WTS 1 & 2

Movement Breaks in the Classroom

Janessa Bechard
Saint Marys University of Minnesota
Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs
Portfolio Entry for Wisconsin Teacher Standard 1 & 2
EDUW 691 Professional Skills Development
Caroline Hickethier, Instructor
December 6, 2016

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Selected Wisconsin Teacher Standard Descriptors

Wisconsin Teacher Standard (WTS) 1: Teachers know the subjects they are teaching.
The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the
discipline(s) he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of
subject matter meaningful for students.
Knowledge. The teacher understands major concepts, assumptions, debates, processes
of inquiry, and ways of knowing that are central to the discipline(s) s/he teaches.
Dispositions.

The teacher appreciates multiple perspectives and conveys to learners

how knowledge is developed from the vantage point of the learner.

Performances.

The teacher can create interdisciplinary learning experiences that

encourage students to integrate knowledge, skills, and methods of inquiry from several subject
areas.
Wisconsin Teacher Standard (WTS) 2: Teachers know how children grow.
The teacher understands how children with broad ranges of ability learn and develop, and
can provide instruction that supports their intellectual, social, and personal development.
Knowledge. The teacher understands how learning occurs-how students construct
knowledge, acquire skills, and develop habits of mind-and knows how to use instructional
strategies that promote student learning for a wide range of student abilities.
Dispositions.

The teacher appreciates individual variation within each area of

development, shows respect for the diverse talents of all learners, and is committed to help them
develop self-confidence and competence.
Performances.

The teacher accesses students thinking and experiences as a basis for

instructional activities by, for example, encouraging discussion, listening to group interaction,

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and eliciting samples of student thinking orally and in writing.

Danielson Domains
Domain 2: Classroom Environment
Component 2a: Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport
Component 2b: Establishing a Culture for Learning
Component 2c: Managing Classroom Procedures
Component 2d: Managing Student Behavior
Component 2e: Organizing Physical Space
Domain 3: Instruction
Component 3a: Communicating Clearly and Accurately
Component 3c: Engaging Students in Learning
Component 3d: Providing Feedback to Students
Component 3e: Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness
Pre-assessments
Self-assessment of Instruction Related to WTS and Targeted Student Learning Objective(s)
For Wisconsin Teaching Standards (WTS) 1 and 2, I want to focus on implementing
movement breaks and other whole-body learning opportunities to help engage all learners in my
class. There are eight girls in my class and fourteen boys. My students are between the ages of
five and six. I have one student who is identified as having Emotional Behavior Disorder (EBD),
one student who is in a wheelchair and requires a special education assistant during all parts of
the day, three students who are identified as having high behavior needs and are supported by
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Tier 2 services, four students who are
English Language Learners (ELL), and three students who receive Speech and Language (SL)

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supports. My focus for WTS 1 and 2 is to implement ways to support active learners in my
classroom.
I chose two WTS 1 and 2 knowledge descriptors to direct my learning process. The first
knowledge descriptor states, The teacher understands major concepts, assumptions, debates,
processes of inquiry, and ways of knowing that are central to the discipline(s) s/he teaches.
What this looks like as a kindergarten educator is that I have to know and understand all areas of
teaching and learning. I need to facilitate the process of children learning how to read; how to
perform basic mathematic functions; how to write persuasive, informative, and narrative pieces;
along with teach appropriate social and emotional behaviors and reactions. The other descriptor
that I chose states, The teacher understands how learning occurs-how students construct
knowledge, acquire skills, and develop habits of mind-and knows how to use instructional
strategies that promote student learning for a wide range of student abilities. I chose this
knowledge descriptor because there are so many different abilities within my classroom and I
think it is important to be mindful of all of the learners in my class. Active learning is a focus
because it has been noted to be beneficial for all young learners.
The disposition descriptors I chose are an emphasis because they are focuses that I want
to work on as a second year teacher states, The teacher appreciates multiple perspectives and
conveys to learners how knowledge is developed from the vantage point of the learner. Due to
the fact that I am shaping such young minds, it is especially important to show students that each
and every perspective is important and that there are multiple ways to come to a conclusion.
Closely related, The teacher appreciates individual variation within each area of development,
shows respect for the diverse talents of all learners, and is committed to help them develop selfconfidence and competence. I find it so very important to allow students to make mistakes and

