Learning to Move, Moving to Learn
The focus for February was on learning to relax... so we can learn. A special thanks to Scott Krayenhoff, May Henry and Dr. Tim Brown and Janise O'Leandros for contributing activities.March is all about movement.Of course, movement is nothing without stillness, but it is unnatural and counterproductive to sit in a desk for hours on end. Evidently, P.E. is not enough physical activity for learners, and movement in the classroom should be for everyone, not just "hyperactive" boys.Without syncing our brains and bodies, without an exploration of the space we occupy and the spaces around us, without acknowledging that the learning process is dynamic, how can any learning take place? What are ways learners can move in order to express themselves as more than mental (and even physical) beings?If you have any activities or ideas for lessons related to experiential and/or embodied learning, please share them with us this month.
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The world is in constant motion. Life is a dynamic process that, naturally, moves us to learn. Our motivation (mot- as in motion, "to move") to learn to crawl and walk came from our innate desire to interact with objects and people and to explore the world.
However, old school teachers tell their students to sit and stay. Students are trained to use only their eyes, ears, part of their brains and their hands to take notes. Sometimes they are permitted to speak.
Of course this has been changing over the years, particularly in elementary school classrooms and nature-based education programs, but we still have a long way to go to stop bullying our bodies, to regard our bodies as our teachers, and fully integrate our minds and our bodies until we no longer even need a mind-body paradigm.
Movement is a medium for learning. Movement is an extension of learning process.Let's learn to move and move to learn.Why and how do you move? Do you travel? dance? run? swim? bike? hike? jump? climb? skate? ski? play sports? practice yoga? tai chi? qi gong?
"Our knowledge from its onset is also embodied, embedded in our kinesthetic relationship with reality and in the connection of our bodies to the physical world. Our bodily based experience of moving and interacting with the world impacts our ability to understand our world as much as our abstract intellectual thinking." – Linda Olds
ARCHIVEMarch 2015