Ever feel like your class is one brain snap away from absolute chaos… or just asleep at the wheel?
In this episode, I’m giving you a front seat to one of the most powerful — and wildly underused — classroom management tools in your toolbox: brain breaks. But not just for the sake of fun. We’re talking strategic, rapport-building, energy-resetting magic that actually boosts learning, not wastes time.
This is Day 4 of the Kickstart (catch up on previous days if you missed them!) and today is all about what we do in the meaty middle of the lesson — when things can either hum along… or totally unravel. I’ll share the sneaky strategies I used (without knowing they were even strategies back then) to build connection, shift energy, and keep my most disengaged students coming back for more.
Spoiler alert: it's not about being the "cool teacher" — it’s about being a connected, present, values-led one.
Let’s roll the tape.
What you’ll learn:
- What brain breaks actually are (and aren’t)
- 3 go-to brain breaks Claire used to reset student energy on the fly
- Why these simple strategies work (backed by brain science)
- How to use them strategically to build rapport without losing instructional time
- The “credibility flip” every teacher needs to know when transitioning from playful to teacher-led
- Why this is classroom management gold — not fluff or filler
Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!
RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:
- Shop all resources
- Join The Behaviour Club
- My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management
- The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
- Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'
Connect with me:
- Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
- Check out my website
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Oh, hi there, teachers.
Welcome to the Unteachablespodcast.
I'm your host, claire English,and I am just a fellow teacher,
a toddler mama and a big oldbehavior nerd on a mission to
demystify and simplify thatlittle thing called classroom
management.
The way we've all been taughtto manage behavior and classroom
manage has left us playingcrowd control, which is not
(00:22):
something I subscribe to,because we're not bouncers,
we're teachers.
So listen in as I walk youthrough the game changing
strategies and I mean the thingsthat we can actually do and
action in our classrooms thatwill allow you to lean into your
beautiful values as acompassionate educator and feel
empowered to run your room witha little more calm and, dare I
(00:43):
say it, a lot less chaos.
I will see you in the episode.
Hello, fabulous teachers, andwelcome back to day four of the
kickstart.
I am bringing the kickstart fromthe official platform onto the
podcast so I'm able to give yousome snippets on the go.
When I was in the planningphases of the kickstart, I'm
able to give you some snippetson the go.
(01:05):
When I was in the planningphases of the kickstart, I did
put a little poll out and I'mlike, how do you best learn?
And I had a huge amount ofteachers that said, like I need
it on a podcast because I needto, you know, get in the car and
go and I just don't have thetime to sit down and do all of
these things, which I totallyget, I am just.
I think most of the things thatI have learned these days have
been through podcasts or throughsomething audio related.
(01:27):
I'm a big audio book person aswell.
Don't tell me that's notreading.
It's definitely reading, havingan audio book Anyway.
So I wanted to make sure thatyou had access to the kickstart
in whatever way works for you,because these five if you
haven't been listening from thestart, by the way, go back to
day one, which is presence.
(01:47):
It's a few weeks back now.
We're on day four, but thewhole goal of this is just to
give you five really actionablequick wins that you can take
into your classroom, immediatelyimplement to the day-to-day,
and it's just going to boostyour classroom management and
just be just.
I like to call it likesprinkling a little bit of
classroom management intoeverything that you do, because
(02:09):
that's exactly what these littlequick wins do.
They're not the whole picture.
Obviously there's so much thatgoes into classroom management.
But I wanted to make sure thatyou had access to something that
gives you that feeling of hope.
And I know that sounds prettyextreme, but there were parts of
like times in my career where Ijust felt so hopeless with
classroom management and feltlike there was nothing that I
(02:29):
could do to change the situationthat I was in.
So I really do focus now on thestuff that is in our kind of
circle of control, and thesefive things in the kickstart are
exactly that.
I'm kind of following thenatural flow of a lesson.
So the first part, the firstsession, was on presence, all
(02:50):
about our teaching, presence andwhat we do before students even
walk into our classroom, thenentry routine, then setting up
tasks, and now we're talkingabout brain breaks and like kind
of building rapport andtransitions and those kinds of
things that are in the kind of,you know, the meaty part of the
lesson because you get told tobuild a relationship and all
(03:11):
that stuff.
But what does it actually mean?
What does that look like in theday to day?
How can you do that in a waythat's going to still leave you
time for everything else that'son your plate?
So I just wanted to give you afew little tidbits today around
that.
First I want to tell you aboutone of the classes that I had in
my first year of teaching thatclass.
They were beautiful.
They were an English studiessecondary obviously secondary
(03:35):
class.
They were in year 11, goinginto year 12.
And they were just like still,this is one of my favorite
classes.
You know those classes thatjust have a really big impact on
you.
They were the class that, likeeveryone else would have called
like, lazy or like, but theywere just beautiful kids and I
did a lot of leaning into what Ifelt was right, intuitively
(03:58):
with that class.
I didn't know what brain breakswere.
I hadn't heard of upregulationor downregulation, I really was
just following my guts.
And this remember this was aclass that other teachers said
were like lazy and like hard toengage or hard to get involved
in things, really hard to kindof build a relationship with
(04:19):
because there was a lot ofapathetic behaviors.
