Stimulus for the lesson
Straight
Wiggly
Up
Down
Right
Left
“If a child is not learning the way you are teaching, then you must teach in the way the child learns."
- (Gardner & Hatch, 1989)
In order to engage all students in all
aspects of the curriculum, it is essential to consider all possible strategies
for teaching students in alignment with their various skills and abilities.
Although the importance of a philosophy of inclusion and learning for all is
deeply embedded in every subject, it isn't always clear how to do it. Using a cross curriculum approach can be strategy to teach students in a dynamic way.
This is what we learnt to do in dance today, using dance to teach literacy and
literacy to teach dance. We used the picture book Henry and Amy to explore the
literacy concept of opposites (antonyms) which lends itself well to dance as we
could create and develop contrasting movements using verbs and directional
language as well as more abstract concepts for dance such as ‘raining’ and
‘sunny’.
Aside from the benefit of being able
to address more outcomes with limited time and within an overcrowded curriculum,
this approach can help students who to access learning in a different way. This
relates to the theory of multiple intelligences as linguistic intelligence and kinaesthetic intelligence combines together (Gardner & Hatch, 1989). A
student who struggles to express themselves through words can make
connections, building his or her schemata through dance, building
upon their prior knowledge. That student will use his or
her skills in dance to build their skills in literacy. This approach
facilitates a natural inclination towards a certain skill set and makes
connections to a weaker skill, building both skills.
Our cross curriculum literacy stimulus- Henry and Amy by Stephen Michael King
References:
Gardner, H. & Hatch, T. (1989). Multiple Intelligences Go to School: Educational Implications of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Educational Researcher. (18) 8, 4-10.
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