The school that I teach at is amazing in the way that it allows the teachers great freedom to design their own curriculum. Our school also greatly emphasizes the whole child. We educate not only to the academic mind, but also to the passionate heart. Each year the children perform in an all school production of a great living being, such as Joan of Arc, Buddha, Martin Luther King Jr. and this year it will be the Dalai Lama.
In order to teach children about themselves, and begin to discover who they are, we practice what we call "still bodies". Now keep in mind that I teach Kindergarten, the children are about five years old. So, there is easily constant movement in the room.
We sit up, comfortably, and breathe. Then I will say, "Oh, our bodies are moving, and moving. This is my body, tap your body with me!" And they will! And then, with a softer turning voice, to get the children's attention I will say "And now look how still they can be, my body is not moving at all!"
It is amazing how still and quiet those little bodies can be! We can sit still for about a couple minutes. We usually follow with a sharing what we are each grateful for this morning, what makes us happy, or what I can do to practice the Golden Rule.
We read this amazing book this morning, and I highly recommend it if you are interested in teaching children to care about others and their world.
No comments:
Post a Comment