User:Llockrow
Navigation links: ETAP 623 Spring 2024 | Lauren Lockrow's Mini-Course
About Me
My name is Lauren. I am currently a 7th-grade English Language Arts teacher. I graduated from Siena College with a Bachelor’s degree in English Education, certification 5-12. Currently working towards my master’s, the CDIT (Curriculum Development and Instructional Technology) program at SUNY Albany is aiding my professional development with new and improved media literacy, pedagogy, and design skills.
My Topic and Purpose
The topic of brain breaks and how they affect the way students learn, and how to implement them in the classroom is one that many of us deal with daily. Students now more than ever are showing an inability to sit for a short period, concentrate, and be engaged in lessons. For this wiki-page, I aim to cover this topic. After completing the course, you will be able to identify the purpose of brain breaks and utilize them in your classrooms upon demand.
Scope of Learning Outcomes and Content
Learners will be creating a menu of brain breaks to utilize in their classroom. In unit 1, participants will be expected to define brain breaks and understand how they are effective in regaining focus. They will do this by analyzing their attention span. They will also identify the different types of brain breaks and the best time to use various breaks. The goal is for learners to see how implementing focus breaks will promote a growth mindset and a more positive, engaged energy during learning.
Needs Assessment
Problem:
In the book Tools for Teaching, Davis (5) states that “...student attention during lectures tends to wane after approximately 10–15 minutes.” In a school, a typical block time can be anywhere between 40 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes. This poses a problem for educators and students. Their minds are not able to maintain focus for that amount of time, which leads to problems for the educator, as students "check out" or start to misbehave. Brain breaks are designed to help students get more out of the time they spend in a block, as they are given small breaks and the chance to refocus.
The expectation is that a child will attend for 2 to 5 minutes per year of their life.
What is to be learned:
Participants in this mini-course will reflect upon their attention span. And learn about the various ways they can give themselves and students a Brain Break from long tasks. The participant will also create their own brain break board/slides to act as a "menu" when choosing brain breaks. Finally, the participants will devise a way to implement this practice in their teaching and collaborate with other educators on the use of Brain Breaks in the classroom.
Goals:
The goal of this course is to help its participants maximize the time children spend maintaining focus on a task to help students grow to the best of their ability.
Analysis of the Learner and Context
Learners will include anybody in the field of education that are servicing children in and outside of the classroom. This course can also be relevant to anybody who teaches children in any other field or extracurricular activities. The context teachers are using is likely a professional development offered. They can progress through the course at their own pace, accessing materials such as videos, articles, interactive activities, and quizzes to deepen their understanding of brain breaks and how to effectively incorporate them into their teaching practice. Opportunities such as workshops where teachers come together to learn about brain breaks and share best practices. Student benefits would include improved ability to sustain attention during longer academic work. Understanding the neuroscience behind brain breaks can empower students to take control of their learning process. They might even become more proactive in recognizing when they need a break and advocating for themselves accordingly.
Performance-Based Objectives
- Learners will be able to define brain breaks.
- Learners will be able to recognize their own attention span habits.
- Learners will be able to understand how brain breaks can redirect attention during learning
- Learners will be able to construct diverse types of brain breaks.
- Learners will be able to create and implement a brain break plan for their class.
Task and Content Analysis
Participants should have some experience working with grade-level children. Participants should have a pool of learners to try brain breaks in a class, preferably, a sports team, or a club. Participants should have access to a technology device such as an iPad, iPhone, or computer.
Specific learning activities may include the following:
- An assessment for this will be for learners to keep a log of how many times they lose focus and need a brain break. Break in attention resulting in a brain break examples will be provided, such as: checking phone, using social media, zoning out, or any other break in attention.
- -Make a slide deck of brain breaks, categorizing them into the following categories (exercise, meditation, dancing, brain games) Participants show their understanding by researching, collecting and curating different types of brain breaks. Creating a slide deck with the following requirements: labeling type of brain break, instructions on what the break is, graphic design and words of encouragement.
- After learning about how and when to implement brain breaks, learners will show comprehension through doing a live trial run in their classroom or place of learning. Learners will implement their personalized Brain Break routine, (using slide deck from last unit), run their routine for 1 week in their place of learning. They will keep a daily log of when they utilized a brain break, how they knew it was needed, which brain break was chosen and how it helped kids regain focus or maybe was ineffective.
Learning contents and activities will be organized through 3 units:
Unit 1: Attention Span and Brain Breaks
Unit 2: Types of Brain Breaks
Unit 3: Apply Brain Breaks and How to Implement them Effectively
Curriculum Map
| Unit 1 | |
| Target
→ The learner will review how attention span impacts the learning experience. → The learner will learn about brain breaks and why they are used in the classroom |
Task
→ The learner will use a journal to reflect on their own attention span while doing a task. → The learner will reflect on how brain breaks can help individuals to maintain focus. |
| Unit 2 | |
| Target
→ The learner will learn about the various types of brain breaks. → The learner will learn about how different types can be utilized in different ways in the classroom. |
Task
→ Given various sources, the learner will create a slide deck of brain breaks, categorizing them by type |
| Unit 3 | |
| Target
→ The learner will learn how and when to implement brain breaks in the classroom. |
Task
→ The learner will implement their personalized Brain Break routine, (using slide deck from the last unit), for 1 week in their place of learning and keep notes of their experiences in a daily log. → The learner will participate in a reflection to share the best practices they have curated for the use of brain breaks in the classroom. |
Unit 1: Attention Span and Brain Breaks
Unit 3: Implementing Brain Breaks
References and Resources
- Davis, B., (2009). Tools for Teaching, Jossey-Bass, 2nd ed.
- Sager, J., (2022). 14 Ways to Improve Student Concentration That Really Work. TeachStarter. https://www.teachstarter.com/us/blog/10-ways-to-improve-student-concentration-us/.