How might integrating movement based learning impact students’ time on task with my third grade students?

Seminar Title

How might integrating movement based learning impact students’ time on task with my third grade students?

My action research plan is comprehensive and inclusive of all my learners most basic human needs: the opportunity for movement. As young children, activity is a fundamental and concrete way of learning. Vygotsky, a psychologist on human development, informs teachers that the educator should be aware and knowledgeable about childrens’ zone of proximal developments, for effective learning to occur. In other words, the teacher should know what the child can do with confidence and ease and continue to stretch beyond the students’ comfort-zone. How might a teacher establish an environment where all children feel comfortable to learn and participate in active learning? I have noticed from my action research plan that when students are given multiple opportunities for activity, students tend to be more on task during independent learning time.

3rd Grade

Elementary

Other

All Disciplines

A young eight-year-old boy stares into the distance of his mundane third grade classroom, swinging his feet back and forth. The boy is interested in the small squirrel nibbling away at the acorn. The boy smiles in exchange for his pleasure in observing how excited the squirrel is running around in freedom. The teacher calls on this student for the answer to the comprehension question proposed about the text on page forty-two of the core knowledge textbook. The boy looks up at the teacher with a blank expression. Suddenly, the teacher becomes upset at the boy for not paying attention to the text. Again, the teacher asks her students the comprehension question. Only four students raise their hands in response to the teacher’s inquiry. Yet again, the teacher calls on one of the usual students who participate, and now the rest of the class is interested in the boy’s viewing outside the classroom as well. All too often, students become irritated with learning, and the teacher becomes frustrated with her students. Why? The students are not engaged in the learning task, and the teacher is not allowing for natural behaviors to occur in her classroom. What if there was a “Miracle-Gro” for students to engage in for a couple of minutes every day that was free, equitable, and met the needs of all students? Integrating movement-based activities can improve student learning, attention, and overall levels of joy and success within the classroom. Every teacher who is seeking to help their students learn at their best state would benefit from joining this seminar.