See What Children Know
Have you ever seen a child who seems to know just a little bit more than her peers about the ways one can move to music? We all recognize such children when we see them, but what is it that they know? Can we be more explicit when we explain why their moves seem more sophisticated? Watch this three-year old child dance to two different songs, one about the mambo, the other about the limbo. Watch her all the way through (approximately two minutes). Then we will revisit segments and make comments that identify the subtleties of what she is doing so that we can begin to talk about movement as more than fun. Of course, movement IS fun, but it can also reveal a form of intelligence in action (see Howard Gardner’s work on Multiple Intelligences: Bodily-Kinesthetic).
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Notes from the Field
Video Documentation and Mindset Change
Video documentation has become the method of choice for more and more schools that value observation as assessment and teacher as researcher. But what do you video and how do you store and index your video clips in an organized way for later viewing and distribution? George Forman and Ellen Hall will lead a full day workshop at the Boulder Journey School on September 22 to cover both the how and the why of video documentation. You will discover that using video rather than only photography will create a mindset shift toward the processes of learning and teaching, rather than only the products. The net result: you will know more about how your children think and consequentially how to support their learning with more constructive conversations and effective provocations. Plus you can share the full details of your good work with others. Click here to learn more.