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grow as learners. Each student comes into kindergarten with a variance of self-confidence and
academic understanding. By incorporating movement breaks throughout the day, students are
able to feel regenerated and ready for learning, which in turn could increase overall participation.
I chose two performance descriptors that will direct my growth as an educator says, The
teacher can create interdisciplinary learning experiences that encourage students to integrate
knowledge, skills, and methods of inquiry from several subject areas. As a kindergarten teacher,
I find it vastly important to connect learning throughout the day. Some movement breaks can
have an academic focus which allows for learning to occur while students are becoming
energized for the next activity. Additionally, The teacher accesses students thinking and
experiences as a basis for instructional activities by, for example, encouraging discussion,
listening and to group interaction, and eliciting samples of student thinking orally and in writing
is extremely important as an educator of young learners. Movement can play a key role in
successful learning for five and six year olds. Children need a variety of instructional activities to
keep them engaged and on-task to increase their learning engagement.
Assessment of Student Performance Related to Targeted Student Learning Objective(s)
At the beginning of the school year, I did not implement many brain breaks. Brain breaks
are physical activities that often times allows for a short break from academics. Brain breaks
allow for students to energize their brains and refocus on their learning. I implemented roughly
two per day throughout the course of five hours of classroom time. Through my observations,
my students were much wigglier and had a challenging time concentrating. In kindergarten there
are not a lot of universal academic assessments besides collecting baseline data to see where
each student is at as they enter elementary school. Using beginning-of-the-year assessment data
is not a clear indicator of how effective students were learning due to the fact of the timeline of

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the assessments and time of the school year.

Assessment of Learning Environment While Learning Targeted Objective(s)
During the period of time the brain breaks were not being used frequently in the
classroom, there were many more Significant Behavior Reports being sent home. There were 22
Significant Behavior Reports sent home between September 1, 2016 and September 30, 2016
compared to 16 Significant Behavior Reports between October 1, 2016 and October 31, 2016.
Significant Behavior Reports are written when a major behavior has occurred. Some of the major
behaviors that have occurred in my classroom this year are behaviors include hitting, kicking,
spitting, or punching peers or staff, repeated disruption and repeated defiance. This information
is tracked by using a web-based information system, SWIS Suite.
Assessment Conclusion and Essential Question to Guide Research
Through self-assessment, assessment of student performance, and learning environment
assessment it is shown that it is very important to implement many movement breaks throughout
the school day for my group of very active, young learners. Rigorous standards are placed on
these very young learners; some who have no experience with school prior to kindergarten. I
believe that implementing more movement breaks throughout the school day will help these
young learners focus on learning the necessary content without having as many distracting
behaviors. The essential question to guide my research will be How does using physical activity
brain breaks affect student engagement in the elementary classroom?
Research Summary
Physical activity is extremely important for all learners, especially young children.
Students spend many waking hours at school, approximately 28 hours per week. Students are
asked to sit and listen to lectures and lessons throughout the entire day. As an educator it is so

