Taking Brain Breaks During Rigorous Classwork

Brain breaks are intentional, short pauses from academic content when a mental break may be needed. Brain breaks can be effective for re-engaging students in the lesson content and provide a momentary mental respite from complex tasks.

In partnership with Model Teaching, an industry leader in supporting educators, this course will teach you about the different types of brain breaks you can introduce to your students and help you build an implementation plan for brain breaks in classroom. Model...

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3 Months / 1 Course Hrs
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Coastal Pines Technical College

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Taking Brain Breaks During Rigorous Classwork

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Course code: T14901

Discover the power of brain breaks in this course, designed to help you re-energize your students and enhance their focus with intentional, short pauses during lessons. You will learn about various brain break activities and techniques and how to implement them effectively in your classroom. This course includes a downloadable PDF of the content, including examples of brain break ideas, and a planning template that will guide you in implementing these breaks as part of your daily lessons. This training also comes with a BOOST planning template that helps you plan for implementation by keeping in mind the break activity type, your course objective, optimal scheduling, set-up and support, and time.

What you will learn

  • Understand the importance of brain breaks
  • Analyze what brain breaks can look like in the classroom
  • Evaluate ideas for planning and implementing brain breaks into your lessons

How you will benefit

  • Empower your students to become more engaged with challenging lesson topics
  • Improve your classroom culture and relationship with your students
  • Create a more orderly and focused classroom as students learn a structured way to renew their energy by taking a mental break

How the course is taught

  • Self-Guided, online course
  • 3 Months access
  • 1 course hours
  1. Brain Breaks Course Content
    1. The video and article will provide you with examples of brain breaks and ideas for implementing them throughout your lessons. The course also includes some "Reflect or Discuss" prompts to help you connect with the course content and ends with a "Try This Task" to guide you explicitly on how you might implement the ideas into the classroom.
  2. Quiz
    1. You will answer questions related to brain breaks in your classroom activities. Quizzes are automatically scored and provide feedback on answer choice rationale.
  3. Implementation Reflection
    1. The reflection prompt requires you to plan for use of the "try this task" by either reflecting on the content yourself or discussing them with the colleague. You will then discuss a new concept you can attempt to implement in the future based on something you learned in the course.
  4. Considerations for Implementation
    1. This short statement helps you reflect on your ideas and assess whether you might be successful in your implementation.
  5. Videos and Further Reading
    1. Additional content suggestions are provided to enhance and expand your understanding of brain breaks, when they should be used, and how they can be incorporated into your regular lesson activities.
Self-Study

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

  • This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

  • PC: Windows 10 or later.
  • Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
  • Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
  • Microsoft Word Online
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader
  • Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

  • Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.
  • Editing of a Microsoft Word document is required in this course. You may use a free version of Microsoft Word Online, or Google Docs if you do not have Microsoft Office installed on your computer. Model Teaching can provide support for this.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Your course begins immediately after you enroll.​

You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

Strategies to Check for UnderstandingFundamentalsClassroom Management ProcessesFundamentalsCollaborative Learning in the ClassroomFundamentalsBehavior Strategies for Improved Testing PerformanceFundamentalsAligning Homework to InstructionFundamentals
Fundamentals
Strategies to Check for Understanding
Fundamentals
Classroom Management Processes
Fundamentals
Collaborative Learning in the Classroom
Fundamentals
Behavior Strategies for Improved Testing Performance
Fundamentals
Aligning Homework to Instruction