Movement Doesn't Always Have to be Big to Count

In Activate, I write about rigorous movement breaks to help students' brains oxygenate and prepare for intellectual load. While it's true that cardiovascular exercise accomplishes the goals we so often aim for in the classroom—focus, organization, time/task management, and such—sometimes our kids just need to sit in a different position.

It isn't news to say that sitting in a chair all day isn't good for us. If you've read Activate or any of the research on exercise and brain function, then you also know that sitting all day isn't good for mental acuity. But, Katy Bowman (renowned biomechanist and author of many books, including Move Your DNA) wants us to recognize that it isn't the chair itself that's evil; it's the inactivity we default to when sitting in one.

Many people have traded in their chair for a standing mat, but now stand still for much of the day, which isn't a very big improvement over sitting all day. What we want is to increase the number of minutes we spend actually moving, and we want to increase the variety of positions in which we rest when we do rest.

In school, "flexible seating" is all the rage and for good reason. When a student switches out his chair for a bean bag on the floor, he's provided some amount of movement that helps his body remain flexible and strong and helps his brain stay alert.

Changing from a floor seat to a standing work station does the same. Adding calf stretches and ankle rotations while standing creates even more movement opportunity to the standing position. Using exercise balls in the classroom provides a seating option that is a bit lower than a traditional chair, offering variety for hips and leg muscles, as well as a chance to engage the body in a balance challenge.

Creating opportunities and spaces for students to change their body position throughout a class session and throughout the day is a great way to ease into the 'movement' movement. This is also an excellent option for classes and schools where recess and other physical activity is already built into the school day.

For example, in the school I currently teach in, I don't have to do rigorous dance, run, or fast-walk breaks with my students as much as I did in my former school, because we've built movement breaks into the day and every student has 30 minutes of recess every day. However, we still take stretch breaks after long spans of intellectual work (say every 25 minutes or so), and we utilize a variety of seating and standing options.

What are some simple ways you can build minor moves into your class flow?