Brain Gym

[shakingmyfattybumbum]

Why oh why is this nonsense still be perpetuated as fact in our schools? I am a former S/school teacher and had to sit through this crap on inset days. That was bad enough but was just having a look at DS1's primary school website (he will start in Sept) and behind the kids in a photo was a big poster with the words 'Use both sides of your brain'. WTF? How can teachers of all people be so ignorant? And don't even get me started on the 'hydrate your brain' rubbish! I cannot remember the last time we heard of a child dying from a dessicated brain because their teacher refused to let them swig from their water bottle. Grrr!
Has anyone out there (ideally with science credentials) ever commented on this at their child's school?

Yes brain gym is a lot of crap. Also these papers quoted on the brain being hydrated - I don't think any child is going to become dehydrated by not having water sitting on their desk all the time.

It is policy in our area to let children have a bottle of water with them and on the first day of term I tell children that they can drink it while they are working but not while I am teaching them and need their full attention. Next day I got a lengthy letter from a parent complaining that I wasn't letting her daughter drink water and that it would be detrimental to her learning!! And she was a teacher!!! Since when have humans had to constantly sip from water without it effecting their performance.

In my opinion having a sufficient drink at break times should be enough!

Another teacher and I were asked to leave some LEA training on Brain Gym for not taking it seriously, we never did implement it in our school. I do similar activites though with below yr 3, but just for fun and to wake them up.

One school I worked in wrote a 'Hydration for Learning' policy.

Shaking - there was a bit on radio4 about this this week,
I am trying to remember which programme it was!

tethersend-I wish I'd seen a copy of that to borrow before April 1st!

We do a little bit ( 5 minutes at most) of brain gym in the morning after register and it does seem to focus our (yr 4) class. They enjoy it!

BTW... I would happily champion the reinstation of water fountains in school.

Strawberry - am I you?!! I got asked to leave a training session - my beef was that the 'facts' that they were peddling were scientifically inaccurate and I based my 'role play' on that..... it went down like a bag of shite.

I do use some of the activities though because they are fun (in the same way that playing 'simon says' is fun - even with cynical teenagers) not because they have any effect on 'the brain'

I could write you one if you want, strawberrykate- can't be that hard

We just would exagerate the supposed effect lowenergylightulb, e.g. looking around like meercats after stroking our earlobes then laughing at the'facts' and generally giving it the level of respect it deserved. Oh and friend kept 'accidently' starting her instruction with 'simons says..' in our demonstration.

Tethersend- 'Drink water when thirsty. Do not forget'. Mine runs out of steam there... I can imagine what some people could do though, locating fountains, timings etc.

Strawberry, we did a role play about how nicotine and caffeine actually stimulate brain activity.

It didn't go down very well.

bribery Golden Time is very effective.

pitterpatter - yes it's all very well hoping your child drinks at breaktimes/lunchtimes.........but when yo uhave a child that doesn't - believe me with a teacher on board that knows how little he drinks (and I'm sorry but there's is NO WAY that his fluid intake doesn't affect his "performance" @ school..........as he drinks practicall sod all and on the days I do manage to nag him to drink moe he's like a different child) and having a water bottle available in class it means we are now (vaguely) getting somwhere.

and LeQueen - children leaving school not knowing about verbs/adjectives/blah blah blah, or knowing their timestables isn't actually anything new.

My dad (a reasonably intelligent man) is fine with the maths but hasn't got a clue about grammar, and I remember sitting chanting timestables, but still struggle with most of them now, and also haven't got a farking clue about grammar either.