Format

Workshop

First Presenter's Institution

Lakeside Educational Network

First Presenter’s Email Address

nathans@lakesidetraining.org

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Nathan Swanson LPC, NBCC started his career as a 5th grade teacher in the Philadelphia School District. Desiring to find new ways to help students who had experienced trauma, he left teaching to pursue a master's degree at Eastern University in Community and Clinical Counseling. While earning his master's degree he worked as a Behavioral Therapist in the Philadelphia suburbs. After earning his master’s degree, Nathan was a Family-Based Therapist working with families whose children returned from Psychiatric Inpatient Hospital Stays. Deciding to start a family, he began at Lakeside as an In-School Counselor where he provided Outpatient Counseling to students in grades K-12 and consulted with teachers and school administrators. Nathan brings his diverse classroom and clinical experiences to his current position as a Coordinator of NeuroLogic Coaching Services.

Location

Session Nine

Strand #1

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Strand #2

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Relevance

Academic success is crucial to students success in school. Classroom lessons need to be engaging and incorporate simple neuroscience to get the best of the limited time teachers have instructing students. This instruction time can be amplified if students regulation needs are considered and met. One way to do just that is through the correct utilization of brain breaks. Simple activities that can be down on a routine basis or spontaneously when needed. when done right these activities can help students wake up, calm down and focus depending upon the need at hand.

Brief Program Description

Do you have times when students are disengaged? Are they too squirrely to sit still? Or too tired to pay attention? During this session we examine how best in the moment to assess what kind of brain break your students need. We also look at how to build brain breaks into your classroom lessons and routines in order to increase student engagement and academic retention

Summary

In this session, we take a deep dive into exploring the uses and purposes of a brain break. Do you have times when students are disengaged? Are they too squirrely to sit still? Or too tired to pay attention? Do you ever have difficulties gaining the attention of the class before you start a lesson? During this session we examine how best in the moment to assess what kind of brain break your students need. We also look at how to build brain breaks into your classroom lessons and routines in order to increase student engagement and academic retention. WE will look at several examples of brain breaks from each type that can be used with different age groups of students. We will go over best practices of implementing brain breaks and ways of troubleshooting common problems. We will finally explore how brain breaks can be used to enhance social skills, reinforce academic concepts, and spark creativity.

Evidence

Plenty of research has been done that shows breaks, especially breaks involving movement help students learn more. here are just a few:

  • Results from study indicate that children who were given aerobic-only movement breaks had slightly larger gains in reading achievement and physical activity levels than children who were given academic-based breaks (Fedewa et al., 2018)

  • It was concluded in one study that daily brief coordinated-bilateral activities can improve attention and concentration in fifth-grade students over the course of four weeks (Harris et al., 2018)

  • The results indicated that brain breaks that related to the subject content and used moderate amounts of movement achieved the best results in terms of combined enjoyment and refocus time (Weslake & Christian, 2015)

  • Research has shown that students learn more quickly after they’ve exercised. In one study, students learned vocabulary words 20 percent faster after exercising. Exercise also reduces stress and anxiety, making it easier to focus on important tasks (Schmidt-Kassow et al., 2013)

  • Article - https://wpde.com/news/local/experts-say-including-brain-breaks-during-school-helps-kids-refocus-and-learn

Learning Objective 1

Participants will be able to understand the function and purpose of different types of brain breaks to assess and execute the best brain break for any given moment.

Learning Objective 2

Participant will be able to effectively incorporate brain breaks in lesson planning to increase student engagement and academic retention

Learning Objective 3

Participant will be able to use brain breaks to support social skills, academic concepts, and creativity.

Keyword Descriptors

brain break, academic achievement, focus, brain-based intervention

Presentation Year

2024

Start Date

3-6-2024 11:15 AM

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Mar 6th, 11:15 AM

Exploring Brain Breaks

Session Nine

Do you have times when students are disengaged? Are they too squirrely to sit still? Or too tired to pay attention? During this session we examine how best in the moment to assess what kind of brain break your students need. We also look at how to build brain breaks into your classroom lessons and routines in order to increase student engagement and academic retention