Explore low or no-cost options for professional development

A story from Texas

In a perfect world, teachers receive continuous, hands-on, comprehensive professional development on how to integrate classroom physical activity into their classroom. Realistically, most teachers have limited time and resources to attend regular professional development opportunities. For those teachers, finding low or no-cost, self-paced options to learn about classroom physical activity might help kickstart change in the amount of physical activity their students receive every day.

We spoke with Samantha Greenleaf, a Reading Instruction Coach for Austin Independent School District, to learn more about her practical advice on professional development for teachers as they consider integrating physical activity into their classrooms.

Key Takeaways

Start with videos. Online videos are a great way to see how other teachers have integrated physical activity into their classrooms. Ms.Greenleaf suggests:

“Find videos of teachers doing classroom physical activity so you can see the benefits. Videos can be very helpful so you can see that physical activity is not a waste of time; instead, it’s an asset that will not pull time from the day.”

Seeing other teachers successfully implement classroom physical activities can inspire others to try something in his or her own classroom. Ms.Greenleaf recommends The Teaching Channel and any videos related to Total Physical Response as examples of effective, easy-to-follow teacher demonstration videos.

Connect with a fellow teacher. Watching a fellow teacher successfully implement classroom physical activity in their classroom also supports learning and builds confidence. Ms. Greenleaf recommends:

“Find someone on your campus who is already doing classroom physical activity. Observe them, and/or have them observe you and provide feedback.”

Facilitating shared learning between teachers can build supportive, collaborative, hands-on learning opportunities and bring more hesitant teachers on board to observe the benefits and ease of integrating physical activity into the classroom.

Start small. No matter how teachers receive professional development – through trainings, videos, or peer mentoring – implementing small changes in a classroom can help classroom physical activity feel less daunting. Ms. Greenleaf suggests finding ways to slowly incorporate classroom physical activity into the daily routine of the classroom. For example, in her classroom she would take a routine she did every day and on “Monday and Wednesday, I would include physical activity in the routine, and on Tuesday and Thursday, I would do [the routine] the same as I always do.” By taking “baby steps,” adding classroom physical activity to the routine doesn’t “completely shake up everything, but allows me to see how students are still being as productive, or even more so.”