Minds in Motion: A Kinesthetic Approach to Teaching Elementary Curriculum

Kids love to move. They use their bodies to play, communicate, and express emotions. In Minds in Motion, Susan Griss shows teachers how they can channel this kinesthetic language into constructive learning experiences, demonstrating what a natural route physicality can be to content area instruction.

Minds in Motion introduces elementary teachers to the process of identifying, creating, and implementing lessons that encourage students to learn by using their bodies as well as their minds. It covers a range of subjects that includes science, math, language arts, history, conflict resolution, and more. Through the use of specific examples, Griss illustrates the benefits of physicalizing academic concepts, including how movement:

• makes learning tangible, accessible, and memorable
• cultivates critical thinking and the use of higher-level thinking skills
• demands both individual decision making and group interaction
• encourages students to make use of their own experiences and observations as a foundation for knowledge
• stimulates creative and dynamic energy in the classroom.

An ideal resource for both preservice and inservice teachers, Minds in Motion offers practical advice and support for teachers who have no experience with movement and inspiration for those who already use movement in the classroom, but are looking for new and imaginative ways to transform lessons into creative kinesthetic experiences.

Susan Griss teaches on the faculty of Bank Street College of Education, Lesley University, and in the education department of the Kennedy Center. She is also the co-director of the Arts and Curriculum Institute at Skidmore. Rooted in her background as a dancer and choreographer, her successful methods of teaching elementary curriculum through creative movement have been presented to principals, classroom teachers, teaching artists and pre-service teachers throughout the U.S. As a veteran teaching artist, Ms. Griss has been working with children in the public schools for more than twenty years. Visit her website at www.mindsinmotion.org