{"id":5447,"date":"2018-11-30T23:05:15","date_gmt":"2018-12-01T04:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/?p=5447"},"modified":"2022-05-29T08:14:32","modified_gmt":"2022-05-29T13:14:32","slug":"1151-the-active-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/2018\/11\/30\/1151-the-active-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"#1151 The Active Classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tweet<\/a><\/div>

Overheard at my son’s school:
Parent: “How’s my child doing sitting still in your class?”
Teacher: “I don’t know. We don’t sit still for very long.”<\/p>\n

That was music to my ears. I don’t sit still well. I took this brief excerpt to heart when it comes to developing my teaching.<\/p>\n

Gardner’s Intelligences<\/strong>
Howard Gardner hypothesized there are many different intelligences<\/a> reflected in people from math\/logical, verbal\/linguistic and bodily kinaesthetic perspectives. In the article above it is suggested that “Providing students with multiple ways to access content improves learning.” (Hattie, 2011) Sitting still at a desk is just one of many ways to access learning.<\/p>\n

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
<\/strong>UDL looks at ways to improve student learning<\/a>\u00a0by offering flexible options to support student success. Options include alternative assessment, flexible workspaces and regular feedback. One common UDL phrase is “Necessary for some, useful for all…”<\/p>\n

Active options in and beyond the classroom stimulate success in students who struggle sitting still and can benefit all students in the class.<\/p>\n

Classroom Options<\/strong>
I use “vertical, non-permanent work spaces<\/em>” (white boards) all over the class to get students working together sharing, problem solving and brainstorming. We go outside to explore science and math in the real world. I incorporate drumming in transition times.<\/p>\n

The Art of Sitting Still<\/strong>
While I am an active learner I benefit from developing the ability to sit quietly with my mind. And I see the value for all kids. So, while I work to keep the class moving I also build in quiet time where we practice sitting still to accomplish tasks.<\/p>\n

Sometimes that is disguised as trying to beat our own world record for independent silent reading – as in how long can the class be engaged in reading without developing wiggly bums or chatty mouths. Or a quiet, meditation exercise like the 60 Second Fix<\/a> after recess or DPA (daily physical activity.)<\/p>\n

Progress<\/strong>
School is traditionally designed for quiet, diligent worker bees. That works well if you or your child is a quiet, diligent worker bee. More and more I am seeing more UDL and active options in classrooms – bike desks, Forest School inspired outdoor learning, flexible work stations…

That’s moving in the right direction!<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tweet Overheard at my son’s school:Parent: “How’s my child doing sitting still in your class?”Teacher: “I don’t know. We don’t sit still for very long.” That was music to my ears. I don’t sit still well. I took this brief Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[304,282,267,283],"tags":[13,293,76],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5447"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5447"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5459,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5447\/revisions\/5459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}