Today I had the wonderful opportunity of presenting "The Kinesthetic Connection: Spicing Up Your Instructional Recipes Through Movement" with Megan Pancone! I must say, we make quite a great team! This was our second time to present together at our district's February Conference. I loved this year so much more than last year. I was more confident, less nervous, and even more excited! Someone from Block House Creek brought me a Starbucks coffee in preperation for the presentation. This definitely boosted my confidence! Fans are always appreciated! ;)
We had a packed house! More than eighty people attended our presentation in the "wrassling" room at Vista Ridge High School. And everyone that came participated in the activities and seemed to really enjoy themselves. Koreen, our videography (and Megan's stepdaughter), verified this by letting us know that, "Everyone looked like they were having a lot of fun!"
I hope that the hour went by as quickly for our participants as it did for us!
I loved Megan's energy. She's got a spark that really grabs people's attention. And kuddos to Megan for taking time to put this together and knock it out of the park...even with FOUR beautiful children at home!
Getting the material together for the presentation was slightly more difficult than last year. This year Megan and I are working on two different campuses. So, a quick meeting after school was never really an option. We put the whole thing together in only three meetings. And I think we did quite a nice job.
Basically, we presented on the brain-body connection, movement in the classroom through brain breaks, movement through instruction, and movement through exercise. We provided participants with meaningful research that backs up the assumption that the brain and body are connected in an inseperable way.
We gave the example of a jelyfish that, once it has connected to a coral reef and is no longer moving, eats its own nervous system (brain). WITHOUT MOVEMENT our brains are NOT needed. Humans, in a not so distant past, used to be hunter-gatherers. Moving and thinking were done simultaneously. We did not learn how to hunt or find food or build houses sitting in a classroom at a desk. We learned by doing. We learned implicitely. So, many of our classroom practices go against what we are naturally inclined to do!
And do I believe this stuff? Most definitely! And I believe that we can effectively combine movement into our classrooms in such a way that promotes student learning and growth AND in such a way that promotes student success as indiciated through paper-pencil assessments and other "traditional" classroom practices.
No comments:
Post a Comment