Movement Education In Physical Education (1961)

[Music] movement is the language of action movement is basic to everything action we perform whether we are children on the playground or adults in a work [Music] situation here on the playground children are engaging in their own choice of activity moving as they will and enjoying their own movement patterns because movement is so natural to Children teachers often Overlook the importance of teaching a sound basis for more efficient and expressive movement patterns such a basis can be provided by helping each child develop an awareness and understanding of how he moves where he moves in space and what his body can do this film is designed to show these three awarenesses and their use in developing efficient and expressive movement patterns in the gymnasium children are encouraged to participate in a variety of activities for the development of these movement principles in our modern elementary schools physical education programs are conducted regularly with the development of efficient effective and expressive movement patterns as a major objective opportunity for observation as well as participation is essential in understanding movement patterns because children do like to move they need little encouragement yet they need much guided practice in creating the best patterns for each situation the beginning of each class is the time for movement practice what are some of the kinds of ideas children have some enjoy running K enjoys this kind of turning pattern some like jumping punching kicking turning twisting or running as children create repeat over and over and thoroughly enjoy their movement ideas the teacher guides individuals in their work and discusses the vocabulary of movement as the children rest in establishing this vocabulary of movement the initial step is that of developing an awareness of the self in the physical environment this awareness is transferred to game situations specifically children must be aware of themselves in relation to the area they are in and to the people in the area they must be aware of the equipment on the floor and of their partners such an awareness is essential for this game of Buffalo Bill we find this also in tag in twos or any game certainly the children are alert looking for each other for the one to tag and for the One chasing them these children are discussing and sharing the movement patterns they enjoy Debbie says she would like to show her half flip bill says he likes to do splits Connie likes to run in circles and Billy enjoys melting the body is a fascinating instrument to children they like to find out what theirs can do even though the first awareness continues to be present and practiced the awareness of the body and its capabilities is important too watch these two first graders as you watch them this time see if each makes the same shape he made the first time while in the air can each repeat the same Landing he did the first time they are able to repeat these activities because of their awareness of themselves in relation to the equipment of their own capabilities and of their concentration on control this is control and efficient movement this is practice toward control and efficient movement children in this fourth grade class are working on a movement pattern which involves a Twist a stretch a swing and a collapse Jeff and Linda are showing their finished pattern to the rest of the class these children are working on a combination of more than four different movement possibilities can you see seven parts to these patterns that Chuck and Eric have created Run and freeze twist collapse roll balance and rest the third emphasis is awareness of the movement components which these boys and girls are using speed space force and control Linda is emphasizing the use of speed in this movement is Debbie emphasizing speed space force control all four what of Bill's movement and billies obviously this hang of brues emphasizes strength which is an element of force but what of Arts apparatus is an excellent activity for developing awareness of these components of movement look for concentration on the components as these children work matching action of the one on the apparatus by the one on the floor demands concentration careful analysis of the activity itself and cooperation solving problems such as do something high off the apparatus and follow that by a smooth but quick stunt allows for individuality creativity and makes the best use of the components of movement practice is essential in understanding that Force means heavy or light that time means fast or slow that space means direct or straight and indirect or crooked and that efficient movement demands control not lack of control movement without discussion of the what why and how of movement would be purposeless children like to discuss their own kinds of patterns teacher student discussion is important to find out what children like to do why they like to do it and how they like to move this type of discussion is also valuable as a review of material learned Mr vanata has been reviewing the movement components with the fourth grade now let's listen as they bring out ideas on the self in the physical environment that say it's a tag game you have to watch out for the it and the other people so you don't bump into them okay awareness of other people person said or other people involved in the game uh Jane uh there boundaries if you're playing a boundary game you'd probably be out if you went out of them and you might bump into equipment and somebody could get hurt pretty badly okay you mentioned two things then awareness of the boundary lines and awareness of equipment now is there some other thing involved Jane well don't uh when your plane don't run uh don't run into a wall or something okay the boundary may be a wall rather than a line so you have to be aware of the boundary if it's a wall all right I think that pretty well covers a physical environment now the next awareness that we are concerned with is the awareness of the body and his capabilities Peter will you put that on the board for us now what are some of the uh capabilities of the body what can the body do Sally well it can twist and collapse all right twist and collapse Bruce well you can uh run and then freeze run and freeze Priscilla you can balance and throw balance and Dr all right that covers several of things the body can do it can do a lot more it can do combinations of some of those things this chart shows the continuous relationship among the three awarenesses with the movement pattern the teacher presents only one awareness at a time but recognizes that all three are present and equally important skills for everyday activities whether they be play skills work skills or skills for emergencies will be effective efficient and expressive if we concern our teaching with a development of sound movement patterns these are the bases for our language of action movement is that language of [Music] action [Music] la