And if you're a secondaryteacher listening to this and
you've got like those olderstudents, you know that apathy
can kind of set in and I can saya lot about that with, like,
the development of the brain andlike when teenagers brains are
rewiring.
That can seem like like apathy.
Anyway, I'm not going to go allinto that right, because I
wanted these to be really quicksessions Anyway.
(04:40):
So I lent into the the idea ofthese brain breaks.
Like I was happily kind ofallowing them to have a bit of a
game or sing happy birthdayevery okay, I know that's not a
brain break, you know what Imean.
Like I was leaning into thingsthat were building the
relationship.
If I had noticed that thingswere getting a little bit, um,
(05:01):
like low energy, I'd be up anddoing a game with them or having
a joke with them or gettingthem to move around the room in
a certain way.
Like I was just naturally kindof leaning into this stuff.
I had one student in that classthat was just love doing
handstands.
So every opportunity, likeafter we'd done, like a big task
of like okay, now is the time,come and show me your best
handstand, like just littlethings like that.
That I wasn't doingintentionally as a brain break,
(05:25):
but just leaning into what Ifelt like the class needed at
the time.
Um, by the way, I was watchingthe door like a hawk, because
you know leadership, walk in atthat right moment, don't they
like the worst possible momentfor them to walk in to see you
in action.
And I remember my principal atthe time walked in at the exact
(05:47):
moment that I was sitting inamongst the students and one of
my students was doing animpersonation of me which was
pretty damn spot on.
It was hilarious, but I likethe fear that I had in me for
allowing my students to do brainbreaks.
I didn't know then what I knownow, so I didn't know how to
back myself and you know I justimagined getting like pulled
(06:08):
into a room Claire why are wedoing this with your students?
And I probably would have sunkinto a bit of shame or like felt
like a bad teacher.
But now I know that what I wasdoing, even though I was totally
unconscious about the benefitsof it, I know now that I wasn't
wasting time.
I wasn't just trying to be thefun teacher.
(06:29):
I wasn't just like letting thekids mess around.
I was getting them to do theirwork.
I noticed that things weredipping.
I noticed that they werestruggling.
They were a bit of a toughclass and I was able to kind of
like pave a way around to get tothe next task.
That's how I was kind of sayingI'm like, okay, we need to get
here, so let's like, let's dosomething first, or anyway, it
(06:52):
really, really works.
But not only was it brilliantfor the students and their
learning, because they wereengaging in my class and I
didn't know what I was bloodydoing, but the relationships
that I had with those studentswere just so phenomenal.
Did we do our work?
Yes, I did more work with thosestudents than most teachers did
, because they were really hardto engage.
(07:14):
So I didn't know back then whatI know now and I am in a
position now to be able tosupport you with this, which is
fantastic.
So for this day of theKickstarter, I wanted to talk
about rapport, how we can buildrapport, how we can embed that
into the day-to-day, and Iwanted to talk about doing that
through strategic brain breaks,and I'm using brain breaks as
(07:35):
like a bit of a kind of blanketterm for a lot of different
things, and I know that thereare.
There's a lot more I could talkabout with like specific brain
breaks that upregulate atcertain times or downregulate.
You know there's a lot to dowith that kind of stuff when it
comes to brain breaks, but forthe purposes of today's session.
I'm just going to go into a fewstrategies that work to uh, you
(07:57):
know, drop in some rapportthroughout the day, but also do
so in a way that's going to getstudents re-engaged in the
learning and just be a littlebit of magic.
Uh, you don't need a huge,time-consuming plan to build a
strong classroom culture, andclassroom culture is also not
(08:18):
built in a day at the start ofthe year.
It's about creating small,intentional moments that foster
that connection and community ina way that feels natural and
sustainable.
So I'm going to walk youthrough a couple of my go-to
brain breaks that you can usedaily to strengthen
relationships, boost that energyin the room and keep your
(08:39):
students switched on.
So the first thing I want tomake sure you understand is that
community and rapport is not aone and done.
It's something that we do inthe day to day.
Because what building rapportisn't?
It's not a one and done.
It's not easy, it's notinevitable, it's not reliant on
you being the cool teacher, it'snot separate from learning, and
(09:00):
I think that's really importantto say, because when we get
told to just build arelationship, it's almost like
people are saying it's easy, youknow, like, just just do it.
Like are saying it's easy, youknow, like, just do it.
But it's so much easier saidthan done with students who are
tough to engage or teenagers whodon't trust you, like there's
(09:21):
so much more to building rapportthan just going hey, build a
relationship, get to know them,ask them a couple of questions
about themselves and their livesand then, hey presto, you've
got a lovely relationship thatyou're going to be able to
leverage for class yearmanagement.
It just doesn't work that way.
So us understanding thatbuilding rapport isn't a one and
done, it's not something that'seasy for like some.
Sometimes it will be easy forsome students, just like I,
(09:44):
might meet someone and instantlywe connect and we're good pals
and it feels like I've knownthem forever.
But then other people I reallyhave to work at Like it's, you
know, it's not like as humanbeings we can build a rapport
easily with everybody and it'snot reliant on you being the
cool teacher.
You don't have to be I mean,I'm a dorky 36 year old woman
(10:05):
Like I am not the cool teacher I, you know, I don't have to be,
you don't have to be to havebeautiful relationships with
your students.
I might.
Maybe I was a bit cooler backthen with those, those senior
kids, but maybe I was prettydorky.
