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Soothe Your Students and Increase Homework Productivity

When students are spent and stressed from a long day at school, it can be a chore to get them to complete their homework. So how can one entice these passive, unmotivated learners to pick up the pencil and mindfully coast through their assignments? Working as a learning specialist and educational therapist, I meet with most of my students for a single hour each week. Therefore, it is imperative that I use every minute of my session wisely. It took me some time to realize that, for some students, it is a fruitless and frustrating chore to push them to plow through assignments. For these students, I need to commence at a slow pace and pause for 5 to 10 minutes, before they are encouraged to plunge into the pool of school work. What Gets in the Way? There are a number of hurdles that can topple a student session. Low stamina: Many students are cognitively spent after a day of school. Poor motivation: Some students have little to no interest in completing homework. Attention ...

The Benefits of Kinesthetics in the Classroom

Although many educators and parents know about the correlation between learning and movement, many disregard the connection once children get beyond kindergarten. But did you know that encouraging students to sit still while learning and even completing homework could do more damage than good? Sitting is Bad for the Body and the Brain The human body was not designed to sit for long periods of time, and research is now suggesting that a sedentary life is as detrimental to one’s health as smoking cigarettes. Sadly, many school-age children are now sitting in excess of 8 to 12 hours a day, and this has a negative impact on their bodies as well as their brains. Three Common Misconceptions: Sitting still improves learning. Students should stay in from recess when they don’t finish their classwork. Classrooms become unruly when students are allowed to move around. Bringing Movement into the Classroom: Educators who insist that their students remain seated during the entire ...

Asking Students to Sit Still Can Have Dire Consequences

Sitting and limited activity can have detrimental effects on the elderly, but did you know that this can also have negative consequences for children too? What we are discovering is that excessive sedentary behavior has serious health ramifications at all ages, and one of the biggest culprits that breeds inactivity is school. Stuck seated motionless behind desks only to come home with a full agenda of homework, results in school children spending an average of 8.5 hours of their day sitting . In fact, sitting increases after age 8 when school, homework, and technology consumes their time. What's more, youngsters are continually asked to sit still, as movement is often labeled distracting to classmates as well as the teacher. These learners that wiggle and squirm in and out of their seats are often considered troublesome and some of these kinesthetic kids are even placed on ADHD medications to temper their excessive commotion and exuberance. What are the Deleterious Ef...

Should ADHD Students Sit Still? New Research on Movement and Learning

Can you imagine trying to learn in a classroom all day while being bound in a strait jacket? For many kinesthetic learners as well as kids with ADHD, requiring them to sit still during instruction is quite similar to binding them in their chairs. Although some learners do benefit from sitting motionless, for others it is almost impossible to learn while their bodies remain idle. Why Do Most Middle school and High school Teachers Require Their Students to “Sit Still?” It makes sense that one would teach in a way that they, themselves, learn. As a result, most teachers reflect upon their own ways of processing information when they create their lesson plans. I have found in my many years of conducting workshops with teachers, that very few teachers personally find movement helpful with the learning process. In fact, I have my own theory that teacher education does not attract many kinesthetic learners, as the process to become a teacher requires little to no movement. This hypothes...

Kinesthetic Learners: 10 Empowering Approaches

When learning, some students find it helpful to sit quietly at their desks, while others find that movement helps them to maintain attention and encode information. The needs of the latter group often remain unaddressed in the classroom because behaviors such as tapping a pencil, fidgeting, leaning back in chairs and asking for repeated bathroom and water breaks can be annoying to the teacher as well as peers. Many of these students are kinesthetic learners and having to sit still and listen can be virtually impossible. So how can teachers empower the often-conflicting needs of their kinesthetic learners? Here are 10 suggestions:1) Incorporate movement into the lessons. Allow students to move from one “learning station” to the next where short, interactive activities can engage the students. 2) Permit kinesthetic learners to sit on the side of the classroom, so if they need to move around or stand, it won’t distract the students behind them. 3) Allow your students to hav...

Kinesthetic Reading Remediation

Many students struggle with reading and the learning process can become discouraging and difficult. However, integrating kinesthetics as well as other ways of learning can make the process both enjoyable and memorable. Mastering the Vocabulary One common problem is mastering the vocabulary behind reading. Words like syllable, vowel, and consonant are abstract terms for many young learners and without an understanding of and recognition of these distinctions, students build their knowledge on a weak foundation. How Can You Teach the Terms in a Multisensory Fashion? The last two weeks, I video-taped a couple sessions with one of my students and then created a short YouTube video. In these lessons, we tapped into all 12 ways of learning and as you can she, her enthusiasm is contagious. The process addressed the following modalities: Visual Auditory Tactile Kinesthetic Sequential Simultaneous Reflective Verbal Interactive Direct Experienc...

Back to School Tools and Methods for Kinesthetic Learners

Some students can sit quietly at their desks while others seem to struggle to stay in their seats. This later group of learners may annoy the teacher or their peers by tapping their pencil, jogging their leg, fidgeting, leaning back in their chairs and asking for repeated bathroom and water breaks. Many of these students are kinesthetic learners and having to sit still and listen to a lesson is an uncomfortable battle that feels like trying to tie your shoes while in a straight jacket. What are Some Products that can Help Kinesthetic Learners at their Desks? Multi Sensory Brain Break Meditations Inflatable discs and wedges can offer your kinesthetic learners some movement while staying seated. These products can be placed on any seat and they allow students to move their hips and develop core muscles (see below for product link). Safeco, a furniture company, just came out with the Zenergy Ball Chair for older students and the Runtz for younger students. Both of these pro...

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