When I was at uni studying psychology, I remember a lecturer telling us that our brains would only focus intently on a single subject for around twenty-five minutes. He therefore included a joke, or a ‘stand up and turn around’ activity into the middle of each of his hour long lectures.
As educators and parents, we would call this skill, ‘the ability to pay attention,’ and I’m pretty sure that a child’s attention span is shorter than twenty-five minutes. When we add to that knowledge the various learning needs experienced in a modern classroom we can understand that we teachers regularly over-reach and can create a bit of extra stress for our students. This is where ‘brain breaks’ can help ease the pressure and help students to recharge their brains and be able to more readily refocus.
Elizabeth Mulvahill in We Are Teachers tells us that…
“‘Whether kids are learning at home or in the classroom, it’s important to build time into schedules for brain breaks. Maybe they need a movement break to get the wiggles out? Or a quiet moment to just stay still? Research shows that giving kids frequent brain breaks to reset their energy level improves their ability to focus, retain more, and stay on task.’”
I decided to go and ask educators in the staffroom at lunchtime to share with me their favourite brain breaks. These were some of their ideas; five minute silent ball; tenting fingertips at the chest and pushing against their finger pads sequentially; sending students on a run where they had to touch specific items (go down a slide, touch a fence, touch something green blue and yellow); jokes time (repeat after me: One smart fellow he felt smart, two smart fellows they felt smart, three smart fellows etc…repeat fast); closing eyes and humming; dancing (everyone loves the macarena); counting to 10 as a class but only one random person at a time, if two say the same number go back to the beginning; breaking into pairs and counting to three one word/person at a time together and then replacing the numbers with claps, or clicks, or stamps; my therapy puppy Elsie was also mentioned. Ultimately anything that involves moving the body and refreshing the screen of the mind. Bek in admin liked the idea of sending kids on a quest and shared her memory of Donkey in Shrek being sent to find a flower. You can watch this scene for a laugh.
I need brain breaks myself. Yesterday I was doing a crossword and stuck on a clue. I decided to take Elsie for a walk and when I got back I solved the clue easily. It’s amazing how shifting focus and moving can refresh the screen of our mind and allow it to function optimally.
We are coming to the end of a long wintery term. Our student’s brains could do with an extended break. Make sure to include some movement, down time, fun and laughter. They really are the very best medicine. To end I’d like to share a news story from Behind The News (BTN) last week; Did you know China has passed a law limiting children’s screen time to three hours a week in an attempt to curb the increasing rate of video game addiction? Watch the story yourself.
Annie Joy — Acting Head of Teaching and Learning