New York Study Circle Wraps Up

Study Circle Blog Launched

Featured Program: Singing and Dancing for Early Childhood Education

Beginning with this issue of the newsletter we will periodically be featuring a program or organization doing innovative work in the field of education for ethics and peace.

We start off this month with a wonderful book called Come Join the Circle; Singing and Dancing for Early Childhood Education, by Susan Slack.

For 50 years Susan Slack has worked in the performing arts, the last 20 with children as a Teaching Artist in classrooms, assemblies and now in Professional Development.

Susan was struck by how often the demands of the classroom schedule meant that “There is no time for fun.” Early on in her career, she began to wonder how she could incorporate what teachers need to teach into what children love to do. For 60,000 years people naturally sang and danced in a circle. This practice, so deeply-seated in our humanity, teaches us in an effortless way to work together for a common purpose. Susan studied brain research as it relates to the arts of rhythm, movement and tonal variation, and found they actually help build a brain that is capable of optimal functioning in the social, cognitive and academic domains. When stress levels are brought down, children are more capable of learning. When children dance in a circle they learn sequential patterns and spatial/temporal reasoning. When they sing in a new language they practice new rhythmical speech patterns, guiding them toward literacy. Expanding body-movement choices assists pre-literate cognitive reasoning. Circle dancing and singing require concentration and focus. Children smile while dancing, and their brains are physically growing smooth, even neural pathways in response to that happiness.

Whether presented in the classroom under the label of the music, dance or social studies, this practice has many benefits for children.

Susan Slack is a Senior Mentor for the Dances of Universal Peace, and the author of Come Join the Circle; Singing and Dancing for Early Childhood Education, a step by step how and why handbook for adults, with examples and resources. The book is available online from Reading Rhythm.

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The New York Study Circle recently completed the discussion sessions of the Dalai Lama’s book Ethics for the New Millennium after a year and a half of meeting together. The group wrapped up with feelings of happiness that their time together had been very enriching, and wistfulness that they had finished discussing a book which had become very much a part of their lives.

In the words of participant Annie Bien:

The time spent studying and discussing had some profound effects on the participants that they will take with them the rest of their lives. Here are some feelings from the members:

Lynn Kolk: “What we’d be reading about is exactly what’s happening in my life right now.”

Ann Sophie: “It’s important to be able to voice what one feels without feeling like you’re going to be wrong.”

Rob Hadley: “What I got from the study circle is a better sense for just how transforming these practices can be—”

Maria Jakosalem: “I have no brilliant ideas but basically, what I learned from the book that most struck me: the Dalai Lama agreed with me! The man is not only human; he is brilliant by being human. He reaches people, he draws them out with hope.”

The group would finish each meeting with a dedication that their efforts would benefit all living beings.

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Study circles are a great way to learn in an atmosphere of trust, friendship, and mutual support. Currently there are study circles going on in cities around the world, in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America, coordinated by Study Circle Coordinator Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba.

We are hosting a Study Circle Blog. You are invited to join us at the blog and share your own stories and experiences.

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