Physical Activity In The Classroom

Edutopia has an interesting poll on their website........"Does physical activity improve student focus?" If I had seen this poll two years ago, my answer would have probably been VERY different. At that time, I would have said absolutely not. However, I had the opportunity to attend a conference and listen to a speaker that was absolutely phenomenal. She was bound and determined to get us to try getting our students up and moving for at least half of a class period every day. My first reaction was that this lady was crazy, if I have my students up moving around I will never get them back on task to finish the work for the day. But, I attempted to do what she suggested. I'm not going to lie......I was astonished by how well the students responded to being up and moving around. Not only were they more engaged in what we were doing, they were ready to regroup and finish the lessons. This is something that I have tried to incorporate into my class at least 3 days a week. It doesn't always happen everyday.