Engagement Strategies That Work Part 1: 30 Second Dance Party Button ™
I've been in a lot of classrooms this year as a literacy coach, and let me tell you—I’m learning so much! One of my core beliefs is to always be a life-long learner, and I’m constantly on the lookout for new ways to improve my practice, gain fresh ideas, and stay inspired.
I spend a lot of time with second-year teachers, and I’ve been picking up so many great insights from them. In the next few blog posts, I’ll be sharing some of the positive incentives that really work in the classroom and bring in a lot of joy.
30 Second Dance Party Button ™
During a recent coaching debrief conversation, a first grade teacher presses her 30 second dance party button. It plays a techno beat as we both do a little jig and giggle together.
She says that it’s worked wonders for her class this year as a positive reward and brain break. They beg her to press the button!
How it might work? If you teach early elementary literacy, you might set timer during your Structured Literacy Lesson, and reward students with a 30 second dance party break as a reward for staying focused.
To build stamina for whole group lessons at the beginning of the year, research says: If you teach Kindergarten, 5 minutes. First grade - 6 minutes. Second Grade -7 minutes. From there, you can add more minutes as students build their focus muscles. Explain to students the expectation to learn together, focused and engaged until the timer goes off. When the timer goes off, they get a 30 second dance party as a reward for staying engaged and focused!
The benefits?
Much faster than a 4 minute gonoodle brain break video!
Can work as a positive reward to motivate the entire class during a lesson
It gets the six year old wiggles out
Everyone ends up smiling
It’s quick! 30 seconds and they are back learning phonics on the carpet.
When I asked her about it, she said you could get it on amazon.
A quick google search revealed it’s trademarked by a German company whose tagline is “It gets lit when the button’s hit” If that’s not a reason to incorporate a dance button into your brain break routines, I don’t know what is!
I'm excited to share more strategies that I've seen make a difference and bring more joy into the classroom, leaving students highly engaged. Whether you're a new teacher or a seasoned one, there's always room to learn and grow. I’d love to hear what’s been working in your classrooms, too—let’s keep the conversation going! Stay tuned for the next post, where I’ll dive deeper into another incentive that can transform your classroom dynamic, one smell at a time.
Happy dancing!