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important to keep lessons engaging and full of movement. There is a great deal of evidence
explaining the importance of implementing movement breaks throughout the day, along with
other physical activities.
According to many different sources, children need many physical activity minutes per
day and as educators we are failing at providing these minutes, at the elementary school level,
physical education time typically ranges from 30 to 60 minutes per week. Less than four percent
of elementary schools offer daily physical education and only 13.7 percent offer it three days a
week (Lee et al., 2007) this is closely related to what Fakhouri, Hughes, Burt, Song, Fulton,
Ogden, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014) said about the amount of
children who are meeting the suggested requirements of physical activity per day, it is estimated
that by 12 years of age, fewer than half of U.S. children are meeting the requirements to obtain at
least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity each day (p.5). This is
leading to many concerns for children and educators. Children are more likely to exert off-task
behaviors in the classroom along with exhibiting more negative health concerns. These health
concerns include, type 2 diabetes, elevated blood pressure and low HDL cholesterol (Grieco,
Jowers, Errisuriz, & Bartholomew, 2016). Children need to be engaged in physical activity more
often than they are in the general education classroom.
It is extremely important to incorporate movement breaks in the classroom to engage
learners and allow opportunities to exert physical energy. As stated by Hall, Little, and Heidorn
in 2011, The establishment of a comprehensive school physical activity (CSPAP) has emerged
as a potential strategy to increase the level of physical activity of students in school (p. 41). The
CSPAP has been implemented by the National Association for Sport and Physical Educator
(NASPE). There are many requirements to meet to be considered CSPAP.

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A CSPAP should include: (1) quality physical education classes as the instructional
foundation of the program (provided by a certified physical education teacher), (2) daily
recess, (3) regular activity breaks in the classroom, (4) the integration of physical activity and
academic content, and (5) opportunities for participation in physical activity before school,
after school, and during the lunch hour (Hall, Little, & Heidorn, 2011, p. 41).
Teachers have such an important role in providing physical activities in the classroom. There are
many ways to incorporate physical activities in the classroom. Movement breaks can be utilized
during transitions between subjects, start-the-day routines, walking breaks, and also indoor and
outdoor teacher-led games (Hall, Little, & Heidorn, 2011). Teachers need to know the difference
between low, moderate, and vigorous physical activities. With the ability to differentiate these
types of activities, it will allow for time to move with the necessary activity level.
It is crucial to incorporate many movement breaks throughout the school day; there are
many benefits of encouraging physical activity, with one being to benefit the brain. According to
Jensen:
Exercise does several things for the brain. First, it enhances circulation
so that individual neurons can get more oxygen and nutrients. Second, it may spur the
production of nerve growth factor, a hormone that enhances brain function. Third, gross
motor repetitive movements can stimulate the production dopamine, a mood-enhancing
neurotransmitter. Finally, when done in sufficient mounts, we know that exercise enhances
the production of new cells in the brain (2008, p.38)
By allowing for opportunities for physical activity within the classroom, the brain and body
benefit in many ways. Educators are constantly striving for their students to be the healthiest they
can be; exercise is one of the ways to increase health of the brain and body.

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As an educator it is important to promote and implement many physical activity breaks

within the school day. Movement breaks may include, but are not be limited to, walking breaks,
transition breaks, and start-of-the-day routine movement breaks. These movement breaks can
help decrease the amount of health risks among young children, along with increasing on-task
behaviors in the classroom.
Research Implications
My question to guide my research was: How does using physical activity brain breaks
affect student engagement in the elementary classroom? Throughout my research and own
reflection, I learned that it is very important to include many opportunities for physical activities
in the classroom. I will now be taking level of intensity into consideration. From the research that
I conducted, there are different levels of intensity for physical movement breaks. I want to focus
on the high intensity activities because these exercises allow for more oxygen to flow to the
brain. Research implies that students who have a higher amount of physical activity breaks will
have higher engagement within the classroom.
Research-based Action Plan
Action Plan Summary Outline
1. Begin implementing brain breaks during problematic locations within the school
building along with times during the day where problematic behavior is increased. I will look at
data on SWIS Suite to determine when physical activities need to be implemented to break up
instruction.
2. After looking at SWIS Suite data to see when most significant behaviors occur, I will
be alternating between low intensity and high intensity physical activities to see which one are
most beneficial for my students.

