An Oregon teacher duct tapes a child to a chair because he couldn’t stop getting up.
Although this is example is obviously extreme, it seems typical of a lot of classroom “discipline” strategies. Similar to a lot pharmaceuticals, we treat the symptom and not the cure. Our problem stops but the cause of the problem never goes away.
How about looking at why a student keeps getting up in class? Could it be, as Garr Reynolds, basing his presentation on Dr. John Medina, suggests, that sitting for long periods of time is unnatural? Why is it we insist on having students sit for long periods even as research suggests that exercise and movement boost cognitive functioning?
How about giving the wandering student a job as a paper monitor, a door monitor, a bathroom break monitor…anything that gives him a chance to get up?
How about employing additional group work if the student gets up because of a need to interact with others?
How about presenting a lesson that engages him enough with what’s at his desk so he wants to stay there…an ant farm, a growing plant, a science experiment, an iPod, a still camera—pick one and I don’t think he’ll wander too far from it.
Mathew,
Excellent suggesations for those learners who need to move about. Some of us have those twitchy muscles that need to move and can’t be still for extended periods of time.
I’ve often set up my room so that my “wanders” could move around during independent work time without disturbing others. Since I often wander around my house and garden while working on a problem – a can’t punish them for having the same need.
Thanks Elona and Kimberly for recognizing students as humans who have the same needs we do as adults. So many teachers seem to miss this.
I think that even in “desk jockey” jobs, people get up and walk around quite a bit. In the real world, we are always getting up to visit other co-workers’ offices, make copies, file things – even just to stroll around in a circle to get the blood flowing again. Why should schools be any different if we expect them to prepare students for the “real world?”
The stillness of classes has bugged me for a long time. One of my favorite strategies is “four corners.” During a lesson, I’ll build in questions where students will express their answers by moving to one of the four corners of the room. I especially like to use it for grading multiple choice tests, as it gives me an immediate feedback on which questions the students really struggled with and I don’t have to go through all of the tests.
I had a token economy in my high school special ed class. They were paid a daily salary (balance kept on accounting sheet at the end of each class). When doing their seatwork they can buy “break time” which entitles them to 3 min. of getting a drink, going to the bathroom, or just walking outside the classroom but not disrupting any other class. Many students loved accumulating the money and didn’t buy this time unless truly needed.
Great post. I think that more teachers need to incorporate movement into their curriculums. I was the slightly hyper student in my classes and always asked to go to the bathroom or get something from my locker. it wasn’t that I didn’t care about learning, as I loved school, I just couldn’t sit for that long and would get easily distracted if I did. I wish that more teachers would take a more interactive approach to learning.