Improv and Education and Museums -- the Art of Doing

Jen Oleniczak doesn't know me, although we share a common group (NEMA YEPs -- yay!).

She's the founder of The Engaging Educator.

According to the website, their company is:
Specializing in improv, presentation, movement and theatre classes and workshops, The Engaging Educator strives to help educators work towards a primary goal – education that engages both students and teachers to the top of their potential.
As educators, we spend hours worrying about what to say to our students. How often do we worry about HOW we say it? Our communication and presentation skills are just as important as any fact. Students pay better attention when we are interesting and the job is more fun when we enjoy ourselves.
In a classroom, at a residency or in a gallery – we work with all educators to make them the absolute best they can be.

Right up our alley!

Engaging Educator also has a blog.  One of their early posts linked to Jen's piece in the Art Museum Teaching blog "Improv(e) Your Teaching."

It neatly summarizes how improving listening skills and using movement can stimulate thinking and learning in educational spaces, such as schools and museums.

Improv's emphasis on listening to the other person -- using the response "Yes, AND..." -- was in fact my key takeaway from Tina Fey's autobiography Bossypants.

"Yes, AND..." works really, really well in meetings, conferences, and VTS in front of an object....

Sometimes the most creative educational work comes from outside the school, such as the museum or the comedy club.

And we can learn a lot from multiple modalities.

Thanks, Jen!

"The movement continuum "

Time for recess?  Too much turkey?

This item from the ASCD Smart Brief seems relevant.  The piece does a nice job of presenting the different positions on movement in the classroom (pun intended!).

Some schools view physical activity as superfluous to learning, others see it as an integral part of the learning process, and the rest fall somewhere in between. These views dictate where a school lies on the "movement continuum," explains ASCD Healthy School Communities Director Sean Slade. In his recent Whole Child Blog post, Slade explores the continuum, the benefits of integrating movement into the school day, and ideas for incorporating physical activity into a range of lessons. Read the full blog post.