Student Well-Being & Movement Video

Teachers, Try This: Activities to Build Classroom Culture and Connection

By Kaylee Domzalski & Jaclyn Borowski — February 11, 2025 2:21
Student James Mason participates in an ice breaker during a film studies class at Weber High School taught by teacher, Mark Daniels, on Jan. 13, 2025 in Pleasant View, Utah. Daniels incorporates a lot of movement with students during all of his classes.

For Mark Daniels, the theatre teacher at Weber High School in Pleasant View, Utah, some movement happens organically in his classes. But Daniels also teaches the school’s cinema class where, he says, students hope to sit and watch a movie.

However, Daniels structures his classes so that students never sit for more than 20 minutes. Through games and different activities, he gets kids moving, and uses those same movement activities to build connections and create a positive classroom culture.

Here, he explains how he does it, and how any teacher, regardless of grade or subject, can implement something similar.

Kaylee Domzalski is a video producer for Education Week.
Jaclyn Borowski is the Director of Photography and Videography for Education Week.

Video

Reading & Literacy Video Want Kids to Read More? An Expert Shares the Low-Cost Tips That Work (Video)
A researcher shares her tips about how to motivate kids to read more.
Illustration of children's hands holding books in a circle in the center of the frame.
Illustration by Emily Wright for Education Week
Early Childhood Video How Play-Based Learning Helps Children Practice Math and Literacy Skills
See how elementary teachers use play-based learning to reinforce math and literacy instruction.
1 min read
Children enjoy a morning at the writing center at the Coltrane-Webb STEM Elementary School in Concord, N.C., on Sept. 3, 2026. Educators at the school use play to reinforce math and literacy instruction.
Children enjoy a morning at the writing center at the Coltrane-Webb STEM Elementary School in Concord, N.C., on Sept. 3, 2026. Educators at the school use play to reinforce math and literacy instruction.
Peyton Sickles for Education Week
Early Childhood Video Play-Based Learning: How It Can Build Young Children’s Independence
An EdWeek video looks at how an early learning program helps students explore boundaries and responsibility.
1 min read
Students tend to chickens at WonderHere in Lakeland, Fla. on Sept. 1, 2026.
Students tend to chickens at WonderHere in Lakeland, Fla. on Sept. 1, 2026.
Saul Martinez for Education Week
Teaching Video How Co-Teaching Helps English Learners Succeed
Increasingly in the Metro Nashville schools, general-education and English-learner teachers team up.
1 min read
Laura Eady, a 3rd grade general education teacher (left), and Lisa Maddox, an English-learner teacher, prepare lessons together for students at Mt. View Elementary School in Nashville, Tenn., on Sept. 2, 2026.
Laura Eady, a 3rd grade general education teacher (left), and Lisa Maddox, an English-learner teacher, prepare lessons together for students at Mt. View Elementary School in Nashville, Tenn., on Sept. 2, 2026.
Kevin Wurm for Education Week