They knew I was dorky anywayand it's not separate from
learning.
It is a part of learning.
So if I was to be pulled asidenow, if my principal walked in
(10:27):
and said, what were you doingwith those students, like, why
weren't you teaching themanything?
I'd be able to sit down and go,hey, yes, like, absolutely that
was a crucial part of thelearning process because of this
, this, that and the other.
Anyway, so a burden reportisn't that, it is an ongoing
investment, it is a crucial partof your classroom management,
(10:47):
it is strategic, it's consistentand it's such a huge part of
learning.
Buy-in and engagement and brainbreaks are just one way that I
sprinkle that in.
So sprinkle the communitybuilding, sprinkling the rapport
building in a way that you knowdoes a really great job to also
boost that learning.
Brain breaks encourage smalldaily interactions that foster a
(11:09):
sense of belonging andcommunity and felt safety when
you are able to go, hey, youknow what, let's take a bit of a
breather, let's recalibrate,let's do a little bit of a brain
break.
Students are hearing from youlike that you care about them as
human beings and not just aboutwhat they can robotically
produce in that lesson.
And I understand we've got somuch to get through.
(11:30):
But yeah, it's really importantfor us to be kind of taking
that step aside because it thenmakes the learning time so much
more valuable and the quality ofwork.
I've spoken about on a podcastbefore about my senior classes
and about the way that I wasable to like the writing sucked
(11:51):
like it was really hard, theywere tired, and when I started
to just like back myself alittle bit and go actually I'm
going to put some brain breaksin every now and again the
writing that I got from them,the time that I was spending,
was so much more valuable.
Because here's why brain breaksare a little bit of classroom
management magic.
The first thing is that theygive the brain a bit of a reset.
(12:11):
So short breaks give the braintime to rest and reset.
It improves alertness.
When students return to tasks,they're able to get into the
task in a deeper way.
They're more focused.
It switches on the prefrontalcortex.
So if students have just comeback from recess and things are
like oh, and the energy's lowand they need a bit of
upregulation, it can really getthem switching on their
(12:35):
prefrontal cortex.
The second thing is it boostsenergy.
So novel or unexpectedactivities release dopamine, a
neurotransmitter that fuelsmotivation and focus.
This can pull students out oflow arousal by sparking their
interest, and then it gets themmoving and movement activates
the brain and increases arousal,which can then boost alertness
and focus as well.
(12:55):
So if we're thinking about lowenergy and students need to
up-regulate, they can bebrilliant for that.
But of course if we needstudents to down-regulate,
that's a whole different kind ofbrain break and there are
plenty of things that we can dofor that as well.
Like you know, five minutes ofmindfulness do some.
I like to do a little sketchcompetitions and I give them
(13:21):
like pictures to either fill out, or I can do like doodle
competitions, just things thatget students to be mindful and
present in that moment.
There's plenty of things youcan do for downregulation.
The ones that I'm talking aboutare more kind of upregulating,
but you can also use them as adown.
I'll talk you through themanyway.
So the brain breaks that I amgoing to hand over in.
So the ones I'm talking aboutI'm going to be handing over
inside of the kickstart as well.
So if you're not a part of thekickstart and you want to grab
(13:43):
these resources, make sure youcome in and enroll in it.
It's $1.
You just head to the dash onteachablescom forward slash
kickstart.
So these following brain breaksthey're so brilliant for
upregulating when students arefeeling a little bit lethargic
or apathetic, but they also justhelp to sprinkle rapport into
(14:03):
the day-to-day.
They help build that community,they help build that felt
safety and building those thingsis going to help your classroom
management so much.
This is not me saying justbuild a relationship.
This is me saying hey, here arethree really actionable things
that you can do every day tothen help to foster those
relationships and that rapport.
The first one that I absolutelylove is beat the clock.
(14:27):
So in a beat the clock brainbreak challenge, I'll give them
a little challenge that theyneed to complete quietly before
time runs out.
So, for example, list 10animals with scales or list 10
excuses for being late, list 10things that most kids would hate
doing, list 10 things that haveexactly five letters, something
(14:48):
like that.
Then I might depending on theage of the students, I might put
three minutes on the clock andI'll say you have to do that
before time runs out and if theyfinish it before that, if they
do those 10 things, I'll sayokay, keep going, and we're
going to see who gets the mostby the end of the three minutes.
Why this works?
For a variety of reasons.
First up, if they are feeling alittle bit lethargic, it gets
(15:11):
them turning on their thinkingbrains because then you can
transition after that into yourlearning.
But also if you need to downregulate, it's such a brilliant
one for that as well becauseit's a really engaging,
independent, quiet, pen to paperactivity.
So you're able just to get themsitting down, switching on
their thinking brain, doingsomething that's really engaging
(15:32):
, really fun.
But they're doing so quietly inthe moment.
So, like I love it for both ofthose things I'll do beat the
clock all the time, like Iabsolutely love it.
So inside the kickstart youhave a bunch of slides.
I think there's like a hundredbeat the clock slides and
they're really beautiful,they're really engaging.
You can use them every day ifyou want.
That is a part of the kickstart.
(15:54):
The next brain break I love isdoing and this is again Number
one for upregulation if they'refeeling like a little bit
lethargic in their chairs andthey're not really engaging with
the writing or whatever they'redoing.
