English teacher Mr. Dan Dunsmore and Dean of Faculty and History teacher Mr. Peter Bonds presented “Keep Em’ Movin’ to Promote Curiosity and Engagement” at the 2017 VAIS (Virginia Association of Independent Schools) Leading Learning Conference on November 6 in Richmond. Their presentation covered several movement activities that promote curiosity and engagement in the classroom during lessons and discussion. They also discussed the academic advantages of asking students to be physically active and how to avoid potential pitfalls.

Mr. Dunsmore talked about activities that get students standing and moving around the room. Mr. Bonds talked about using Virtual Reality and the Google Expeditions app to take virtual field trips that spark student curiosity and engagement, and also gets them moving all over the classroom.

The conference title was “Cultivating Curiosity and Joy” and included keynote speaker Ted Dintersmith, executive producer of the movie “Most Likely to Succeed” which has been viewed by Blue Ridge School teachers.

English teacher Mr. John Young and Math teacher Mr. Jerry Jared also attended the conference.