Visitors walking through Carleton High School are often surprised when they pass Bradley Gordon's French class and see students riding on exercise bikes and sitting on yoga balls. Is it a French class, or is it a gym class? Well, it's a bit of both!

Two major concerns in education are childhood obesity and ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a disorder that results in restlessness, hyperactivity and impulsivity. With high rates of obesity and also students struggling with ADHD in classes across the country, Mr. Gordon came up with an innovative intervention to address both. He decided to infuse academic studies with physical activity in his own classroom.

The idea came to Gordon after a personal experience in university while working on his bachelor's degree. "I didn't have time to schedule a separate slot for exercise, and my health deteriorated rapidly," said Gordon. "After feeling sick and fatigued for months, I decided to couple my studying with my workouts. To my surprise it proved incredibly helpful. My grades started improving and so did my overall fitness and health."

Gordon implemented the approach with his students to great effect last year. Despite the student’s excitement and academic improvement, he met resistance from the school's principal, Dawn Epstein, who was not convinced that academics and physical exercise should be amalgamated. "Although exercise is certainly important, I didn't think it had any place in academics. I assumed exercise would exacerbate ADHD”, Epstein asserted.

It turns out Mr. Epstein’s reaction is a common misconception. As Dr. John Ratney, psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School, explains: “Exercise turns the attention system on, and helps with working memory, prioritizing and sustaining attention”. Sustained physical exertion causes kids to be less impulsive and more prone to learn. That’s precisely what Mr. Gordon found a year into the intervention. “My students’ endurance, both physical and mental, has improved. They are fit, and eager to learn. Even students diagnosed with ADHD have displayed less physical agitation, which has helped them to learn better”. So, when you walk by Mr. Gordon’s class and see bikes spinning, know that minds are at work.

Choose the best option according to the information given on the website.
 
1. This article is about………………….
 
 
2. Mr. Gordon’s intervention………………….
 
 
3. The intervention was not………………….
 
 
4. According to Dr. Ratney, exercising……………
 
 
5. At the one-year mark, the intervention………….
 
 
The following is a comment by a visitor to the website page. Complete the comment by choosing the best option to fill in each blank.
 
Interesting article! I’ve been a high school teacher for fifteen years and I’m quite dubious of Mr. Gordon’s attempt to 6……………………. Although Dr. Ratney claims that this project 7……………… I often find the opposite is true. Indeed, it is the students that play soccer or
 
 
basketball at lunchtime that 8………………… in the afternoon. It would be a mistake to 9……………….
prior to the end of a busy school day. There is also the question of time management. It simply is not possible to get through the curriculum while the students 10………………….
 
 
 
 
 
 

o a conventional high school teacher with an unconventional idea.

o an ADHD expert teacher in Carleton High School.

o a partnership between a gym and a French teacher.

o a program introduced by Carleton High School’s principal.

o is part of a medical treatment for overweight children with ADHD.

o was inspired by his own successful experience as a student.

o was designed to make students lose weight in one year.

o diminished exercising to focus on academic performance.

o initially well received by the school principal.

o supported by medical research professionals.

o appealing to his high school students.

o conducted in the students’ educational setting.

o increases physical agitation and diminishes attention.

o diminishes hyperactivity and increases attention.

o increases ADHD symptoms, especially impulsivity.

o is more important than sustaining attention.

o produced the results Mr. Gordon expected.

o confirmed Mr. Epstein’s initial reaction.

o contradicted Professor Ratney’s expectations.

o yielded undesirable effects on Mr. Gordon’s students.

o reduce the weight of his students.

o bring exercise into the classroom.

o develop a cure for ADHD.

o finish university while teaching.

o was implemented at Harvard for a year,

o was more important than academic study,

o will improve students’ concentration,

o will reduce unpremeditated aggression,

o are most likely to fade

o are the best students

o will exercise more

o have the best behavior

o limit students’ diet

o overwork the students

o provide too many assignments

o distract use with ADHD
 

o are too unfit to focus properly.

o are bouncing around on yoga balls.

o really need to get more exercise.

o don’t have time to do the assignments.

Answer Key

Answer Explanation

1

a conventional high school teacher with an unconventional idea

In Mr. Gordon’s French class in Carleton high school, students exercise on stationary bikes and sit on yoga balls, which is different from typical academic classes.

2

was inspired by his own successful experience as a student

The idea came to Gordon after a personal experience in university while working on his bachelor's degree.
I decided to couple my studying with my workouts. To my surprise it proved incredibly helpful.

3

initially well received by the school principal

Despite the student’s excitement and academic improvement, he met resistance from the school's principal, Dawn Epstein, who was not convinced that academics and physical exercise should be amalgamated.

4

diminishes hyperactivity and increases attention

According to Dr. John Ratney, exercise turns the attention system on, and helps with working memory, prioritizing and sustaining attention.

5

produced the results Mr. Gordon expected

That’s precisely what Mr. Gordon found a year into the intervention. “My students’ endurance, both physical and mental, has improved.”

6

bring exercise into the classroom

Mr. Gordon decided to infuse academic studies with physical activity in his own classroom.

7

will improve students’ concentration

Exercise turns the attention system on, and helps with working memory, prioritizing and sustaining attention.

8

are most likely to fade

The visitor didn’t like the idea, so like Dawn Epstein, he would believe that exercise shouldn’t have any place in academics, and it would exacerbate ADHD.

9

overwork the students

Dawn Epstein was convinced that academics and physical exercise should not be amalgamated. So was the visitor!

10

are bouncing around on yoga balls

Since the visitor is against the idea of incorporating physical activities into class situations, he must believe that physical activities such as bouncing around in on yoga balls in class can deter the completion of academic requirements.