But I also love this one forchanneling the energy and
channeling that chattiness inthe class.
So the first one rock paperscissors.
(16:15):
And I do like a battle, so Ipartner students up and we play
rock paper scissors.
The winners of each of thosebattles stay standing and
challenges a new winner and thatprocess continues until just
the last champion remains.
The reason I love, love, lovethis as a brain break number one
it's always really engaging forthe students and they
absolutely love it.
You can do some other novelthings around it, like have the
(16:38):
rock paper scissors champion upon the board, or, you know, give
them a special task, like youknow, rubbing off the board when
everyone, or writing somethingon the board when everyone else
is sitting down.
But why I love this?
Right, it's particularly usefulfor when students are really
restless.
They won't sit in their chairs,they're really chatty because
you get them up and moving.
So you're kind of using theenergy in it, like you're just,
(17:01):
you're not having to nag at them, you're not having to, like you
know, threaten them.
You're not having to, likestand there everyone, I'm
waiting, blah, blah, blah.
You're getting them up andmoving and, without needing to
say a word, you'll then havethem back in their seats for you
to transition to calm, teacherled instruction.
And there's just so much buy-in, like you just have everyone
(17:21):
bought into it.
You can transition toteacher-led instruction and you
don't have to say, okay,everyone, my time, your time,
you're wasting, blah, blah, blah.
You'll be able to do it in away that you can transition
really nicely.
Of course, that is easier saidthan done and you've got a
really chatty class, like you'llhave to, really.
If you haven't listened to dayone presence a few weeks back,
(17:42):
please go and do that, becauseyou will need to then transition
from your approachable bodylanguage when you're doing the
box paper scissors battle tothen your credible body language
when you're transitioning intoteacher-led instruction.
So go back and listen to thatif you haven't done so already,
because that's really important.
That's why I started with thaton day one, because that is the
foundation for everything thatyou then do.
(18:05):
The next brain break I love iscount to 20.
So students take turns countingout loud, but only one person
can say a number at a time.
If two students say a number ata time, everyone has to start
over and you win as a class wheneveryone finally reaches 20.
(18:25):
So, for example, I'll say one,somebody else in the class will
go two, but if two students saytwo at the same time we'll be
like, okay, back to one.
It's so hard.
If you've got younger students,maybe count to 10 might be a
better option.
But it's brilliant, and why itworks is that, rather than
getting frustrated at thechattiness in the class, you can
(18:45):
have a game of count to 20 andyou're positively channeling
that energy into a game that'sfun but actually requires them
to stop talking over each otherand they get super competitive.
There's a lot of buy-in andit's just golden for community
building and rapport and that'sjust a bonus.
But again, like the last one,don't forget to transition out
(19:06):
of the game in a really calm andcredible manner.
If you are in the kickstart, ifyou come and join the kickstart,
you also get a bunch ofclassroom games, like it's got
rock paper, scissors, battle andit's got counter 20, along with
a bunch of other games that arereally great to use as brain
breaks.
I call them classroom games.
(19:26):
To use it as a at a pinch can'teven talk today.
Classroom games to use at apinch, because you don't have to
have anything prepped, youdon't have to do anything else.
They come in little cards, um,you can just pick them up and go
.
You don't have to worry aboutanything else.
They're just brain breaks atyour fingertips, nothing else
required, which is why I lovethem.
So they're also in the um, inthe kickstart for you.
(19:51):
So, yeah, just give it a go,just embed a few brain breaks,
just give it a try, just lookaround the room and go hey,
things are a little bit I don'tknow lethargic, tired, like hard
to engage, or maybe a bitrestless, and just give it a go.
So pick one of those, use it,see how you go, see how you get
(20:13):
on, use another one, but yeah,just sprinkle those little
moments of connection andrapport into your lesson whilst
also boosting their engagement.
That's fantastic, isn't it?
It's a little bit of a I wasgoing to say double-edged sword,
but that's probably not theright term for it.
Anyway, I hope that was really,really helpful.
I've said it a million times,but I'm going to say it again If
(20:34):
you want those resources, ifyou want to watch through the
whole Kickstart it's fivesessions, 10 minutes each you
get the resources to implementit immediately.
Five sessions, 10 minutes each.
You get the resources toimplement it immediately.
Come in and join the kickstart.
It's $1, the-unteachablescomforward slash kickstart.
I just want you to come in andsee how the smallest of shifts
(20:54):
in your classroom management, orjust like a couple of things
that you can pop into your dayno extra work, just things
you're already doing, but doingthem with intention I give you
everything to hand over as well.
I just want to show you howpowerful it can be and how
incredible your classroommanagement can be if you just
make a few changes.
And I think that's what'smissing in our teacher.
(21:18):
Teacher training is what'smissing in the support that
we're getting.
We're just not being told like,hey, just do this and things
can be a whole lot easier.
And especially with these brainbreaks that we're talking about
, I fell into a bit of a trapfor a number of years where I
felt so burnt out by teachingand I felt like the joy had been
(21:38):
sucked out of it and I wasresenting it.
I was resenting my students.
I just I lost the joy, I lostthat spark.
When I start to feel like that,I remind myself to bring back a
little bit of joy and thesethings here.
