Friday, December 4, 2009

Dance and Movement Workshop

This event took place on Thursday October 15th from 9:00-12:00 am in the Cochrane Room in the East Building. The event was ran by Freddie Moore who is an artistic director of a dance company. The main objective of the event was to learn how to harness children’s physical energy and use it as an instructional tool for learning in the classroom. This event was innovative, informative, and so much fun. Freddie packed so many ideas, exercises, and activities in such a short amount of time. Together we did a dance warm-up and did several other dance activities that required us to release our inhibitions, step outside our comfort zones, and be spontaneous. Freddie emphasized that dance and movement activities don’t have to be isolated events unrelated to the classroom curriculum. He taught us strategies on how to integrate community building, multi-cultural education, and creative communication skills through dance and movement. It was so much fun to be together in a different environment in which we could be informal and silly with each other. I felt like we had the opportunity to learn more about each other and our different talents and strengths. I felt like we also learned great techniques on how to explore different subject matters by simply using the energy and enthusiasm that children already naturally possess. Children need to be able to move around to release their energy, stimulate their learning, and express themselves. Now, after this workshop I feel confident that I can implement creative, instructional, and effective dance and movement lessons in my classroom. Completing this workshop was one of the best times I’ve had with my fellow classmates at NYU.

1 comment:

  1. I wish I had the time to attend this workshop! I think dance is so important because it allows us to be aware of our bodies and how we could express ourselves with them. By incorporating a little dance activity into the day, students would be more stimulated to learn and more alert. It could be used in the slightest forms—the way students come to the rug could be a way for them to express themselves through interpretative dance moves.

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