The Progressive Teacher Vol 04 Issue 03

atmosphere that allows for
free thinking.
• Communication and
Expression: Creates a
scaffolding to develop
emotional maturity by
guiding the child to express,
understand, accept and
control feelings and emotions.
• Social skills: Helps the child
imbibe values, social attitudes
and manners important in his/
her socio- cultural context.
They learn to share ideas,
collaborate and wait for their
turn.
• Creativity: Pushes
the children to become
independent thinkers and
develop creative thinking
by providing sufficient
opportunities for selfexploration,
improvisation and
experimentation. Children find
new ways to move by taking
risks and many possibilities.
This skill combined with
critical thinking capacitates
problem solving.
These essential life skills are
required today more than
academic excellence in order
for us to stay grounded, deal
with and excel in today’s society.
These skills cannot be taught
but have to be experienced and
nurtured from a very young age.
Creative movement then becomes
a bridge to facilitate children to
become comfortable with their
bodies and in turn with who they
are. Movement is an integral
part of learning. Research shows
that learning and cognitive
development go hand in hand.
So if we look at movement and
add the creative aspect to it then
we are enhancing meta-cognitive
aspects of thinking.
‘Think about Thinking’ is
something I learnt from
Mediated Learning Experience.
This method mediates in a
way where children begin to
constantly think about thinking.
This method of facilitation is
critical for a child to understand
Preeti Sunderajan is an accomplished dancer, choreographer, teacher,
educator and entrepreneur. Preeti’s performing career spans over
30 years. She has performed at several prestigious festivals across
India, USA, UK and Australia. In addition to being a classically trained
Bharatanatyam dancer, Preeti is trained in Yoga, Contemporary dance,
Chau, Folk Theatre and Kalaripayattu.
In 2006 she became an entrepreneur and started Shiri Dance Company.
The aim was to build a dance company of professional dancers and
artists to create neo- classical pieces of work and to do research in the area of movement
and learning. She understood the deeper meaning of performing arts and its impact on
child development and saw the need for an effective Creative Movement in education. She
successfully launched a structured curriculum called Body Talk. Preeti joined FitKids in
2014 as CEO of GAIT (Grooming Artistic Innovation and Talent). She has been successful in
creating, developing and establishing GAIT as the largest and first ever Creative Movement
in Education programme across schools in India.
Jul/Aug 2017
and apply. When we do this
while using movement to create
we are empowering a child in
many different ways. The child
has to think in order to create,
find meaning for his ideas and
has to be able to transcend
through his actions. This also lays
the foundation for body mind
connect and critical thinking.
In order for this change
to happen in a child the
atmosphere we create becomes
very important in order to
give an impetus to learning
through creative movement. The
atmosphere should be free of
judgment, where no answer is
right or wrong, it should ensure
that the process is given far
more importance than the end
result. A curriculum framework
needs to be developed which will
give the child a clear pathway
where success can be seen at
shorter intervals. This will allow
us to have clear objectives and
outcomes.
It is important as parents and
educators that we create the
same atmosphere of learning and
enrichment at all times for the
child. Some of the simple ways
we can create this are:
• Open ended questions- At
the end of an activity it is
important to ask open ended
questions which allow the
child to think. These are
typically ‘Why, What, Where,
When and How’ questions.
As adults we are very
enthusiastic about giving the
right answer. Instead when a
child has done a task take a
step back and enquire about
what he did. A simple activity
could be, you play a track of
music and ask them to move
in a manner they wish with
their eyes closed. Then ask
them why they moved the
way they did. What was the
intention of the movement?
What did they feel? How else
would they have liked to do
the activity?
• Praise the process not the
result – Often we love to
praise the child who has given
us the right answer. Instead
step back and look at how
children are arriving at their
answers. This gives room for
thinking and analysing the
process. Give any task with a
few obstacles. Once they have
finished it, talk to them about
how they went about finishing
the task. What strategies did
they use and if they felt it
worked or not.
• Do not get worried about
right or wrong answers
-When children are trying
something they want to
usually please the adult. This
does not allow them to take
risks and fail. Give activities
that allow the child to come
up with multiple ways of
arriving at a solution. A
simple example would be move
from Point A to Point B but
don’t crawl or use your feet
to move. Children are at first
confused but instantly find
several ways to use their bodies
to move. This simple activity
allows the children to take
risks and not be bothered if
they fail.
• Perspectives - When we look
at responses from children
from different perspectives
then we realise it all ‘depends’
on how they perceive it. Give a
child an abstract piece of art
and turn it around after each
response. You can see how each
response is different and how it
all depends on from where the
child is looking
at it.
Creativity comes when there
are limited inputs and you
are required to come up with
unlimited outcomes. This
capacitates thinking as a general
way of living. Expression of
creative ideas is a beautiful
outcome of this process. So, we
can say that using the framework
of performing arts we can make
correlations with essential skills
required for all round child
development in an inclusive way.
Creative movement in education
provides the means to enhance
ones inner potential in a world
where the outcomes are largely
academics driven. It makes
learning a way of life and the
child will be able to think reason
and understand better the world
around him/her.
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