It just breaks up the day andit reminds me of how incredible
(22:00):
and what a privilege it is towork with the young people that
we work with, and that's goingto benefit everybody, isn't it
Like?
Just anyway, I'll stop ranting.
I really hope that was helpfuland I will see you in the final
Kickstart episode next week,which is all about your exit
routine.
We've gone through that wholekind of a lesson.
(22:22):
You know the sequence of thelesson, and now we've gotten
onto exit routine.
We've gone through that wholekind of lesson, you know the
sequence of the lesson, and nowwe've gotten onto exit routine.
So next week is going to be acracker as well.
So make sure you are subscribedto the podcast so that can just
drop into your feed.
Okay, have a lovely week and Iwill see you next time.
Bye.
Oh, hi there, teachers.
Welcome to the Unteachablespodcast.
I'm your host, claire English,and I am just a fellow teacher,
a toddler mama and a big oldbehavior nerd on a mission to
demystify and simplify thatlittle thing called classroom
management.
The way we've all been taughtto manage behavior and classroom
manage has left us playingcrowd control, which is not
(00:22):
something I subscribe to,because we're not bouncers,
we're teachers.
So listen in as I walk youthrough the game changing
strategies and I mean the thingsthat we can actually do and
action in our classrooms thatwill allow you to lean into your
beautiful values as acompassionate educator and feel
empowered to run your room witha little more calm and, dare I
(00:43):
say it, a lot less chaos.
I will see you in the episode.
Hello, fabulous teachers, andwelcome back to day four of the
kickstart.
I am bringing the kickstart fromthe official platform onto the
podcast so I'm able to give yousome snippets on the go.
When I was in the planningphases of the kickstart, I'm
able to give you some snippetson the go.
(01:05):
When I was in the planningphases of the kickstart, I did
put a little poll out and I'mlike, how do you best learn?
And I had a huge amount ofteachers that said, like I need
it on a podcast because I needto, you know, get in the car and
go and I just don't have thetime to sit down and do all of
these things, which I totallyget, I am just.
I think most of the things thatI have learned these days have
been through podcasts or throughsomething audio related.
(01:27):
I'm a big audio book person aswell.
Don't tell me that's notreading.
It's definitely reading, havingan audio book Anyway.
So I wanted to make sure thatyou had access to the kickstart
in whatever way works for you,because these five if you
haven't been listening from thestart, by the way, go back to
day one, which is presence.
(01:47):
It's a few weeks back now.
We're on day four, but thewhole goal of this is just to
give you five really actionablequick wins that you can take
into your classroom, immediatelyimplement to the day-to-day,
and it's just going to boostyour classroom management and
just be just.
I like to call it likesprinkling a little bit of
classroom management intoeverything that you do, because
(02:09):
that's exactly what these littlequick wins do.
They're not the whole picture.
Obviously there's so much thatgoes into classroom management.
But I wanted to make sure thatyou had access to something that
gives you that feeling of hope.
And I know that sounds prettyextreme, but there were parts of
like times in my career where Ijust felt so hopeless with
classroom management and feltlike there was nothing that I
(02:29):
could do to change the situationthat I was in.
So I really do focus now on thestuff that is in our kind of
circle of control, and thesefive things in the kickstart are
exactly that.
I'm kind of following thenatural flow of a lesson.
So the first part, the firstsession, was on presence, all
(02:50):
about our teaching, presence andwhat we do before students even
walk into our classroom, thenentry routine, then setting up
tasks, and now we're talkingabout brain breaks and like kind
of building rapport andtransitions and those kinds of
things that are in the kind of,you know, the meaty part of the
lesson because you get told tobuild a relationship and all
(03:11):
that stuff.
But what does it actually mean?
What does that look like in theday to day?
How can you do that in a waythat's going to still leave you
time for everything else that'son your plate?
So I just wanted to give you afew little tidbits today around
that.
First I want to tell you aboutone of the classes that I had in
my first year of teaching thatclass.
They were beautiful.
They were an English studiessecondary obviously secondary
(03:35):
class.
They were in year 11, goinginto year 12.
And they were just like still,this is one of my favorite
classes.
You know those classes thatjust have a really big impact on
you.
They were the class that, likeeveryone else would have called
like, lazy or like, but theywere just beautiful kids and I
did a lot of leaning into what Ifelt was right, intuitively
(03:58):
with that class.
I didn't know what brain breakswere.
I hadn't heard of upregulationor downregulation, I really was
just following my guts.
And this remember this was aclass that other teachers said
were like lazy and like hard toengage or hard to get involved
in things, really hard to kindof build a relationship with
(04:19):
because there was a lot ofapathetic behaviors.
And if you're a secondaryteacher listening to this and
you've got like those olderstudents, you know that apathy
can kind of set in and I can saya lot about that with, like,
the development of the brain andlike when teenagers brains are
rewiring.
That can seem like like apathy.
Anyway, I'm not going to go allinto that right, because I
wanted these to be really quicksessions Anyway.
(04:40):
So I lent into the the idea ofthese brain breaks.
Like I was happily kind ofallowing them to have a bit of a
game or sing happy birthdayevery okay, I know that's not a
brain break, you know what Imean.
Like I was leaning into thingsthat were building the
relationship.
If I had noticed that thingswere getting a little bit, um,
(05:01):
like low energy, I'd be up anddoing a game with them or having
a joke with them or gettingthem to move around the room in
a certain way.
