The Walkabouts Platform Helps with Content Retention and Behavior Management (North Carolina)

Profile

Washington Elementary School is a K-5^th grade public school in Greensboro, North Carolina (Guilford County Schools). Recently, the school was named an Active School by the Active School Alliance for its commitment to empower learners through movement and well-being while also fostering an atmosphere that embraces critical thinking and community values.

Kirsten Cox teaches 2nd grade at Washington Elementary School in Greensboro, NC.  She has been teaching for 11 years and has also taught 1st and 4th grades.

“Walkabouts has had a positive impact on student behavior, but it has also helped with content retention, especially in language arts.” ”
– Kirsten Cox

Goals

As a school community, Washington Elementary is committed to incorporating movement and wellness activities throughout the school day.  Recently named an Active School by the Active School Alliance, Washington Elementary starts each day with 30 minutes of heart-pumping activities. Because of the school’s commitment to active learning, their lead teacher, Margaret Sisk, researched educational programs with a movement component, and discovered the Walkabouts platform. The web-based platform helps teachers achieve both their movement and academic goals because the lessons are easy to access and aligned to state standards.

Outcomes

One of the biggest improvements that Cox has seen in her students is how the Walkabouts platform helps students with content retention. “While Walkabouts have had a positive impact on student behavior, they have also helped with content retention, especially in language arts, where I’ve noticed students now remember the differences between nouns, verbs, and adjectives.”  Overall, Cox says, the platform’s lessons do a great job of reinforcing the core content her students are learning.

While academic improvement is a positive outcome, and Cox says the students look forward to the lessons every day. They love the lessons, and they put their own spins on the moves modeled by the friendly, fun characters.

Recommendations

Cox says she knows that other teachers in her school use the platform and are experiencing positive results with their students. She believes that the Walkabouts platform also improves behavior because her students stay focused on engaging with the content and moving throughout the lessons.