Movement in the classroom has always fascinated me. Maybe because it is so rarely allowed. The image of a typical classroom usually includes students in assigned seating where they are expected to sit there for an hour or so and focus. Every period. Five days a week.
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I like to pace. Be it talking on the phone, organizing my ideas, or writing down notes, it is rare that I am sitting at a desk while doing so. Movement helps me stay on task and attentive. It’s probably for this reason that I sympathize so deeply towards students when an activity requires them to stay seated. While some people have great focus when being stationary, there are many who lose focus when they can’t move their way through their thought process.
Students are no different.
It is from this place that I revel in situations in which I can allow students movement autonomy. In fact, last fall I tried an informal movement experiment when I worked with a small group of students on a reading assignment that they had all been absent for the previous day. Among them was a young male student who often liked to move around the classroom and was thus seen as unable to focus. The group was a mix of academic levels from high achieving to lower reading ability. The students were asked to listen to an audiobook of the short story “The Skeleton Key.” We worked in an empty classroom that had a few desk chairs and two swivel chairs. I told the students they could sit however they liked; be in a chair or on the floor. The boy student chose a swivel chair and immediately began to spin in circles. My first thought was to tell him to stop spinning, but I paused for a moment and asked myself, "Maybe this is what he needs?"
During the reading of the audiobook, I allowed him to spin around with the book in his lap and he trailed his finger along the page to keep his place. Halfway through the reading I stopped the recording and asked the students to discuss the events of the story thus far. This boy, who rarely ever spoke in class, took part in the discussion, naming characters and describing the setting. While there could be an infinite number of reasons for his increased participation (smaller group, decrease in fear of failing, interest in text subject) he displayed a sense of confidence in knowing the information from the text was one not often seen during other reading assignments.
I have no authority to say if a single swivel chair brought about such a change but I do feel that trusting the student with a little bit of leeway brought about some investment. And at the very least, while the audiobook was playing he did not look for a distraction and instead chose to focus on the book. It sparked my curiosity on how small movements in the classrooms could help students.
What if I provided multiple style seating arrangements such as standing desks, exercise balls, or clip-boards? I could offer small objects like stress balls to be used during reading or lecture based lessons. Maybe these kinds of objects could be used by students to squeeze or move silently in their space when working on assignments. I'm curious if this would allow for small movement and energy releases while not being large enough to distract their peers.
While not all students show a need to move during class, any teacher can tell you that it is difficult for students to be still for the entire duration of a school day. If certain students would prefer to be moving then perhaps there is a need to develop class structure that allows this to happen. If anything, I do feel that allowing students a choice is a wonderful start to student buy-in. By allowing autonomy I would hope that this tells my students that my classroom is an environment of trust. In my experience when someone trusts me, often I want to prove that it has been correctly placed. Watching the young student in his swivel chair made me wonder if an increase in movement could be the key to an increase in motivation.
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I like to pace. Be it talking on the phone, organizing my ideas, or writing down notes, it is rare that I am sitting at a desk while doing so. Movement helps me stay on task and attentive. It’s probably for this reason that I sympathize so deeply towards students when an activity requires them to stay seated. While some people have great focus when being stationary, there are many who lose focus when they can’t move their way through their thought process.
Students are no different.
It is from this place that I revel in situations in which I can allow students movement autonomy. In fact, last fall I tried an informal movement experiment when I worked with a small group of students on a reading assignment that they had all been absent for the previous day. Among them was a young male student who often liked to move around the classroom and was thus seen as unable to focus. The group was a mix of academic levels from high achieving to lower reading ability. The students were asked to listen to an audiobook of the short story “The Skeleton Key.” We worked in an empty classroom that had a few desk chairs and two swivel chairs. I told the students they could sit however they liked; be in a chair or on the floor. The boy student chose a swivel chair and immediately began to spin in circles. My first thought was to tell him to stop spinning, but I paused for a moment and asked myself, "Maybe this is what he needs?"
During the reading of the audiobook, I allowed him to spin around with the book in his lap and he trailed his finger along the page to keep his place. Halfway through the reading I stopped the recording and asked the students to discuss the events of the story thus far. This boy, who rarely ever spoke in class, took part in the discussion, naming characters and describing the setting. While there could be an infinite number of reasons for his increased participation (smaller group, decrease in fear of failing, interest in text subject) he displayed a sense of confidence in knowing the information from the text was one not often seen during other reading assignments.
I have no authority to say if a single swivel chair brought about such a change but I do feel that trusting the student with a little bit of leeway brought about some investment. And at the very least, while the audiobook was playing he did not look for a distraction and instead chose to focus on the book. It sparked my curiosity on how small movements in the classrooms could help students.
What if I provided multiple style seating arrangements such as standing desks, exercise balls, or clip-boards? I could offer small objects like stress balls to be used during reading or lecture based lessons. Maybe these kinds of objects could be used by students to squeeze or move silently in their space when working on assignments. I'm curious if this would allow for small movement and energy releases while not being large enough to distract their peers.
While not all students show a need to move during class, any teacher can tell you that it is difficult for students to be still for the entire duration of a school day. If certain students would prefer to be moving then perhaps there is a need to develop class structure that allows this to happen. If anything, I do feel that allowing students a choice is a wonderful start to student buy-in. By allowing autonomy I would hope that this tells my students that my classroom is an environment of trust. In my experience when someone trusts me, often I want to prove that it has been correctly placed. Watching the young student in his swivel chair made me wonder if an increase in movement could be the key to an increase in motivation.