Like I was just naturally kindof leaning into this stuff.
I had one student in that classthat was just love doing
handstands.
So every opportunity, likeafter we'd done, like a big task
of like okay, now is the time,come and show me your best
handstand, like just littlethings like that.
That I wasn't doingintentionally as a brain break,
(05:25):
but just leaning into what Ifelt like the class needed at
the time.
Um, by the way, I was watchingthe door like a hawk, because
you know leadership, walk in atthat right moment, don't they
like the worst possible momentfor them to walk in to see you
in action.
And I remember my principal atthe time walked in at the exact
(05:47):
moment that I was sitting inamongst the students and one of
my students was doing animpersonation of me which was
pretty damn spot on.
It was hilarious, but I likethe fear that I had in me for
allowing my students to do brainbreaks.
I didn't know then what I knownow, so I didn't know how to
back myself and you know I justimagined getting like pulled
(06:08):
into a room Claire why are wedoing this with your students?
And I probably would have sunkinto a bit of shame or like felt
like a bad teacher.
But now I know that what I wasdoing, even though I was totally
unconscious about the benefitsof it, I know now that I wasn't
wasting time.
I wasn't just trying to be thefun teacher.
(06:29):
I wasn't just like letting thekids mess around.
I was getting them to do theirwork.
I noticed that things weredipping.
I noticed that they werestruggling.
They were a bit of a toughclass and I was able to kind of
like pave a way around to get tothe next task.
That's how I was kind of sayingI'm like, okay, we need to get
here, so let's like, let's dosomething first, or anyway, it
(06:52):
really, really works.
But not only was it brilliantfor the students and their
learning, because they wereengaging in my class and I
didn't know what I was bloodydoing, but the relationships
that I had with those studentswere just so phenomenal.
Did we do our work?
Yes, I did more work with thosestudents than most teachers did
, because they were really hardto engage.
(07:14):
So I didn't know back then whatI know now and I am in a
position now to be able tosupport you with this, which is
fantastic.
So for this day of theKickstarter, I wanted to talk
about rapport, how we can buildrapport, how we can embed that
into the day-to-day, and Iwanted to talk about doing that
through strategic brain breaks,and I'm using brain breaks as
(07:35):
like a bit of a kind of blanketterm for a lot of different
things, and I know that thereare.
There's a lot more I could talkabout with like specific brain
breaks that upregulate atcertain times or downregulate.
You know there's a lot to dowith that kind of stuff when it
comes to brain breaks, but forthe purposes of today's session.
I'm just going to go into a fewstrategies that work to uh, you
(07:57):
know, drop in some rapportthroughout the day, but also do
so in a way that's going to getstudents re-engaged in the
learning and just be a littlebit of magic.
Uh, you don't need a huge,time-consuming plan to build a
strong classroom culture, andclassroom culture is also not
(08:18):
built in a day at the start ofthe year.
It's about creating small,intentional moments that foster
that connection and community ina way that feels natural and
sustainable.
So I'm going to walk youthrough a couple of my go-to
brain breaks that you can usedaily to strengthen
relationships, boost that energyin the room and keep your
(08:39):
students switched on.
So the first thing I want tomake sure you understand is that
community and rapport is not aone and done.
It's something that we do inthe day to day.
Because what building rapportisn't?
It's not a one and done.
It's not easy, it's notinevitable, it's not reliant on
you being the cool teacher, it'snot separate from learning, and
(09:00):
I think that's really importantto say, because when we get
told to just build arelationship, it's almost like
people are saying it's easy, youknow, like, just just do it.
Like are saying it's easy, youknow, like, just do it.
But it's so much easier saidthan done with students who are
tough to engage or teenagers whodon't trust you, like there's
(09:21):
so much more to building rapportthan just going hey, build a
relationship, get to know them,ask them a couple of questions
about themselves and their livesand then, hey presto, you've
got a lovely relationship thatyou're going to be able to
leverage for class yearmanagement.
It just doesn't work that way.
So us understanding thatbuilding rapport isn't a one and
done, it's not something that'seasy for like some.
Sometimes it will be easy forsome students, just like I,
(09:44):
might meet someone and instantlywe connect and we're good pals
and it feels like I've knownthem forever.
But then other people I reallyhave to work at Like it's, you
know, it's not like as humanbeings we can build a rapport
easily with everybody and it'snot reliant on you being the
cool teacher.
You don't have to be I mean,I'm a dorky 36 year old woman
(10:05):
Like I am not the cool teacher I, you know, I don't have to be,
you don't have to be to havebeautiful relationships with
your students.
I might.
Maybe I was a bit cooler backthen with those, those senior
kids, but maybe I was prettydorky.
They knew I was dorky anywayand it's not separate from
learning.
It is a part of learning.
So if I was to be pulled asidenow, if my principal walked in
(10:27):
and said, what were you doingwith those students, like, why
weren't you teaching themanything?
I'd be able to sit down and go,hey, yes, like, absolutely that
was a crucial part of thelearning process because of this
, this, that and the other.
Anyway, so a burden reportisn't that, it is an ongoing
investment, it is a crucial partof your classroom management,
(10:47):
it is strategic, it's consistentand it's such a huge part of
learning.
Buy-in and engagement and brainbreaks are just one way that I
sprinkle that in.
