4 ways that Michael Jackson helped us learn science today

This week is the last week of the second quarter, and I'm still trying to figure out how to best use class time during this awkward transition week. It's the end of the quarter and everybody's tired. I don't want to assign any more work this week since I want to devote my time to grading final projects. I want to make class time meaningful while giving everybody a chance to breathe and reflect.

So I thought....why not let the students choose what they want to do? And what did they choose? They chose to play Just Dance, and I was all for it. 

For those of you that questioned the yelling and singing from my classroom today (sorry about that!) here are four reasons why we devoted 15 minutes of class time today to the Just Dance Michael Jackson Experience (which by the way....is super good). 

So.......why should I let my students dance in class? 

1.  Playing games in class builds classroom culture 

• Dancing is a fun experience that's also a collaborative activity  
• Students that feel safe enough to dance together in class will also feel safe enough to take risks in their classwork together 

2. The students feel heard

• At the beginning of class, we took a poll on the smart board, and the students voted for Just Dance over two other activities. Students that feel like they're being listened to and taken seriously are more likely to cooperate later on when it comes to classwork.  

3. Exercising in the beginning of class helps students focus afterwards 

• You would think that dancing for 15 minutes at the beginning of class would throw off the class' focus but....actually no! The transition to classwork afterwards was quick and we were able to finish our benchmark presentations in a timely manner. 

4. It gives students a reason to want to come to class 

• It also gives me a reason to want to go to work! 

Maybe I'm just jealous that I never got to play Just Dance in class when I was in school, or maybe this is just my Zumba background infiltrating my teaching. The way I see it, in the real world, workplaces encourage team building, group exercise, and activities that build a positive culture. A classroom is no different. There's no reason to feel like we have to work all the time, especially at the end of the quarter. I want to hear your thoughts too! How do you spend the end of the quarter with your classes? ​