Brain Breaks

Again, I'd like to thank Twitter for this topic.  Its  new to me that I'd like to share.  It's referred to as "Brain Breaks" or taking a physical break to stimulate the brain into learning.

Brain breaks incorporate some sort of physical activity into the classroom for a minute or two every period.  A brain break is designed to clear the brain pathways of stress and overload so the brain is able to learn at its optimum.

It has been discovered that for the brain to absorb new material, the information must pass through an emotional filter called the amygdala before reaching the prefrontal cortex.

When students become to stressed out or overloaded with information, the emotional filter is activated to the point, information is unable to reach the prefrontal cortex.  Brain breaks are designed to help return the brain to a state of optimal learning.  Switching mental activity allows the brain to shift communications to fresh networks of neurotransmitters which allows the brain's chemicals to replenish within the resting networks.

As a general rule of thumb, brain breaks should occur after 20 to 30 minutes of concentrated activity for middle school and high school students.  The good news is that brain breaks need not interfere with instruction. A brain break may be having students do a quick stretch, have them move to another part of the room, or even put a short piece of music on to dance to.

I usually include some sort of movement in my classroom but not as regularly as I should.  Some of the things I do is to prepare several multiple choice questions for my Smartboard.  I have the corners of my room designated as A, B, C, D and they must go to the corner of the letter they believe is the correct answer.

I do not have students pass out work, I place any sheets, books etc away from the students and they must get up to get the assignment.  Yes, it takes a couple minutes but the students are up and moving.  In addition, I allow them to check notes for their tests but their notes are spread around the room.  If they want to check their notes, they have to get up, walk over, look at the notes before returning to their seats to work on the tests.  All tests remain on the desk.

I remember reading about a teacher who kept a ball in the room.  She'd have students stand up, ask a question, then toss the ball to a student to answer the question.  She'd ask another question and that student tossed the ball to another one to answer the question and so on.  The ball indicated the person had the floor.

Here are a few other suggestions I found that I like.

1.  Desk switch - have students grab their materials and find another desk to sit in for the rest of the class period.  By changing desks, they get a new perspective on things.  Be sure to set a time limit or it might take the rest of the period.

2. Sky writing - have students write a message in the air to a friend.

3. Give students a chance to play "Rock, Paper, Scissors" for two minutes while away from their desks.

4. Thumb wrestling.

5. Mirror - Mirror where students are broken up into pairs.  One student mirrors the actions of another student.

6. Pantomime - choose a student to act out an activity without talking.  Students have to mimic the leader and then guess what the activity is.

Let me know what you think.  I hope you all have a great day.