So sprinkle the communitybuilding, sprinkling the rapport
building in a way that you knowdoes a really great job to also
boost that learning.
Brain breaks encourage smalldaily interactions that foster a
(11:09):
sense of belonging andcommunity and felt safety when
you are able to go, hey, youknow what, let's take a bit of a
breather, let's recalibrate,let's do a little bit of a brain
break.
Students are hearing from youlike that you care about them as
human beings and not just aboutwhat they can robotically
produce in that lesson.
And I understand we've got somuch to get through.
(11:30):
But yeah, it's really importantfor us to be kind of taking
that step aside because it thenmakes the learning time so much
more valuable and the quality ofwork.
I've spoken about on a podcastbefore about my senior classes
and about the way that I wasable to like the writing sucked
(11:51):
like it was really hard, theywere tired, and when I started
to just like back myself alittle bit and go actually I'm
going to put some brain breaksin every now and again the
writing that I got from them,the time that I was spending,
was so much more valuable.
Because here's why brain breaksare a little bit of classroom
management magic.
The first thing is that theygive the brain a bit of a reset.
(12:11):
So short breaks give the braintime to rest and reset.
It improves alertness.
When students return to tasks,they're able to get into the
task in a deeper way.
They're more focused.
It switches on the prefrontalcortex.
So if students have just comeback from recess and things are
like oh, and the energy's lowand they need a bit of
upregulation, it can really getthem switching on their
(12:35):
prefrontal cortex.
The second thing is it boostsenergy.
So novel or unexpectedactivities release dopamine, a
neurotransmitter that fuelsmotivation and focus.
This can pull students out oflow arousal by sparking their
interest, and then it gets themmoving and movement activates
the brain and increases arousal,which can then boost alertness
and focus as well.
(12:55):
So if we're thinking about lowenergy and students need to
up-regulate, they can bebrilliant for that.
But of course if we needstudents to down-regulate,
that's a whole different kind ofbrain break and there are
plenty of things that we can dofor that as well.
Like you know, five minutes ofmindfulness do some.
I like to do a little sketchcompetitions and I give them
(13:21):
like pictures to either fill out, or I can do like doodle
competitions, just things thatget students to be mindful and
present in that moment.
There's plenty of things youcan do for downregulation.
The ones that I'm talking aboutare more kind of upregulating,
but you can also use them as adown.
I'll talk you through themanyway.
So the brain breaks that I amgoing to hand over in.
So the ones I'm talking aboutI'm going to be handing over
inside of the kickstart as well.
So if you're not a part of thekickstart and you want to grab
(13:43):
these resources, make sure youcome in and enroll in it.
It's $1.
You just head to the dash onteachablescom forward slash
kickstart.
So these following brain breaksthey're so brilliant for
upregulating when students arefeeling a little bit lethargic
or apathetic, but they also justhelp to sprinkle rapport into
(14:03):
the day-to-day.
They help build that community,they help build that felt
safety and building those thingsis going to help your classroom
management so much.
This is not me saying justbuild a relationship.
This is me saying hey, here arethree really actionable things
that you can do every day tothen help to foster those
relationships and that rapport.
The first one that I absolutelylove is beat the clock.
(14:27):
So in a beat the clock brainbreak challenge, I'll give them
a little challenge that theyneed to complete quietly before
time runs out.
So, for example, list 10animals with scales or list 10
excuses for being late, list 10things that most kids would hate
doing, list 10 things that haveexactly five letters, something
(14:48):
like that.
Then I might depending on theage of the students, I might put
three minutes on the clock andI'll say you have to do that
before time runs out and if theyfinish it before that, if they
do those 10 things, I'll sayokay, keep going, and we're
going to see who gets the mostby the end of the three minutes.
Why this works?
For a variety of reasons.
First up, if they are feeling alittle bit lethargic, it gets
(15:11):
them turning on their thinkingbrains because then you can
transition after that into yourlearning.
But also if you need to downregulate, it's such a brilliant
one for that as well becauseit's a really engaging,
independent, quiet, pen to paperactivity.
So you're able just to get themsitting down, switching on
their thinking brain, doingsomething that's really engaging
(15:32):
, really fun.
But they're doing so quietly inthe moment.
So, like I love it for both ofthose things I'll do beat the
clock all the time, like Iabsolutely love it.
So inside the kickstart youhave a bunch of slides.
I think there's like a hundredbeat the clock slides and
they're really beautiful,they're really engaging.
You can use them every day ifyou want.
That is a part of the kickstart.
(15:54):
The next brain break I love isdoing and this is again Number
one for upregulation if they'refeeling like a little bit
lethargic in their chairs andthey're not really engaging with
the writing or whatever they'redoing.
But I also love this one forchanneling the energy and
channeling that chattiness inthe class.
So the first one rock paperscissors.
(16:15):
And I do like a battle, so Ipartner students up and we play
rock paper scissors.
The winners of each of thosebattles stay standing and
challenges a new winner and thatprocess continues until just
the last champion remains.
The reason I love, love, lovethis as a brain break number one
it's always really engaging forthe students and they
absolutely love it.
You can do some other novelthings around it, like have the
(16:38):
rock paper scissors champion upon the board, or, you know, give
them a special task, like youknow, rubbing off the board when
everyone, or writing somethingon the board when everyone else
is sitting down.
