This post is part of this year’s Walk This Way series, designed to share The Walking Classroom experiences of teachers and students across the United States. It provides a glimpse into Jane Keen’s classroom.
These winter months can be the hardest months as teachers. We are stuck somewhere between winter and spring breaks, one of the longest stretches of academic time uninterrupted by those sweet, sweet days off.
Winter Weather in the Mix
Students feel it, too. They are restless; they are antsy. They are fighting learning on a daily basis, and we teachers find ourselves covered in the sloppy mud of the trenches, applying learning tourniquets to those of a more unsubdued nature.
It doesn’t help that this time is accompanied by below freezing temperatures in most places in America. Rules and regulations state that when it gets too cold, students stay indoors for recess. SOS. Send help. Little Johnny has been forced to sit all day and now he is running around toilet papering the room and yelling like a pirate.
Supporting Student Needs
As institutions, schools really could be more proactive about responding to the needs of their students. So many of us are well versed on brain research and differentiation, but there is a gap between what we know and what we do.
Research says that children need to move. There is a statistical correlation between movement and positive attitude. Walking helps boost memory and brain function. With all things considered, should students really be sitting all day, even if it is freezing outside? What can we do about this?
TWC to the Rescue!
We have been able to use our WalkKits to get students out of the classroom and moving during these months, even when we cannot do outdoor activities. Students are able to do their walks in the hallways when they can’t go outside, and this has made a lot of other people in our building (the ones still stuck in their seats) very curious about why they don’t get to learn in the same way.
I’m not trying to hang noodles from your ears (this has become a joke following the idioms podcast!). There really has been a positive impact on student behavior and performance with The Walking Classroom. When we respect what our students need, they know it and they show it.
Jane Keen
Gifted and Talented Facilitator
Asbell Elementary
Great solutions for keeping the kids moving during the months of winter! I agree that getting kids out and moving is so critical to our success in school.