How Having Poor Classroom Management Helped Me Lose 25lbs (And Other, More Evidence-Based Ways of Sneaking Movement into Your Kids' Routine)

Picture it: my first day as a "real" teacher in my dream job, co-teaching in an integrated preschool classroom for four and five-year-olds. I had finally finished my college degree. I was living in a new city, all 15 boxes of my belongings unpacked and neatly put away in my slightly damp and crooked basement apartment. I walked a mile and a half to take an a hour and a half of public transit to my first day of school, toting a Muppets backpack and a sparkly pair of Toms with only a few ventilation holes. I was about to spend a year working 9 hour days and earning a whopping 12 bucks an hour, just slightly less per hour as a college educated lead teacher than I had made as a 15 year old babysitter... I was ecstatic! (And maybe a little off my rocker.) And there I was, as a first-year teacher on her first day of school, carrying more hope, motivation and confidence than I could fit into my Muppets backpack. I stood just inside the doorway of my new classroom--my new classroom, and that's when a little boy I will call Paul came marching on out the door, toward his cubby to grab his backpack and head for the front doors of the building, just down the hall. Those doors led to another set of doors, which led to a parking lot, which led to a highway. I know this very well, because after my 9 hour shift, I walked that route two more miles for another hour and a half of public transit back to my crooked, damp, basement apartment. "That's it," Paul said, "I'm going home!" And I, an overly eager and confident first-year teacher with a Muppets backpack and her own classroom, proceeded to do everything wrong. And I did so right in front of my new boss. I talked too much. I bargained. I begged. I pleaded. I joked. I choked. And then, for the very first time in my life, I took up running as a hobby. It started with chasing Paul out those doors and down the first few rows of parking spots before I scooped him up and carried his hefty body back inside. And it continued with days of chasing, running, being chased, playing, ducking and covering, heavy lifting, dancing, curling up in a fetal position, and, all the while, growing into a far more effective and self-assured teacher. By March, I had lost 25lbs. I came home at times with welts and bruises. I cried at work. Twice. Once in my boss's office. Once in the art supply closet. I questioned whether I was cut out for this work. I questioned whether my boss had actually read my application and resume. And I learned to re-frame the way I saw a day in the classroom. No more did I view it through the lens of "good" day or "bad" day; I learned to see the good moments in every day. Victories were subtle but larger than life, because by March, when Paul ran out the door of the classroom to grab his backpack from the cubbies and head for home, I was right there with him, holding a large sheet of paper and a basket of markers.
"You really want to go home and I want to help you, but there's one problem. I don't know how to get there."
"I know how to get there!" Paul said.
"Can you help me make a map so we can get there together?" I asked.
"Sure, that's easy!" he responded, grabbing the paper, the markers, and heading for a cozy spot behind a play loft back in the classroom. He drew all the places and landmarks he passes each day on his ride home from school. He drew us walking on the rode. He wrote his name and some other letters, too. And then he made a map of the preschool building. And we used it to go on a tour. And in the meantime, as the minutes turned to hours, he forgot all about his plan of escape and we both survived another day.
I got engaged in the middle of the year and moved again when I got married that summer. I packed the same 15 boxes or so, and not much more (12 bucks an hour didn't go so far, as it turns out, and 12 hour days of work and commute didn't afford much time for shopping), but I did have one more thing I brought to my new home with me: a pair of pipecleaner glasses made by Paul. At five years old, with a history of trauma and learning delays, he had experienced more life than I had at over five times his age. I was the teacher, but he taught me. And when he gave me the glasses, he explained that they are to "let me see whatever I want to see." Sure enough, whenever I put them on, I can see my success as a teacher that year. And I can see all the hope and wonder that accompany a child, even one who faces struggles like Paul's. And, just like Paul, wherever I am, I can see Home.
But the one thing that truly stands out to me as a key factor of success in that classroom as well as in any classroom I've been in since (and in my own home) is the importance of large muscle movement. The field of education often elicits images of children sitting stagnantly at desks. Indeed, we are schooled to help children "sit still" in order to create a better learning environment. And, if you ask me, this is counterproductive. Children, particularly under the age of five, are not hardwired to sit still. (I would argue that no human is truly hardwired to sit still, but that's another post in and of itself.) Kinesthetic learning refers to the style of learning that takes place through physical movement and tactile exploration as opposed to through hearing and watching. While some learners are primarily successful through kinesthetic learning, all learners benefit from it. And, as the cooler and shorter days give way to more time indoors, I am reminding myself of the many ways to ensure that movement is incorporated into my daily routine at home--both for our children and for the grownups--even if it means I sneak it in!

 Large muscle or gross motor movement certainly refers to the obvious physical activities, like sports, outdoor play, and games that involve running, jumping, dancing, skipping, etc. You can include a lot of equipment in your gross motor play or no equipment at all. Your body is really all that you need. Many times, we see gross motor activity as something that is restricted to recess/playground times and gym class--but it can definitely be effectively incorporated into structured learning indoors whether it is in the classroom or in your home.  Here are a few ways you can incorporate movement and kinesthetic learning into key pre-K subjects such as learning letters, numbers, shapes and colors:

• Reading and writing do not need to be sedentary activities! When I introduce letters to preschoolers, I provide a variety of means for them to explore them through tactile manipulation (with magnets, puzzles, foam letters, etc) and through larger muscle movement. Using masking tape, you can create the shape of a letter on your floor or rug. Children can trace the letter by walking over it, jumping over it, hopping over it, tip-toeing over it... You can include building materials like blocks for tracing. Providing a toy car to drive around the letter C is a great way to encourage pre-writing skills while teaching the beginning sound of a hard "C." Indeed, many of my students are introduced to the concept of verbs or action words through acting out a movement beginning with a particular letter sound. Jumping jacks are a fabulous way to get your heart rate up while learning the beginning sound a J makes.
• Learning colors can be a challenge for many preschoolers. They are not often isolated in our environment and many shades fall under the same name. Send your child on a color themed scavenger hunt around the house or classroom. How many red objects can they bring back? Both my boys are enrolled in classes in a local gymnastics studio and one of my favorite beginning stretches that they do each week is a rainbow chant in which they sit, legs wide and stretch their arms overhead from side to side in the shape of a rainbow while chanting each color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, indigo!
• Incorporate sorting and separating colors by using color coded buckets and color coded balls, bean bags or other soft objects to toss inside.
• Numbers and early mathematical skills can be introduced through movement by having children choose an action word to carry out a particular number of times. I always incorporated kinesthetic learning into my daily calendar time when I taught in classrooms. A designated "calendar helper" was in charge of updating our daily calendar and also of choosing a verb to have all of the students act out the number of times corresponding to the date. Clapping, jumping, frog hopping, spinning in circles--you name it, we did it, one, two, ten, and even 31 times.
• Shapes are also able to be explored through tactile and physical exploration. They can be traced in the air, traced on the floor, drawn with sidewalk chalk and traced with a tricycle. One favorite activity of ours here is using silk scarves to create shapes in the air as we sing a favorite action song:

We wave our scarves together

We wave our scarves together

We wave our scarves together

Because it's fun to do

We wave our scarves in a circle

We wave them in a circle,

We wave them in a circle

Because it's fun to do!

S loves to choose the shape. There are some pricey play silks on the market, but we just use some fashion scarves from the Dollar Tree. It gets particularly interesting when someone chooses a shape like a hexagon!

Movement for the Less Mobile: Infants and babies may not be up to the developmental stage we most associate with gross motor movement, but they are doing plenty of it and it's so important at this point. While most of the time our play area is set up as a world for S in which Y happens to exist, once in a while, I set up a baby fun zone. S definitely finds ways to enjoy it when he's home and when we have other babies over for playdates, it's great fun to watch them explore and move at their own level. Areas for laying on their back and kicking/grabbing, tummy time, sitting assisted or unassisted, crawling, pulling up, assisted walking or toddling and objects with a variety of textures, shapes and colors all invite your littlest ones to develop vestibular awareness, their little bodies' GPS system.

Gross Motor Equipment, as I've said, is something you can add in or leave out to your discretion. We love using our play tunnel, bean bags for tossing, balls, our fort magic set for large building activities, parachutes, riding toys, hula hoops and child-friendly sports equipment. That said, indoors and out, movement can happen with very few extraneous materials. Many of our own favorite childhood games were follow the leader, red light/green light, Mother, May I?, What time is it, Mr. Fox? and tag. There are plenty of ways to build forts, engage in games and movement and play games with common household materials and additional equipment can often be found on the cheap at secondhand stores or discount stores. Adding unlikely elements to common activities (like turning off the lights and including flashlights and LED lights) can add some spice to the scenario if it gets a little stale.

• Leave the Heavy Lifting to the Kids?! Yes, you read that right! Heavy lifting and moving large objects is a great way for all kids to get moving. Many children actually greatly benefit from this type of activity. One year I had a student who loved to move playground equipment into a line every day. It was initially quite frustrating for the teachers until one day I stepped in and engaged him and his peers into turning it into a more functional game. We had choo-choo trains, airplanes, boats and more--and my little heavy lifter got his movement in!
• Just dance! Oh, we've all been there. The witching hour battles after dinner and before bed or even those moments in the classroom when all is going awry. Sometimes we all just need to turn up the music and dance. You don't need a specific playlist or particular songs and movements--you just need something with a good beat that will get you all moving. Go on and join 'em--it's fun to shake your sillies out.

• If you need some inspiration, YouTube is a great resource for free kids' exercise, Yoga and dancing videos. It's a wonderful way to get moving in new ways and incorporate skills like following instructions. 

• Let them see you do it! It's hard to tell our kids to get moving from a sedentary position ourselves. Let them see you making movement and exercise a priority and enjoying it and they will follow suit. I have stopped feeling guilty about whisking away to the gym because my time there is good for my body and mind and I want my kids to internalize that.
• Sneak it in! Lastly, I'd like to toss in a couple of my favorite ways to sneak in gross motor movement. One is a game I call "How Shall We Get There?" This is the one I whip out when my preschooler doesn't want to leave the playground, the friend's house, etc. "How shall we get to the car?" I ask him. "Shall we walk sideways like a crab or jump like a kangaroo?" And get ready to walk sideways with a slightly perturbed toddler all the way to your car... My second favorite is "What Shall We Do While We're Waiting?" This is the one I reserve for waiting in line or for an appointment or turn with a toy. Shall we jump ten times? Shall we hop on one foot three times? Shall we bear crawl across the rug?

Movement is an integral part of learning and growth. It is also a great tool to combat the winter doldrums for both children and adults. Through creative play, games and also just through allowing children to naturally do what they already do, plenty of movement can happen on a daily basis both outdoors and in. I'm off to get moving myself (blogging is rather a stationary activity for me) and until the next time...

Happy ACTIVE playing!