John Barth

John began his professional teaching career in western Canada in 1993. Across the Canadian and Turkish landscapes, his experience has been diverse: city and rural settings, public and private institutions, Kindergarten through college levels, differentiated and project-based learning environments, multi-grade classrooms, and team-teaching scenarios. He has considerable experience teaching across curricula, including Visual Arts, Drama, History, Technology, Design Studies, English Literature, ELT, EFL, ELA, IB, AP, and bilingual contexts. He was an early online consultant and regular contributor to the Ministry of Industry Canada’s Network of Innovative Schools (NIS), recognised for its pioneering development of cross-curricular and technologically integrative approaches to education. In Canada, John worked on various provincial and local program/curricular/school initiatives, and further, he was nominated for and awarded recognition for best teaching practices. Throughout his long career and to this day, John has been continuously involved in teacher-training initiatives, curriculum creation, program coordination, and professional mentoring. His hair has more grey, but his hands are happily full now as İNKAŞ' Director of Academic Services, Senior Teacher Trainer and Consultant, and THINK Education's Editor-in-Chief and writer. 

Abstract 

Popping, Jumping & Chatting! Activities and games to energise your classroom.

Brain breaks are a vital part of our teaching practice and positive classroom routines. Short, intense, and highly interactive classroom activities aren’t just for fun. They provide a meaningful and necessary “brainbreak” aimed at getting the blood flowing, allowing for a fresh ‘restart’, fostering better concentration, and transitioning between academic tasks. The best ones are multi-purpose activities that offer a wide variety of benefits for students. With some planning and preparation, you can powerfully transform traditional lessons. Students get a chance to exercise their different learning styles, activate their various intelligences, revitalise focus, challenge thinking skills, increase motivation, and look forward to more learning. Come, let’s have a brain break!