Table of Contents List of Exercises
Stop and Go
About:
'Stop and Go' is one of the ideal activities to have as part of a group culture. It is a good mix of structure and freedom. Students can use their whole body, their emotions and their creativity. Within the game, you can playfully use a wide range of development movements and skills, address particular social emotional skills, artistic facets and embodied spiritual experience.
'Stop and Go' can be used to have two or more classes meet together.
Purpose of this game:
This game and its sequence can be particularly useful to teachers to increase the amount of movement that students can do in a classroom and still maintain safety and order.
'Stop and Go' is a way to learn to hear and respond to particular signals for 'Stop' and 'Go/Start'.
The more that students can follow these signals, the more they can be free to enjoy fuller and more expressive movement.
By learning to stop, they are developing executive functions.
This game provides a way to interact with different tempos, dynamics, different music instruments and styles.
'Stop and Go' provides a practical way to practice using Resets.
'Stop and Go' also is a easy structure have a students be in a subgroup of musicians and a sub-group of movers who then work and coordinate together.
This game is really a way of building a musical movement culture. We learn how to be and play together with movement, with the drum, with play acting, with respecting limits, with respecting our fellow students.
Prerequisites:
Directions:
Once students understand the framework of the game, then you can gradually incorporate more complex movements and scenarios
Remember to Acknowledge, Savor, Spot Weld and Celebrate Rules not Broken particularly: stopping at the stop signal, not pushing or shoving, staying the physical boundaries of the game!! The more w celebrate what is working, the more we get of it. (and the more we energize what is not working, the more we get of it!)
Start this game while students have more limited movement. They will have an easier time get back from their 'sympathic system' to 'ventral vagal/social engagment system'. As they are able to manage clean stops, then you can extend movement into the larger gross motor, full bodied movement.
Level 1: Stop and Go In Your Seat
This level is a safe contained way to get started. It gives the students a way to learn the form. They can practise stopping when then are not too energized in their movement. This level also gives teachers a sense of when the students are ready to move to the next level.
"When I play the music, I want you to shake your body. When the music stops, what should you do?"
"When the music stops, I want you to freeze".
You can set expectations of what is allowed and not allowed by using a puppet. Address voice sounds, bumping into the person next to you, getting up on furniture.
"Shake your hands". "Stop/(Freeeze)".
You can verbally 'Call the Stop' but, it is more powerful to 'Call the Stop' with just the music stopping and your non verbal gesture and face.
"Shake your shoulders". "Stop/(Freeeze)".
"Shake your right hand"
"Shake your left hand"
"Shake your right foot"
"Shake your left foot"
"Shake your right hand and your left foot". You can playfully introduce contralateral movements-great for coordination and brain development.
"Shake your knees"
"Shake your feet"
"Shake you elbows.
"Shake you head.
"Shake your face.
"What other body part can we shake?
Level 2: Stop and Go with Shakers
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This game compliments Shakers Around the Body
Review rules about tossing shakers, whether or not you are allowed to toss them, and if so how high. ( I recommend that students can toss them as part of the game and no higher than the top of their head.)
Hand out shakers to each student. Address if they are free to just warmup playing them or if they are to hold them in shakers asleep until the game starts. With some groups, it is more useful to have the students just start warming up and playing shakers when they receive them. Some groups it is seems more useful to stay 'asleep' until everyone has their shaker. Both ways are ok as alon at the expectaton is clear.
"When I play my 'Shaker', (or what ever instrument that I play-'Drum', 'Guitar', Violin ect..._ then you Shake your shaker.
"When I stop, you should.....?"
"Stop".
Play at different tempos, volumes.
Glitches:
- Student doesn't stop at the stop signal.
- First turn to another student who did- celebrate, spot weld, anchor their stopping.
- Take Over The Problem. Show Dragon puppet playing after the stop. Ask the group, how does it affect others when dragon keeps playing after the stop? Who can show dragon stopping on the stop signal?. Pick one student.
- Teacher plays a moderate musical groove and student(s) play a loud arhythmic rumble .
- First turn to another student who was playing in a regulated/ attuned way. Ask them to demonstrate for the class.
- Take Over The Problem.
- After you Take Over The Problem ask particular students to play their shaker in a way that compliments the music.
- Assess if student(s) need more release, more stimulation, or more contact.[]
Level 2: Stop and Go In Your Seat- Student Led Using the Bells
This activity empowers a student to develop greater leadership and postivie authority. They also help to regulate class.
