Incorporating Movement and Learning with Walkabouts (South Carolina)

Profile

Marshall Primary School is a public school in Anderson School District 2 South Carolina. It serves about 400 students from prekindergarten to 2nd grade.

Julie Greer is a first grade teacher at Marshall Primary School in Belton, SC. She has 13 years of instructional experience.

“ I have 17 little balls of energy. Every single day they're wanting to do something that incorporates movement.”

“The great thing about Walkabouts is, my students are using it, and they don't even realize that they're also either learning something new, or they're reviewing something.”

- Julie Greer

Goals

Julie Greer was looking for ways to incorporate movement during the school day without losing instructional time. She began using the Walkabouts platform as a supplemental resource during the 2022-23 school year. 

Outcomes

Greer's students complete Walkabouts both as a whole class and during center time. Greer says she also assigns Walksheets (worksheets with a movement component) for the "accountability piece" because she "can see that they put the pencil to the paper." She believes her students are retaining the skills they practice in Walkabouts because some students say, "Hey, we saw that in the Walkabout."

Greer primarily uses Walkabouts to reinforce skills she has already taught, but she sometimes uses Walkabouts to introduce new concepts when she is pressed for time, especially at the end of the school year. "Walkabouts are a great way to incorporate those skills so that they're not getting completely lost in the shuffle."

According to Greer, Walkabouts "actually help a lot with classroom management." She notes, "Students know what to expect, and they know that they're going to have fun doing it. It doesn't matter if it's the most chaotic environment, as soon as they hear those drums and see those shoes, they jump up and they know exactly what we're going to do." 

While Greer typically employs grade-level Walkabouts, she also differentiates her instruction with Walkabouts. For intervention, she uses Walkabouts that are a grade level below. On occasion, she also plays Walkabouts that are a grade level above "to give the students a challenge." 

Recommendations

Greer recommends that other teachers try Walkabouts with their students, noting, "It's just been a great addition to my classroom, and I'm hoping that more of my fellow teachers are using it."