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Relevant Professional Development During COVID. (hint it has to do with play)

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You can take the Principal out of the Happiest Place in Southeastern Minnesota, but you can’t take the play out of the Principal.

Katy Smith has drilled into me the importance of play, in all grades. So how does one incorporate play based professional development, in a middle school, during COVID?

Enter Jessica White Stanley, Ellis Middle School Instructional Coach, Tina Strauss Henely, Ellis Middle School Tech Coach and Lana Peterson, consultant from the University of Minnesota Learning Technologies.

During the course of the year this team has developed play-lists, makerspaces, and even outdoor space activities for professional development. This past week our entire school staff participated in a flexible day of play with brain breaks.

The day started with reviewing the research and science behind play in the middle grades.

Next staff (teachers, paraprofessionals and office staff) found a partner and went through three learning stations during the course of the day.

  • Innovation FTLA – Physical Activity Brain Breaks 
    1.  Yoga 
    2.  12 days of fitness 
    3. Breath- Coordinated Toe Touches 
  • Inquiry FTLA – No supplies needed Brain Breaks 
    1.  Egg, Chicken, Cow, Human 
    2.  Mime 
    3.  Observation Deck 
  • IMC – basic supplies needed Brain Breaks 
    1.  Play-Dough Brain Breaks 
    2.  Dice Breaks 
    3.  Squiggle story 

The last part of the activity was a post-reflection via Padlet in which staff collaborated on the following questions:

How are you currently using Brain Breaks? Brain Breaks using no supplies, Brain Breaks using supplies, and Physical Activity Brain Breaks. Staff also gave us suggestions for materials and equipment we could consider purchasing to enhance our toolkits for brain breaks in our block schedule.

Feedback from Staff great use of our time today.

During COVID-19 we have had to get really creative of how, when and what we do with our professional development time. Also during COVID-19 we have had a chance to collaborate, connect and find ways to incorporate essential skills that benefit students, and staff.

So how might you engage in a little play today?

Jessica Stanley’s Resources From Professional Development Play Day

Egg, Chicken, Cow, Human

This is a fun variation to rock, paper, scissors… try it out if a few groups are in the FTLA!

  1. Everyone in the room starts as an egg. They hold their arms at their sides to make an egg shape. Eggs can only challenge other eggs. The two eggs do one round of rock, paper, scissors. The winner of that round becomes a chicken. The loser of the round stays an egg.
  2. Chickens flap their wings and find other chickens. Chickens can only challenge other chickens. The two chickens do one round of rock, paper, scissors. The winner of this round becomes a cow. The loser of this round goes back to being an egg.
  3. Cows moo 😊 and find another cow. Cows can only challenge other cows. The two cows do one round of rock, paper, scissors. The winner becomes a human. The loser of this round goes back to being an egg.
  4. The object is to become a human.

To make this go faster you can allow students to remain at their present stage.

Mime

Directions:

  1. Have students get into pairs.
  2. One student will do a set of actions that, without talking, the other student will mirror.
  3. Do this for a minute and then switch roles.

Observation Deck

  1. Have students pair up
  2. They will face each other and answer the following questions with their partners: Any low risk questions work!

Which is better? Sweet or sour candy? Why?

Are you a dog or cat person? Why?

  • Students then stand back to back
  • Teacher tells students to change 1-3 things about their appearance. For example: roll up a sleeve, unzip a jacket, take off glasses, etc.
  • Have student face each other and see if they can observe what has changed.

Yoga

Breath- Coordinated Toe Touches

  1. Start by standing with legs approximately three feet apart, bringing arms up to a T-position.
  2. Guide students to inhale deeply through the nostrils
  3. Twisting at the hips, have students reach with one hand to the opposite foot (for example, left hand touches the right foot), while exhaling through the mouth (see diagram A)
  4. Guide student to inhale deeply while slowly going back to the standing T-position (see diagram B)
  5. Have students repeat on the opposite side (for example, right hand touches left foot) while exhaling (see diagram C).
  6. Repeat as time allows

The key is to encourage students to coordinate the movement with the breath. Each student will fall into a different pace and this is fine. They should move at the pace their breath naturally established for them.

Play-Dough Brain Breaks (about 4 minutes)

12 Days of Fitness

12- jumping Jacks

11- Raise the roofs (pump hands overhead towards celling)

10- knee lifts

9- side stretches

8- jogs in place

7-giant air punches

6- air kicks to the front

5- side twists

4- jumping ropes

3 – muscle pumps (pump arms)

2- scissors (feet shoulder width apart and criss-cross feet)

1-stork stand- balance on one foot

Supplies needed: Playdough

  1. Have students find a partner. Decide who is partner A and who is partner B.
  2. Partner A has 1 minute to make an animal (or anything they want! You can assign a category or leave it open).
  3. Partner B will get 3 tries to guess the animal.
  4. Switch. Now Partner B gets 1 minute to make an animal
  5. Partner A will get 3 tries to guess the animal

Variation: This activity can also be done with Legos

Dice Breaks

Supplies needed: Dice Breaks handout and dice

  1. Have students choose the color column
  2. Roll the dice and have student complete the activity
  3. Repeat as times allows

Squiggle Story

Supplies needed: paper with squiggles, markers, crayons, pens, etc.

1.  pass out a ½ sheet of paper with a pre-printed squiggle or have students draw a squiggle on their paper.

2. With their non-dominant hand have them turn the line into a picture or design of their choice. Give students 1-2 minutes to complete the drawing.

3.Turn and talk:  give students 30 seconds to explain their drawing to an elbow partner.

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