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3. I will continue to add to my collection of activity breaks. I have a culmination of brain

breaks in a digital form along with hard copy versions of physical activities.
Targeted Student Learning Objective(s)
The Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards A.EL. 2 Engages in meaningful
learning through attempting, repeating, experimenting, refining, and elaborating on experiences
and activities.
Task(s) and Essential Proficiency Criteria for Targeted Learning Objective(s)
1. Task: Student will exhibit an increase of engagement throughout the school day.
2. Criteria that Prove Proficiency in Meeting Targeted Learning Objective(s)
a. Decrease Significant Behavior Reports needing to be written and
collected in SWIS Suite database. PBIS suggests that only five percent of students are
identified in the Tier 3 area and 15 percent of students fall into the Tier 2 area of the
Three-Tiered Prevention Approach (Artifact B).
b. Increase of overall scores on formative and summative assessments
(core subjects such as writing and math).
Method to Assess Progress of Proficiency for Targeted Learning Objective
Track the amount and motive of each Significant Behavior Report (Artifact C).
SWIS Suite data will show data trends for behavior and perceived motivation.
Additionally, academic data will be assessed to see if there has been an increase in
learning which is closely correlated with student engagement.
Post-assessments
Instructional Insights Related to WTS and Targeted Student Learning Objective(s)

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Due to the fact that I have such an active group of children this school year, I am certain
that by implementing additional and intentional physical activity movement breaks, students will
have a higher level of engagement. According to SWIS Suite, the main targeted behavior for my
class is physical aggression. By allowing for frequent movement breaks, children would be able
to exert their energy in a positive and effective way. I have been implementing physical
movement breaks at problematic areas. In my class, we have an hour of independent work time
during Daily 5 time in the morning. Problematic behaviors occur during this time so I have been
using an increasing amount of brain breaks to help transition my students to the next activity to
make sure their bodies and brains are ready to learn. I have also been including many intentional
movement breaks throughout the school day when I observe that children are becoming
unfocused and wiggly.
Like I mentioned before, there were 22 Significant Behavior Reports sent home between
September 1, 2016 and September 30, 2016, compared to 16 Significant Behavior Reports
between October 1, 2016 and October 31, 2016. After reviewing the SWIS Suite data, there were
19 Significant Behavior Reports sent home in November after I began implementing more
meaningful and intentional physical activity movement breaks. While the core number may not
seem like a win in the classroom, it was. Once I looked closer at the data, I noticed that the 22
reports that were documented in September were for four students total, which results in about
7.33 SBR (Significant Behavior Report) per student. In October there were 16 SBR for only two
students, which breaks down to eight SBR per student. In November, the number of students
who received an SBR went up to four students with a total of 19 SBR, which calculates to 4.5
SBR per student. This data shows that there was a decrease in the amount of SBR per child in my
class. This information can be seen in Artifact A.

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While I do not have concrete evidence to show that engagement levels have increased, I
do have documentation to show that there has been a decrease in SBR per student in the
classroom environment. This data suggests that there are less significant behaviors occurring
which allows for an increase in student engagement.
Comparison of Student Performance Related to Targeted Student Learning Objective(s)
The end goal is to increase student engagement by implementing physical activity
movement breaks while decreasing significant behaviors within the classroom. The Wisconsin
Model Early Learning Standards A.EL. 2 Engages in meaningful learning through attempting,
repeating, experimenting, refining, and elaborating on experiences and activities is the learning
objective that this is focusing. This is an important focus because students need to be engaged
in their learning and the learning activities. Having a decrease in the amount of SBR per student
within the classroom (Artifact A) implies that there has been an increase in student engagement.
Comparison of Learning Environment While Learning Targeted Objective(s)
While I have noted some change in my classroom environment in the past month, I
envision seeing more and more positive changes while targeting student engagement within the
classroom. As students become more familiar with the increase of physical activity breaks in the
classroom, ideally all physically aggressive behaviors will decrease. If physically aggressive
behaviors decrease, it will allow for a much more welcoming and inviting environment.
Reflection of Entire Learning Process
My question to guide my research was: How does using physical activity brain breaks
affect student engagement in the elementary classroom? I focused on the WMELS student
learning objective about student engagement, Engages in meaningful learning through
attempting, repeating, experimenting, refining, and elaborating on experiences and activities. I

