When I teach as a TTOC in different classes, I notice a variety of strategies used for DPA (Daily Physical Activity) and also Self Regulation. This article looks a bit at both and I love some of the ideas teachers are using in their classrooms.
I have tried some of the ideas like childrens yoga cards to go to use on the quiet carpet to stretch out, or a bell that signals "leaping lizards" or some other energetic exercise.
One school has "pole to pole" runs where students can go run from one end of the school to the other when they need a break. Another class I was in had regular "brain breaks" with choices of activities such as chair aerobics.
At Cindrich elementary school in Surrey, B.C., 10-year-old boys are putting themselves to bed earlier, an enthusiastic girl in Grade 6 takes herself for a run when she’s feeling hyper, and a diminutive boy who is still learning English tells his teacher he will do better work if he sits on a special cushion.
It is all part of self-regulation, a philosophy of education that is moving into public schools in British Columbia.
Self-regulation ultimately hands the job of taking charge of their learning and their behaviour back to the kids. Teachers look for what is stressing a child and making them unable to pay attention, lethargic, or hyper sometimes to the point where they are out of control. It might be too much noise in the classroom, too little sleep or too much junk food in their lunch. Then the teachers help the child recognize what they need to do to make themselves calm and productive in class.
Stuart Shanker, a distinguished research professor of philosophy and psychology at York University, is the pied piper of self-regulation in the schools. He maintains that Canadian kids do not know what it is to feel calm any more. There is too much stimulation in their lives.
Read the rest of the article here
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