The Value of Yoga

Today's fast-paced society causes stress for everyone, even children. In my school, we have a wonderful opportunity to offer Yoga as an activity for our students. When the students entered the gymnasium this week and saw the yoga mats on the floor many exclaimed "Yeah! we are doing yoga!" The benefits of yoga include balance, strength, concentration, focus, and relaxation. Our students reap those benefits when they participate in yoga activities in Physical Education class. How many of us would love a chance to turn the lights off, lay down, and let go of all of our daily stress by listening to soft music and relaxing? When I observe my students enjoy all of the yoga activities and then relax at the end, I can't help but think that this type of activity would benefit them more often than I can provide in PE. Several students fall asleep during the brief relaxation period at the end of class, and many would stay longer if time allowed. At the end of one yoga session, one student said "I wish I could stay here all day!" When it's time to put shoes on and get ready to go, many students lag behind to enjoy the time to relax. I asked my primary students to "Wiggle your fingers if you would like to have the chance to do yoga again." Guess what? There was not a finger that wasn't wiggling in the gym!

For The Love of Dance!

Dance can be joyful, fun, exhilarating, and exhausting.....and sometimes in PE it can be all of those things in addition to frustrating and anxiety producing for both students and teachers. During my years here at North Park teaching dance, I have experienced the full range of all of those emotions and reactions to dance. A few years ago, however, I began to see a positive change in how my students reacted to and enjoyed dance. I think that this change has been due to a variety of factors. First, I had a wonderful opportunity to have a folk dance group come to my school and teach my students "Community Dance". This group, Homespun Dance, taught me that dance should be enjoyed as a community and that partners don't always matter. Next, I began to teach the dances that they taught my students and myself and I approached dance in a different way. I allowed students to choose their own partners not based on gender, but on friendship and companionship. This, in and of itself, took the pressure of partner-based dances off of students and myself. Finally, I began to frame the dance unit in terms of the expectation of respect for every person in the room. At the beginning of my dance unit students are taught what respect looks likes, feels like, and sounds like and students are required to self-assess their behavior at the end of each class. As a result of these changes, students enjoy dance more than ever before. This was pointed out to me especially today, when a third grade boy was excited to begin dance and reminded me of a dance that he had done the previous year. He and the class were so excited at the memory of this particular dance, they asked if they could do it again today and show another adult in the room who had not seen the dance performed before. I could not have been happier to allow the students to dance this dance again! It took only a few minutes of cues to remind the students the particulars of the dance. They performed the dance eagerly and there were smiles all around! My dance unit today includes a variety of dances, both popular dances and folk dances, line dances and circle dances, partner dances and scatter dances. Students of every grade level enjoy these activities and my hope is that they will look back on these dances in later years and remember their experience with a smile on their face and that they will continue to have a love of dance!