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have learned that by using meaningful and intentional physical activity movement breaks,
students will exert energy in a positive and effective way. By exerting energy in this way, there
will be less significant behaviors that occur in the classroom, which allows for an increase in
student engagement.
What Worked and Why
1. Researching physical activity movement breaks for the classroom allowed for in-depth
thinking about intentional movement breaks that are effective for elementary-aged children.
2. Looking at the data on SWIS Suite allowed for me to break down the problematic
behaviors, motivations, and time of the day when my class has an increase in significant
behaviors. Using this information allowed for me to plan purposeful movement breaks for my
young learners.
What Did Not Work and Why
1. Due to scheduling, movement breaks are not always a possibility. Due to the nature of
our schedule, I was not able to put an intentional daily movement break in during our writing
block. We are crunched for time during writing and there is no wiggle room based on our
instructional minutes requirement administered by our principal
2. While physical movement breaks are very beneficial for the majority of the students in
my class, I have to remember that I have some very challenging behaviors that need additional
support beyond the general education classroom.
My Next Steps
1. Share my research with my colleagues. There are five kindergarten teachers in my
school, and I believe this information is very beneficial and important to share to better
understand the needs of our young learners.

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2. Continue implementing intentional movement breaks as necessary throughout the

school day.
3. Continue monitoring data from SWIS Suite to target problematic behaviors and time of
the instructional day.

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References
Fakhouri, T. I., Hughes, J. P., Burt, V. L., Song, M., Fulton, J. E., Ogden, C. L., & Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, (2014). Physical activity in U.S. youth aged 12-15
years, 2012. NCHS Data Brief. Number 141. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention
Grieco, L. A., Jowers, E. M., Errisuriz, V. L., & Bartholomew, J. B. (2016). Physically active vs.
sedentary academic lessons: A dose response study for elementary student time on task.
Preventive Medicine, 89, 98-103. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.05.021
Hall, T. J., Little, S., & Heidorn, B. D. (2011). Preparing classroom teachers to meet students' physical
activity needs. JOPERD: The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 82(3), 40-45.

Implementation of the three-tiered prevention approach (2008, March 27). Retrieved

November 25, 2016, from www.pbis.org/common/cms/files/pbisresources/
APBS_Tobin_Dickey.ppt
Jensen, E., & Jensen, E. (2008). Brain-based learning: The new paradigm of teaching.
Thousand Oaks, CA.: Corwin Press.
Lee, S. M., Burgeson, C. R., Fulton, J. E. and Spain, C. G. (2007), Physical education and
physical activity: Results from the school health policies and programs study 2006.
Journal of School Health, 77: 435463. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2007.00229.x
Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards: Documents. (2016, October 17). Retrieved
November 24, 2016, from http://www.collaboratingpartners.com/wmels-documents.php

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Artifact A

Significant Behavior Concerns

25

20

15

10

0
September (3 students) 7.33 per
student

October (2 students) 8 per student

November (4 students) 4.5 per student

Artifact A compares the amount of significant behavior reports (SBR) that were written in the
months of September, October, and November. I divided the amount of SBR by how many
students received an SBR during that time frame. November had a very obvious decrease in the
amount of SBR per student.

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Artifact B

~5%
~15%

Primary Prevention:
School-/ClassroomWide Systems for
All Students,
Staff, & Settings

Tertiary Prevention:
Specialized
Individualized
Systems for Students
with High-Risk Behavior
Secondary Prevention:
Specialized Group
Systems for Students
with At-Risk Behavior

~80% of Students

Artifact B shows the breakdown of the different PBIS Tiers. Approximately 80% of students
should fall in the primary prevention area (Tier 1). Approximately 15% of students should fall in
the secondary prevention (Tier 2) area. Approximately 5% of students are identified as needing
Tertiary Prevention (Tier 3) supports.

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Artifact C

Artifact C is an image of our school-wide Significant Behavior Report (SBR). By using this
report, data can be collected about who was involved in the problematic behavior, where it
occurred, what the behavior was, why it happened, and what was the follow through. When
looking at data on SWIS Suite, this data helps our school target problematic behavior.