In what ways is the Feldenkrais Method aligned with the principles of child-centered learning?
Feldenkrais helps to cultivate a child’s sense of personal agency by:
Starting where the student is, not where the teacher is
Working from strengths - starting by clarifying and investigating what’s comfortable, so the child becomes free to let go and explore other options
Understanding that the teacher’s job is to establish a safe space for learning and to scaffold the inquiry, not provide the answers
Cultivating interests as a route to engagement with learning - so that children value learning for its own sake (internal rather than external motivation)
Educating the whole child…by involving the whole child in the process of learning (through movement)
Believing that people naturally want to learn and grow - that what we (as educators) need to do is to remove barriers and create options
Supporting students in becoming more fully who they are, not what others think they should be
Using novelty and variety to stimulate attention, engagement, and learning
Creating a supportive environment - reducing stressors (calming nervous system) so child is available to learn
Celebrating ease (reducing effort), seeing errors as essential to learning, and understanding that random variations lead to developmental breakthroughs