A different kind of movement...

I have focused a lot on doing actual physical movement in the classroom during a learning activity.  This week, I took my classes to the computer lab to do an assignment on wordle.  When working on the computers, there was not movement, but the movement to the computer lab to create a change of scenery was great.  Day after day, they come to my classroom and that is our setting, so going to the computer lab was exciting and different and I could tell it created high levels of engagement.  I took three classes to the lab, so out of the 101 students I have in those three classes, 98 of them did a fantastic job in completing the assignment we went down there to do.  Something as simple as walking to a different room was enough to get them engaged.  Change is good.  As a teacher, you want to have routines and clear expectations, but you don't want to be overly predictable.  Changing things up makes the kids say "I wonder what we are going to do today in class?"  That is a good thing to have kids say when they enter your classroom.  If they know what is going to transpire each day in your class, the levels of motivation and attention are going to decrease.  Keep it interesting and unpredictable. 

What does the data say?

I have tabulated the results from a few of the surveys I gave to students.  I asked the question, "How much did you learn during the first trimester?"  The chioces were tons, a lot, some, not much, almost nothing.  Out of the 55 surveyed, 0 students responded with "not much, or almost nothing."  50 out of the 55 said they learned "tons" or "a lot."  I was pretty happy to see this.  I believe the movement had a lot to do with it.  The movement forced students to participate and when one participates, one learns.  Do they have a deep understanding of the material?  That is something I need to investigate further. 

Inner outer circle activity is successful again

I have new students and am teacher the same thing I taught in trimester 1.  Spanish 1 is just beginning and getting into phrases you would use when meeting someone for the first time.  I took my classes down to a large open area near the auditorium and had them form 2 circles, one inside the other.  They conversed on assigned topics and rotated in order to switch partners each time we did a different piece of the conversation.  They did a fantastic job and ALL were actively participating.  It was also nice to leave the room and learn in a new setting.  Today, I had a student ask if we could do that activity again and she said, "I learned so well when we did that activity."  She actually called it a game, meaning she had fun doing it. 

This continues to prove to me that movement is a great tool one can use in the classroom.  The kids are full of energy and it is an effective avenue to allow them to utilize their energy for learning.  At the same time, too much of it could hamper their interest of those types of activities, so I think using a variety of activities is important.

What's new?

This was the final week of the trimester for my school, so I will have a number of new students next week.  This week, Spanish 1 was learning about food.  One activity the students engaged in was an interactive questionaire about foods.  They had a list of quesetions in Spanish like, ¿Te gusta el pescado? (Do you like fish?)  They had to find someone in the room that would answer "yes" to that question.  They had a list of questions, so it was their job to gather signatures speaking Spanish and using the new vocabluary.  I monitored their participation.  Their participation was excellent; a very high percentage if not 100% engaged and participated in the activity, but not everyone used Spanish the entire time.  I think they enjoyed it and learned from it.

As I get new students next week, it will be interesting to see how they react to all the activities we do involving movement.  I saw great results with the students I had first trimester, so we will see if the data continues to say what it has said up to this point.

More data collection

This past week, my assistant principal observed my classroom.  We did a review activity where the class worked with individual white boards.  We met the next day to talk about what she saw.  She said that there is no doubt that there is a very high level of student engagement during my lessons.  She said that it is difficult for students to hide in my classroom.  If they don't participate in the activities, they stand out and standing out is awkward, so they choose to participate. 

I think my data definitely tells me that student engagement is extremely high in activities that involve movement.  Student engagement is still high in my classroom where movement is not a factor, but less than when it is.  It would make sense to me that if student engagement is high, learning happens.  At the same time, there are students out there that don't learn well in interactive activities that require movement, so I need to utilize other types of activities as well.

There is something to be said for students enjoying your class.  I think my students have enjoyed my class, and I credit a lot of that to the types of activities we do in class.  Students don't just sit in their seats all class period listening to me, but rather they are interacting with classmates and engaging in active activities.  I think they enjoy this, which is another reason for the level of participation I have seen. 

I would still like to do another survey asking them more questions about how they learn best and what types of activities they enjoy or don't enjoy. 

Survey Results

I have a lot of data telling me that students are very engaged during activities that involve movement, but don't have too much data telling me about student learning.  One question on the survey asked the students how well they understand the material we study in class.  57 out of the 59 surveyed, answered with "Great" or "Pretty Good."  Also, about 70% of the students surveyed said they prefer an interactive learning environment over a quiet more individual-based learning environment. 

I think overall, the majority of the students enjoy and do well in an active learning environment where they engage in many activities that incorporate movement.  There are certainly still kids that like a quiet environment where they are able to work alone at times, so I need to do a good job of balancing the types of activities I do.  I need to mix in a variety in order to reach the different learning styles if all students. 

I am pretty happy with what has transpired in my class.  I think the kids have enjoyed the activities we do in class and I truly think a high percentage of them have a strong understanding of the material.  It could just be the group of kids I have, but the class average on the last quiz and test I gave was the highest I remember in my 6 years of teaching. 

New Observations

The past few weeks, the students have been quite rowdy.  It has been more difficult to keep their attention, partly because this chapter has been prolonged due to MEA and other things, and partly because they are becoming more and more comfortable with their classmates and the environment of the class.  I promote interaction and sometimes that has its cons as they are too chatty when it is time to do some whole-group teacher-directed instruction.  This is an opportunity for me to use some "brain breaks" to give them a quick opportunity to release their energy. 

I think this also reaffirms to me that my students need active learning opportunities.  They are full of energy and I have to find a productive ways for them to use that energy.  I feel like whenever I do make my students engage in activities that involve movement, they seem more engaged.