But why I love this?
Right, it's particularly usefulfor when students are really
restless.
They won't sit in their chairs,they're really chatty because
you get them up and moving.
So you're kind of using theenergy in it, like you're just,
(17:01):
you're not having to nag at them, you're not having to, like you
know, threaten them.
You're not having to, likestand there everyone, I'm
waiting, blah, blah, blah.
You're getting them up andmoving and, without needing to
say a word, you'll then havethem back in their seats for you
to transition to calm, teacherled instruction.
And there's just so much buy-in, like you just have everyone
(17:21):
bought into it.
You can transition toteacher-led instruction and you
don't have to say, okay,everyone, my time, your time,
you're wasting, blah, blah, blah.
You'll be able to do it in away that you can transition
really nicely.
Of course, that is easier saidthan done and you've got a
really chatty class, like you'llhave to, really.
If you haven't listened to dayone presence a few weeks back,
(17:42):
please go and do that, becauseyou will need to then transition
from your approachable bodylanguage when you're doing the
box paper scissors battle tothen your credible body language
when you're transitioning intoteacher-led instruction.
So go back and listen to thatif you haven't done so already,
because that's really important.
That's why I started with thaton day one, because that is the
foundation for everything thatyou then do.
(18:05):
The next brain break I love iscount to 20.
So students take turns countingout loud, but only one person
can say a number at a time.
If two students say a number ata time, everyone has to start
over and you win as a class wheneveryone finally reaches 20.
(18:25):
So, for example, I'll say one,somebody else in the class will
go two, but if two students saytwo at the same time we'll be
like, okay, back to one.
It's so hard.
If you've got younger students,maybe count to 10 might be a
better option.
But it's brilliant, and why itworks is that, rather than
getting frustrated at thechattiness in the class, you can
(18:45):
have a game of count to 20 andyou're positively channeling
that energy into a game that'sfun but actually requires them
to stop talking over each otherand they get super competitive.
There's a lot of buy-in andit's just golden for community
building and rapport and that'sjust a bonus.
But again, like the last one,don't forget to transition out
(19:06):
of the game in a really calm andcredible manner.
If you are in the kickstart, ifyou come and join the kickstart,
you also get a bunch ofclassroom games, like it's got
rock paper, scissors, battle andit's got counter 20, along with
a bunch of other games that arereally great to use as brain
breaks.
I call them classroom games.
(19:26):
To use it as a at a pinch can'teven talk today.
Classroom games to use at apinch, because you don't have to
have anything prepped, youdon't have to do anything else.
They come in little cards, um,you can just pick them up and go
.
You don't have to worry aboutanything else.
They're just brain breaks atyour fingertips, nothing else
required, which is why I lovethem.
So they're also in the um, inthe kickstart for you.
(19:51):
So, yeah, just give it a go,just embed a few brain breaks,
just give it a try, just lookaround the room and go hey,
things are a little bit I don'tknow lethargic, tired, like hard
to engage, or maybe a bitrestless, and just give it a go.
So pick one of those, use it,see how you go, see how you get
(20:13):
on, use another one, but yeah,just sprinkle those little
moments of connection andrapport into your lesson whilst
also boosting their engagement.
That's fantastic, isn't it?
It's a little bit of a I wasgoing to say double-edged sword,
but that's probably not theright term for it.
Anyway, I hope that was really,really helpful.
I've said it a million times,but I'm going to say it again If
(20:34):
you want those resources, ifyou want to watch through the
whole Kickstart it's fivesessions, 10 minutes each you
get the resources to implementit immediately.
Five sessions, 10 minutes each.
You get the resources toimplement it immediately.
Come in and join the kickstart.
It's $1, the-unteachablescomforward slash kickstart.
I just want you to come in andsee how the smallest of shifts
(20:54):
in your classroom management, orjust like a couple of things
that you can pop into your dayno extra work, just things
you're already doing, but doingthem with intention I give you
everything to hand over as well.
I just want to show you howpowerful it can be and how
incredible your classroommanagement can be if you just
make a few changes.
And I think that's what'smissing in our teacher.
(21:18):
Teacher training is what'smissing in the support that
we're getting.
We're just not being told like,hey, just do this and things
can be a whole lot easier.
And especially with these brainbreaks that we're talking about
, I fell into a bit of a trapfor a number of years where I
felt so burnt out by teachingand I felt like the joy had been
(21:38):
sucked out of it and I wasresenting it.
I was resenting my students.
I just I lost the joy, I lostthat spark.
When I start to feel like that,I remind myself to bring back a
little bit of joy and thesethings here.
It just breaks up the day andit reminds me of how incredible
(22:00):
and what a privilege it is towork with the young people that
we work with, and that's goingto benefit everybody, isn't it
Like?
Just anyway, I'll stop ranting.
I really hope that was helpfuland I will see you in the final
Kickstart episode next week,which is all about your exit
routine.
We've gone through that wholekind of a lesson.
(22:22):
You know the sequence of thelesson, and now we've gotten
onto exit routine.
We've gone through that wholekind of lesson, you know the
sequence of the lesson, and nowwe've gotten onto exit routine.
So next week is going to be acracker as well.
So make sure you are subscribedto the podcast so that can just
drop into your feed.
Okay, have a lovely week and Iwill see you next time.
Bye.
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