Let's get right into today's discussion,
“Smooth Sailing”
Using a Lesson Plan/Curriculum
Where I will share some thoughts on Why it is So Important for you to use Lesson Plans and a Curriculum in ALL your classes. But Especially in your Preschool Classes!
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Routine is extremely important for children. It allows them to anticipate what is next, know what to expect, and predict how their world will unfold in front of them.
Their world needs to be orderly, safe, and predictable. It's meeting one of their basic needs. Instead of feeling unsettled and frightened, and not knowing what to expect, they need to enter a world they know, and are familiar with!
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As adults, we have our routines. We rise with the sound of our alarm, put on the coffee, shower, make breakfasts and lunches, load our children in the car, drop them to school, and proceed with our day. However, if our car doesn’t start, it’s not going to be pretty! Our organized, orderly, predictable world is now being rocked! Hello Chaos!!
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Children are trying to make sense and order in their world. Their brains are trying to find patterns and rules. Routine is key! Chaos, however, will rock their world!
If you study child development, which as dance educators, you should! OR you can follow me, because I did our homework! Developmental Psychologists have researched the harmful effects of overstimulation or "CHAOS" in children's environments. “CHAOS” refers to physical and social settings, characterized by crowding, noise, unpredictability, a lack of routines, boundaries and structure, and instability or unplanned changes.
C Confusion
H Hubbub (commotion)
A And
O Order
S Scale
Chaos can cause aggression, bad sleep patterns, higher stress, vocabulary and language deficits, conduct problems (you know, that student that can’t keep their hands off Jane), attention deficit (yup, that student who is picking the flooring tape off the floor), and hyperactivity (I’m not even going there!).
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Don’t have your studio be a place of CHAOS. Use a Lesson Plan!!
As Dance Educators, we need to commit to the idea that routines are extremely important. We should be motivated by the idea of utilizing a lesson plan and curriculum, knowing that we will get peace in the studio, better behavior out of our students, and mostly, that we are contributing to the overall health and growth of these young humans. We should start with a lesson plan as soon as our preschool students step foot in the door. These young dancers will feel competent, capable, independent, and safe, once a routine is set. And our dance studio will be a place where their world isn’t rocked, but rather, a place where there is smooth sailing!
