Keeping students interested and engaged in their schoolwork is a problem every teacher faces at one time or another. Keeping staff excited about that task is what Quantum Learning Education Facilitator Dr. Jenny Severson specializes in.

Severson met with a group of more than 40 local educators recently to introduce them to the Quantum Learning style of teaching. Quantum Learning, a staff development workshop provider, stresses using synergistic approaches to learning.

Severson used music, games, eye-catching posters and skits as tools for engaging students in the learning process.

Workshop participants broke into groups and played a game called “The Maze” as a communication and team-building exercise. Team members took turns trying to navigate their way through a grid placed on the floor. Players were not allowed to use words but could communicate through gestures and clapping to give their teammates signals.

As each player advanced a little further through the maze, their progress was met with cheers and clapping.

Severson encouraged workshop participants to use similar types of interactive exercises to keep their own students engaged in schoolwork.

"Yes, it's been incredible," Erica Wentling, Head Start teacher, said of the workshop. She plans on using several of the lessons with her class, especially the music as a motivator to help kids follow a routine. Different songs are played or sung for different activities, like a song for picking up or for nap time.

Melanie Pelot, a first-year teacher who recently graduated from Kansas State University that will teach art at McPherson High School this fall, attended the workshop.

"K-State needs to replace their block one and two learning with this," she said.

Pelot enjoyed the mystery word skits that they performed. Each group took a word like “miscreant” and created a skit with characters that had similar names and acted in a manner consistent with the meaning of the word. Pelot's skit, for instance, had a character named Ms. Creant, who performed evil deeds.

Jacque Gehrt, McPherson Middle School math teacher, said it was definitely worth her time to attend the workshop. She took away some great activity ideas that she says will help “hook” the students and keep their attention.

She also found the sensory and style survey helpful in determining what type of learner a student is and how to adjust her lectures to keep all types interested.

Severson said Quantum Learning's goal is making great kids greater. The company also provides student “Super Camps” that focus on empowering children to live with integrity and have commitment.

McPherson Unified School District 418
514 N. Main
McPherson, KS 67460
620-241-9400
It is the policy of McPherson USD 418 not to discriminate on the basis of sex, disability, race,
religion, color, age, or national origin in its educational programs and/or activities, nor in its employment practices.

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