First model by having each student sitting on their mat. Get their attention by calling 'Hands Ready", Hands Asleep'."When I play the music, I want you to shake your 'shoulders'". "When the music stops, what should you do?"
"When the music stops, I want you to freeze".
You can further orient and set expectations of what is allowed and not allowed by using a puppet. By having the class move in their seat you constrain some of the dynamics that happen when students move their whole bodies around the room.
Play the bells for about 10 seconds.
Acknowledge what went right. Call a Celebration Rhythm.
Level 4: Stop and Go - StandingInFrontOfYourSeat
If students are in chairs or , show them that they can stand right in front of the irs chairs. If they are on personal mats, they can stand on the mat.
Shake body parts
Shake whole body
Hop up and down on two feet
Hop up and down on one foot
Turn in a circle
Do a silly dance
Level 5: Stop and Go - Walking Around in the Space
Define where is 'in bounds' and 'out of bounds'. Sometimes if you have a large carpet inbounds is on the carpet. Some times I bring markers, such as cones, or particular colored mats.
Establish the rule that bumping into another student is against the rules.
Walk forwards
Walk slowly
Walk quickly
Walk backwards
Walk low
Walk tall
Walk fast
Glitches:
- Students bump into or push into people
- Take Over the Problem. Emphasis "How does Cow puppet feel when Dragon pushes into him? Do you think he likes it? Do you like when people push into you?"
- Do pencil rolls on the floor or the walls
- Reset- sit out for one cycle of the game. Have the reset chair near the teacher or assistant.[]
Level 6: Stop and Go - Respond To Specific Musical Cues
When the cello not slides down, students move toward the floor
When the cello not slides up, students move toward standing
When the cello plays pizzicato, students walk on their toes.
When the cello legato, students make sweeping movements.
Level 7: Stop and Go - Using Animal Movements
For this game, it is very useful to have an assistant be modeling each movement
Use creatures and characters and scenarios:
This allows for more creative, imaginative and expressive movement and allows you to do particular developmental movements in a fun, social way.
"This carpet just turned into a giant pond; you are a frog hopping."
You are a bear walking in the woods.
Giraffe eating leaves from the top of a tree.
Lizard Crawling (*Crawling)is a deepening important development mental movement which organized much brain function.
Developmental Movement Back or Belly on the floor Rocking side to side Flipping from front to the back
Elephants- with trunk, and make a trumpeting sound
You are a lion.
Unicorn
Horse
Butterfly
Snake
Mice
Mouse
Dog
Crab
Students can each name an animal and or type of movement.
Level 8: Stop and Go - Using Creative Dramatic Scenes
You are an Ice cream cone melting.
Your feet are stuck to the ground
You are in slow motion
Students have turned into mice; assistant or other adults have turned into hungary cats.
Students have turned into sweet kittens; assistant or other adults have turned into proud cat parents and give them a pat on the head.
Level 9: Stop and Go: Some Students Are The Musicians
[about using students for musicians]
Glitches:
- Student(s) doesn't stop when the music stops
- Celebrate an other students(s)for stopping being very explicit rich on details of how they heard the signal/cue and then quickly put their body in a freeze position.
- Take Over the Problem. Show the puppets playing 'Stop and Go'. Cow puppet
plays the drum, the Dragon Puppet is the mover. Cow/Drummer stops.
Dragon/Mover keeps moving. First ask the group, did Dragon stop moving when cow stopped moving. It is important to make sure that students understand the directions. Next as is that OK that Dragon keeps moving when he is suppose to stop? - Reset- sit out for one cycle of the game
- Students actively aggresses on other students. ie invading personal space, yelling in each others faces, clawing, jumping on, scratching, biting.
- Take Over the Problem. Emphasis "What is OK to do, What is not OK to do."
- Reset- sit out for one cycle of the game
- Do physical body boundary exercise. Exercise proprioception. Do pencil rolls on the floor or the walls
- Leaving the movement area or jumping on furniture
- Be sure that the student really understands where the boundary is. "Johnny, I want you to show me where the boundary line is by walking it."
- Resest- sit out for one cycle of the game
Needs Met:
Safety- having a clear set of rules and boundaries, secure frame to move in.
Novelty- use novel movements
Connection- moving together, stopping and starting together.
Metaphor to Explore:
[?]Once they have the first hand experience of this process, how could this metaphorically relate to other aspects of their lives.
Extensions:
* The Game can be used as part of a Performance.