Whenever March 4th landed on a school day, I began each period parading around the perimeter of my classroom, exaggeratedly marching like a bandleader in a tall fuzzy black hat and waving a baton.
“What day is today?” I asked my students. Some of them attempted to guess just what it was I was acting out, but most of them remained mute. “It’s MARCH FOURTH!” I’d admonish them. “Check the calendar! Now get up, get out of your seats, and let’s all march forth!”
Whether I was speaking to an enthusiastic class of fourth graders, or a group of “I’m way too cool for this” high school juniors, most of them were eager to act silly for a few moments and march around the room with me.
In the classroom, we call this “anticipatory set.” I enjoyed getting the kids to focus on a lead-in idea for the day’s lesson with an unexpected start. I liked to “catch them by surprise,” so to speak. Marching forth was a good way to introduce a lesson on homonyms, homophones and homographs. It could also be used to start a discussion on causes for the Civil War. There wasn’t a single March 4th that I couldn’t find a way to tie it into the lesson at hand.
These days, I march forth as often as I see a need in my own routine to shake things up. Any physical activity counts. By shifting my mind-set into doing something with my larger motor muscles, like mowing the lawn, washing the car, even vacuuming or doing the dishes, I get out of my head just far enough to zone out and go into my more creative mode. (And at the very least, the housework gets done.)
It doesn’t take much thought to do the dishes. Most of us do them while on “automatic pilot.” But while the body is busy taking on a mindless chore, the brain synapses are charging full steam ahead, bouncing around with creative excitement, seeking to solve our more challenging cerebral concerns… Like what shall I write about today?
So tomorrow morning, if you find yourself “stuck” on a problem at work or at home, consider getting up and moving. Do something physical. Distract your brain from the thought process for a few minutes and see what happens. March forth!