In reading some gestures and using them in the classroom, I've thought of a few ideas. One thing I think that can make gestures very effective is if they are similar to each other and effectively distinguish between related concepts. One example is the Whole Brain Teaching classic nonfiction(two fingers pointing at the forehead to indicate two eyes) vs. fiction (same, but with three fingers).

Another I used today that illustrates this idea was for two of our vocabulary words: tinker and repair. Both gestures were turning a screwdriver, but tinker was done repeatedly with a tentative/confused look on the face, and repair was done once and forcefully, indicating that while tinker just means casually attempting to fix something, repair means actually fixing it. Not sure how great that one is, we'll see.

What other ideas do people have about what makes a good gesture?

Each part of your gesture for a vocabulary word should be precise, and easy to remember. If there is more than one gesture with a term try to make them flow, but keep each one distinct.

Doing this gives the students a stronger anchor for the term, or concept.

The gestures that my students remember best are the definitons for ratio, rate, unit rate, and percent. All of these concepts connected to one another, so our gestures are all built upon the gesture for ratio. I taught these right before Winter Break, 2 weeks later we came back and they still knew them.. (it brought a tear to my eye!)

We also use the same gesture for equivalent & similar this one always sticks in their mind, because it is hand holding, which has always reminded them of relationship.