Incorporating Movement Into Your Secondary Classroom

Have you ever been in an elementary classroom and marveled at how students are scattered all over the classroom engaged in a variety of activities?  Is it hard to imagine secondary students staying as focused on tasks in a similar setting?  Have you wondered when this change, from an activity-based classroom to one in which students are primarily seated, occurs?

I can’t explain how elementary teachers are able to keep their young students on task.  However, I always wonder whether they have magically superior classroom management skills, or if little kids are so excited about school and learning that it is easier to capture and maintain their attention.  Whatever the answers to my questions might be, I don’t expect that I will ever find definitive ones.

What I do know is that class size, room design, the teenage psyche, and engaging activities play a role.  I’m sure the differences I notice between elementary and secondary classrooms have much to do with these factors.

By the way, I do think that we secondary teachers have been making strides toward creating more student-centered classrooms recently.  We are striving to incorporate more interactive, inspirational ideas into our classrooms.  (Thus, the title of my blog!)

Here are a few suggestions for those of you who are wanting to ease into a more active environment in your classrooms.

1.   Begin with baby steps.

• Choose activities that you can manage easily.
• Incorporate limited movement.  As you become more comfortable with students being out of their seats, become more adventurous.

2.   Teach routines!

      How? 

• How do you expect your students to behave as they move around the room?  
• How should the room sound?  
• How will students work … in groups or alone? 

      What? 

• What task(s) do you want students to compete?  
• What materials will they need to complete the task(s)?

      When? 

• When do you expect work to be finished?

      Where? 

• Where are materials located?  Are they at stations, loaded on your digital learning platform, ... ? 
• Where will completed work be turned in or checked?

3.   Choose opportunities for movement that can be easily 
      managed.

• One simple way to begin incorporating more movement into your classroom is by setting up a location where students may go to check completed work.  I often have them check it, bring me their paper, and report their score.  This gets kids up out of their seats.  Limit the number of students who can be at this "checking" location at one time.  It works best if they have another task to be working on while they wait their turn, or if they check during work time because all students won’t finish at once.
• Bellwork is an opportune and efficient time to get kids moving in a controlled way.  I project a Google slide listing two or three tasks for students to complete.

         Students know where answer keys and handouts 
         are located in my classroom, so they can do these 
         things quickly and quietly.

• Task card activities are perfect for easing movement into your classroom.  To begin, hand each student a card or have a few students at a time pick them up.  Put extra task cards into a container.  As students finish one card, they may check their solution, return the card to the container, select another, and return to their desk.
• Do you have students seated in groups?  Have one student pick up handouts for the entire group.  If there are other materials they will need, have a different student go get those.  Maybe a third student will bring the group’s completed papers to you, return materials, toss scraps, and so forth.
• Have you tried a problem trail?  This is another great way to get students up and moving around your room without it being chaotic.  Check some out here.

Start small and your classroom management skills, confidence, and comfort level will grow from there!