McClelland, C. ©2013
Jennifer taught us several yoga poses that help energize students and prepare their minds for a successful school day. Above, you can see Jennifer and I doing "The Fountain", a pose aimed at trusting your partner and getting the oxygen flowing to your brain. I chose this workshop because I wanted a break from theory and to engage in a practical and meaningful activity. I've always wanted to try yoga and thought this would be a great introduction to get me started. Jennifer's workshop was exactly what I needed and ignited my interest!
Yoga and Movement was an amazing experiential workshop that helped make clear the benefits of yoga to our students, noting the importance of healthy active living. Jennifer presented several yoga poses, movement activities that integrate curriculum (who would have thought math could be better understood by playing with balloons), and ways to directly implement these strategies into our future classrooms! My favourite part of the workshop was completing a MeMoves DVD set - a program aimed at helping ASD students develop their sensorimotor skills. After completing the program, all I could think about was universal design- some of these programs aimed at certain students really do benefit the entire class! For more information, take a took at the MeMoves website and watch this video showing how concentrated students are when performing MeMoves.
There were many aspects of this workshop that I will use in my classroom and encourage fellow teachers to consider. One of the most chaotic parts of most school days are the transitionary periods from one subject or classroom to the next. A great way to ease the transition is to have the students do a few poses or movement exercises before moving on for the day. Jennifer mentioned that this helps show students that a particular task is done for the day, and is a great release of energy for students who need to move and get out of their seats. She raised an excellent point: the school day is a very institutionalized, stagnant setting that can, at times, be poorly designed for our young learners who have a lot of energy that needs to be exhausted. Building routines into your day, like yoga, works to create a more inviting atmosphere for students that feels less like a highly regimented and institutionalized school setting. Yoga is also a great way to settle the mind. Jennifer has her students do a yoga routine before every test and has noticed a greater student commitment to learning when they are given these opportunities to exercise in the classroom.
If you have any questions or would like some more ideas for how to implement this in the classroom, feel free to comment. I would love to talk more about this experience!
Time to get posing!
Ommmmmmmmmmmm
McClelland, C. ©2013
Miss McClelland
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