Hi Everyone,
My name is Peter Lambert and I have the pleasure of presenting to you a fun and effective process called Brain Gym. I took a 32-hour Brain Gym for Educators course a few years ago so this will just be a snapshot of what I experienced. In a nutshell, Brain Gym is a series of movement sequences to prepare us for learning and performance. Brain Gym includes 26 easy and enjoyable targeted activities that, according to participants, integrate body and mind to bring about improvements in concentration, listening, reading, writing, organization and physical coordination. The Brain Gym exercises are designed to integrate both sides of the brain through movement. Back in the 1970s, the founders of Brain Gym, Paul and Gail Dennison, developed a repertoire of exercises to help children and adults who had been labeled “learning disabled”. The Dennisons have a background in kinesiology, and through the course of tutoring reading they developed their popular kinesthetic approach to learning. The activities I will show you are for you, first and foremost. If you find Brain Gym to your liking, then, after you become comfortable with the movements, you might try incorporating them into your classes via music and / or story telling using some of the Brain Gym moves. In terms of their learning philosophy, the Dennisons seem to be humanistic educators cut from the same cloth as the late, great Carl Rogers. In fact, when I took the Brain Gym course it reminded me of Rogers’ masterful treatise: Freedom to Learn. I hope you can join me, and I look forward to your insights about kinesthetic learning and other invigorating teaching styles.

1) Here is a shorter TVO interview with John Ratey. I liked the google speech because of the details about the brain, but TVO interview  does a good job highlighting exercise and the brain's benefits. One very interesting point that could easily be missed was when John mentioned that exercise is part of Finland's secret to test score success. The bit about Naperville's 20 year program was an eyeopener, too.

http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=A5-kbfnCq6M&feature=related

2）　I increasingly　admire the British schools that have adapted Brain Gym to their communities. This news program is quite entertaining and spells out the controversy with using tax payers' money to introduce an admittedly suspect sequence of explanations - to which the scholars have lit. But only reading about it is one thing,  if one takes the time to learn how popular it is in the classroom and with students of all abilities, then one can come away with a greater willingness to give Brain Gym a chance - albeit one PTA or school's budget at a time. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5rH7kDcFpc 

３） 　The senior community has also benefited from Brain Gym related activities and here is a short promotional video showing senior students having fun with Brain Gym. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWzW5XSmgKw&feature=related

I am an elementary school teacher from Ontario, Canada, who is married with 2 sons, who were born here in Sapporo. I have an extensive ESL teaching background, both here and in Canada, along with actual business experience here in Japan helping establish SHOOT - the Ice Hockey Specialists business (http://www.shoot-sports.com). In 2009, at Hokkai High School, I enjoyed team-teaching a second grade class preparing for travel and study abroad, and a third grade (pre-university) English conversation class where we utilized the integrative four-skill approach.

Currently, I am teaching individuals and small groups of Hokkaido University doctoral candidates enrolled in the Global Centers of Excellence, GCOE, Information Science and Technology program, how to present their research at international symposiums.

In case you are wondering, my research interests include: multiple learning styles, especially kinesthetic learning approaches and all forms of literacy for English learners of all ages and abilities. Specifically, I would like to know more about how we teachers encourage and facilitate risk taking in our students. Finally, I am interested in something called a deconstruct where learners present an analysis and a reflection (usually in poster format) on a mistake they have made. The primary aim is to improve their thinking and understanding and share their insights with others. Students often present their deconstructs at school family nights, and some even showcase at math and literacy conferences. I really appreciate organizations like JALT and METS (Meeting of English Teachers in Sapporo) because they provide us with a (constructive) forum to learn from each other.