in Baltimore City. She is from Nashville, Tennessee and received her undergraduate degree from Savannah College of Art and Design in advertising design. 

Morgan Johnston is teaching in a second grade classroom at Atholton Elementary in Howard County. Her undergraduate degree is currently a mystery :).

Stay tuned as we share our experiences with action research in our primary classrooms! 

EDIT: For those of you that were on the edge of your seat waiting for Morgan's credentials, we have solved the mystery! She graduated from West Virginia with a degree in integrated marketing AND journalism advertising.