Teaching With The Body In Mind Teaching With The Body In Mind
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- Education
Each week, Mike, Tom, Ross, and Joey reflect on the connection between moving and thinking. The discussions remind us that teachers should be supporting children's bodies as well as their minds.
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TWTBIM_0285 The Environment is Not a Blank Canvas
Mike invites us to unpack the term environment as it is used in the field of early childhood. Does emphasis on "creating the environment" overlook the fact that you are in a specific place that already exists? Does it take into account the children and people who inhabit the space? How can we avoid fighting against the place we are in?
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TWBIM_0284 Give Them Space
How can we give children chances to explore space (and the feeling of having a lot of it)? Spending time outdoors is one of the best ways. Inside, perhaps children can experience a feeling of being in a separate space under a table. Spending time alone in an empty classroom can also tap into an expansive feeling. As Tom sums it up, it is an awesome experience "exist in the expanse."
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TWTBIM_0283 Cooperative Games
Competition has been ramping up in Ross's class. Children compete over who gets to the door first and even who can complete a puzzle the fastest! The introduction of cooperative games has helped to change the tone. The group gets thinking about some of their favorite large motor cooperative play activities--freeze ball, bridge jumps, building with two-person planks--and breaks down some of the key components to include when inventing new cooperative games.
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TWBIM_0282 Spinnies and Ka-chunk
Joey shares an experience with children "just playing on a swing" that was really so much more. Mike recalls a similar play episode with children playing on a flexible bridge. In both instances, children embodied high-level social skills: empathy, cooperation and collaboration. Tom reminds us that generosity flows naturally from the joy of play. Let's never forget that!
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TWTBIM_0281 It's All Social
Tom's been observing how children forge social connections through large motor play. Whether filling buckets with sand, negotiating space in big empty boxes or taking on roles in pretend play, children learn social skills by using their bodies.
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TWTBIM_0280 Path of Least Resistance
On location at his new program, Mike points out design features that create the path of least resistance to support teachers' engagement with the children. The group discusses strategies to find paths of least resistance for other recurring challenges: material storage, reducing line leader fights, signing in for the day, reducing wait time and bottlenecks, and clean up after messy play (clean up "dump trucks").