Supporting Educators And Parents
We first learn about our world through our bodies, through our senses and movement. Children naturally learn through play. The physical aspects of learning, indeed the physical development and skills required have often been ignored in our educational systems. When they are addressed, many learning challenges disappear. And children under the age of 10 are primarily kinesthetic learners.
In order to learn, we need to feel safe. We need to be able to control our bodies first, then learn how to regulate our behaviour. Academic skills require balance, fine motor and eye control. If these skills are not mastered before we learn to read and write there will be stress and extra effort will be required.
We can address these learning requirements through specific movement activities that assist natural development and the integration of primitive reflexes. The activities are both effective and playful. They assist with focus, self-regulation, comprehension, organization and coordination and communication, as well as calming the system and reducing stress. Learning becomes easy and fun.
The creative, expressive potential of movement is another focus of the training we offer.
Dana’s passion, enthusiasm and commitment during the workshops have motivated and influenced the teachers. Due to the many benefits Brain Gym affords its participants we would highly recommend it to other teachers, schools and organizations. The hands on kinesthetic approach to creating strategies has enabled our students to fully engage in learning opportunities in every subject.
Janet Easthouse,
MOUNTAIN VIEW ACADMEY
Explore Our Courses
Drawing on 50 years experience onstage, 32 years with Brain Gym® and 25 years teaching as an artist in residence in Canada and overseas, Dana provides teachers public courses for educators, parents and teaching assistants, as well as workshops in schools for students, professional development for staff and workshops at teacher’s consortia and conventions.
Experience whole-brain integration through whole-body movement! Learn the 26 Brain Gym activities, Edu-K’s Five Steps to Easy Learning, and Dennison Laterality Repatterning as you discover an exciting tool for reaching personal goals. This course is the gateway to the Movement-Based Learning Program known as Brain Gym®, it is a practical and easily applied use of this approach. We begin to understand why learning difficulties may occur by observing our physical and emotional sensations, thereby offering the possibility of changing the way we act and interact. Discover stress management tools and how to reach positive and motivating personal, professional, athletic, artistic and developmental goals through the basic principles of Educational Kinesthetics.
The Dominance Factor Course is a synthesis of research and experiential understanding of how the Basal Dominance Pattern, developed at approximately 9 weeks in-utero, affects how we function in stressful (survival) situations, as well as our perceptual and expressive preferences, the way we gain knowledge, and how we respond in relationships . The course assists participants to be aware of the wide diversity of dominance patterns and how they differ from one’s own, which leads to deeper understanding and more effective inter-relationships in the home, school and workspace. The practical application of integrative cross-lateral tools from Brain Gym®, Vision Gym®, and other integrated movements assist whole brain and sensory function beyond these limited patterns to enrich every part of one’s life. This course is based on Dr. Carla Hannaford’s extensive research in the field of dominance profiles and their relationship to learning.
Brain Gym® for Little Ones This workshop, created by Lisa Marcovici and Michele Hebert, is designed for early childhood educators in daycare, preschool or kindergarten settings. During this course you will discover the 26 Brain Gym® movements and their application in a daycare setting to enable children to return to a calm state and develop basic motor skills. The benefits of Brain Gym are presented in a simple and fun manner and are easily integrated into the daily routine. Through play and using games, self-awareness, stress management techniques, as well exploring the skills of noticing, concentrating, organizing and communicating are taught.
The course includes an extensive colourful manual and handouts
This course is for educators and parents of children ages 4-8. It provides movement activities to develop coordination, balance, control and language skills. As Dr. Paul Dennison says, “Movement is the door to learning” – yet children today, surrounded by electronic media and gadgets, move less and less.
Explore fun activities combining developmental movements, dance, nursery rhymes and poems to create rich, diverse, movement experiences. These activities stimulate the coordination, balance, muscle tone and movement patterns that provide the foundation for effective, stress-free, whole brain learning.
Participants will learn:
- the fundamental developmental movement patterns
- playful activities to practice and embody each movement pattern
- activities to integrate these patterns and gain awareness and control of their bodies and actions
- the elements of movement and movement dynamics to use creatively to deepen children’s movement experience
- Movement activities using nursery rhymes and poems
- Circle dances
- A colorful manual is included.
Did you know that movement opens the door to learning? Learn the 26 Brain Gym® movements that address the physical aspects of learning, reduce stress and facilitate learning with the whole brain–body system.
As we deepen our understanding of the relationship between movement and learning, of what we notice as we observe our students physically and what is happening in terms of their ability to learn, we learn to recognize when we are ready to learn as well as acquiring the tools for when this is not the case. The physical skills related to specific academic competencies are presented, and the course includes an 88 page manual.
Topics and activities covered include:
- What does it mean and feel like to be ready to learn.
- How to “warm up” our brain
- Activities that help us to focus and concentrate with ease
- Activities that help us to organize and remember
- Building the developmental steps to facilitate right and left sides of the brain working together
- Physical skills for reading to help us decode, encode and easily move our eyes across a page or screen
- Physical skills for listening, spelling and math
- Physical skills for writing and fine motor activities, as well as playing an instrument, drawing, etc.
Want to combine Language Arts and movement? This workshop explores the relationship between words, images and movement, using a model devised by Dana Luebke to create choral/movement pieces from poetry. We will work with the dynamics of our voices and bodies, creating movement from poetry in a way that enhances both, experiencing how the expression of our voice emerges naturally from our moving body.
This is a whole-brain, embodied teaching method. It has relevance to teaching both Language Arts and Performing Arts. It is a platform for teaching/working with meaning, metaphor, imagery, creative choice, dynamics, movement and vocal skills, ensemble performing skill…
This method has been used successfully with kindergarten through university students.
Fundamental Developmental Movement Patterns and the Primary Reflexes as a Foundation for Learning and Self-Management
Develop more Connectivity and Coordination in your body
Explore and deepen your noticing skills for observation of self and students
Experience a dynamic tool that facilitates self-management
Replace coping strategies with integrated movement
This work has had a profound effect on both my dancing career and life, and I have made extensive use of it teaching children and helping seniors to move with better awareness, balance and coordination.
Course Content Includes …
- Introduction to development from a movement-based perspective
- Experiential learning of 7 developmental movement patterns and underlying reflexes that lay the foundation for our movement vocabulary from pre-birth to the present
- Quick, safe movement activities and techniques to use immediately with individuals or groups, in private practice, clinics, schools, etc., with no fancy equipment or set-up
- Physical side of the learning process, including the impact of developmental movement and reflexes on our life experiences
- Noticing skills and muscle response techniques
- Core activation refinement to improve stability and coordination
- Five-step balance process to build resources for personal and academic goals
- Simple, elegant hands-on techniques to support learners in integration and organization
Relevant to OTs, PTs, teachers, parents, therapists, counselors, dancers, athletes, and anyone interested in learning to move, live and learn with ease and enjoyment!!
