60-Second Strategy: The ‘What Are You Doing?’ Game

When middle school students play an improvisation game that encourages a bit of silliness, they get more comfortable with each other and themselves.

While classroom activities that incorporate movement and play can be found at the elementary level, by middle and high school they become much less common. But even though older students are often more shy or resistant at first, when they are given the opportunity to move their bodies, connect with each other, and get a little silly, it can build trust and lower the affective filter so they’ll be ready to learn together. Middle school students in particular often struggle with self-consciousness, which can impact their willingness to participate in class, speak up and ask questions, or take academic risks. At Arts and Letters United 305 in Brooklyn, New York, movement and theater teacher Todd A. Rollé, in collaboration with Child’s Play NY—an arts organization that helps schools use theater as a powerful tool for education—uses an improvisation game to build classroom community and to get kids to let down their guard.

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