Movement & Dance Part 3

It's time to return to my on-going 'interview' with Connie Dow, author of Redleaf's new, "One, Two, What Can I Do?" and national expert on dance + movement -- specifically as those topics relate to our working with children. We're really thrilled about our upcoming collaborative presentation at NAEYC in Orlando!!!

I started this interview several weeks ago and you can read here for the initial installments. We then opened the blog comment-box and invited questions to be asked for Connie's reflection and expertise. The very first question came from a fellow national presenter, Vanessa Levin -- author over at Pre-K Pages, who asked on behalf of her own workshop participants:

"I work with a lot of teachers and I notice that some of them shy away from using movement and music in their classrooms because they feel "silly". If they have an assistant teacher or parent volunteers in the classroom they are embarrassed to do these types of things in front of them. What advice can you offer to teachers who struggle with this?"

(Editor's note. Vanessa just so happens to be featuring my book "Red, White and Blue" on her blog TODAY, but that's just a huge, delightful and amazing coincidence! LOL!!)

Before we hear from Connie-the-expert, here's my Debbie two cents........  As you can see, I LUV having the opportunity to work with children and delight at the opportunity to incorporate their creative movement response to my music. In fact, one of my all time favorite things is directing their movement in an open-ended and creative manner. My personal response to Vanessa's question is this: 

"ALWAYS LOOK AT THE CHILDREN!!!"

If you are the least bit self-conscious about moving/dancing in front of other adults, then don't look at them! Seriously, if the adults give you the heebie-geebies? Then don't look at them!!
Tune them out completely. Watch.The.Children.Only!! Make specific and genuine eye contact with your wee wonders and tune out any and all tall people hovering about along the edges. Just immerse yourself in the antics of the children and lose yourself in the midst of their fun! Voila! You're good to go!  

 

Now let's hear from the expert. Here's Connie's response.

Hello FFF (Fellow Friends and Fans) of Debbie,
"I am glad to have some specific comments and ideas to address for this blog post! Today I will respond to Vanessa."

"Vanessa, I understand your question about teachers that feel self-conscious when leading age-appropriate movement and music activities. What I would say is, when assistants or parents are observing, the most important thing they want to see is the children listening to the teacher and being engaged in learning. The best way to do that when leading a dance activity, of course, is for the teacher herself to be immersed in the activity, because the children will be much more likely to follow her lead.

Realizing that we all have that “other self” who can act like a child should make onlookers happy that the teacher can lose herself into the act of teaching regardless if others are there or not. The bottom line? We want the children in our care to be excited and engaged, and they will respond best to a teacher on their level both literally and figuratively! Enjoy the children's delight in movement. Use it to your advantage."

Connie, do you have further insight to share with us?
I would like the opportunity to list some reasons why I think that it is so important to stick with it and bring creative movement to your classroom. I want educators to be aware of the specific benefits of movement for the young child. Understanding the significance may help encourage teachers to get beyond their personal reservations. So I have listed and briefly explained what I consider seven of the principal benefits of movement & dance below:

1st Benefit: Body Awareness and Classroom Management

As children develop body awareness, teachers can use these skills for better classroom management. One of the gifts of structured movement for both student and the adults who work with them is that it helps children develop body awareness and control, which can be incorporated into the rest of the child’s daily routine. Moving is what children are already doing the minute they walk into a learning environment. Why not pick up on that and transition them right into learning? For example, make a game out of fidgeting! Here are three different ideas:


1.) Address numbers and counting: “Let’s count to 10 while we fidget, then freeze!
2.) Or to teach the concept of opposites kinesthetically: “Can we fidget fast, slow, high, low, big, little, forward, backward, right-side-up, upside-down?”
3.) Or a vocabulary lesson: “Can you think of another word for fidget? How about shake? Wiggle? Jiggle? Squiggle?” Show me how your body looks when it squiggles!

As you become more comfortable with guiding movement activities, these are some of the skills children will develop:

• Body Awareness (range of motion, balance, shape)
• Control of Speed (Tempo, stop/start, responding to cues for stopping)
• Control of Direction (Level, direction, floor pattern, size, spatial orientation)
• Control of Energy (Use of energy and flow to create a specific movement quality)
• Listening to and follow movement instructions
• Awareness of personal space and shared space

The above skills will benefit both students and teachers in your early childhood environment.

Connie, Mimi and moi!!

Back now to Debbie..... I promise to give you the rest of Connie's 7 benefits of movement/dance in the early childhood classroom. Honestly!! Come back daily till we get to the end of her list!!! Now go put on your silly pants, start shaking it, keep your eyes on the children, know what you're doing is important and have a good time!!!!

A reminder:  from now thru the end of September all orders of my newly winning national INDIE Award of Excellence picture book, "Red, White and Blue" can receive 20% off the cover price by using the promo code: RWB911 at my website http://www.rainbowswithinreach.com/  See the section on Carie's Kindergarten for their amazing response in quilt work to my book's quilted illustrations.