Wiggle my nose
Covered in snow, it wrinkles with the crisp air and
the sprinkles glisten.
Poke my head in once more,
Toss up, flakes fill the air
Cascade across my rich fur,
red like a garnet
Prey falls easily to my swift ways,
cunning instincts.
React--
Movements cross my vision and I run
I see and smell my meal
My nose,
no longer covered in pristine flakes glistening of wintertime.
Here,
brought back for my kit.
As a pack, we munch and I wonder
how much longer winter will last.
Covered in snow, it wrinkles with the crisp air and
the sprinkles glisten.
Poke my head in once more,
Toss up, flakes fill the air
Cascade across my rich fur,
red like a garnet
Prey falls easily to my swift ways,
cunning instincts.
React--
Movements cross my vision and I run
I see and smell my meal
My nose,
no longer covered in pristine flakes glistening of wintertime.
Here,
brought back for my kit.
As a pack, we munch and I wonder
how much longer winter will last.
Embodied thinking is akin to "feeling it in your bones." Embodied thinking is a way of intuitively experiencing something that registers anatomically with heightened alertness. Embodied thinking transcends the boundaries of our senses; instead, it encompasses them.
For my articulation of embodied thinking, I elected to write a poem in the embodied form of a fox in the wintertime. As it connects with a winter animals unit we do in kindergarten, I thought it apt to imagine myself as the fox, rather than merely articulating my observations and knowledge of it. A fox in the wintertime piqued my interest because they, along with fellow animals in winter, know just what to do--naturally. That sort of ingrained survival is pretty incredible, an ultimate form of embodied thinking.
By imagining myself as a fox in the winter, I had to not only think about the facts that I know, but imagine myself in the actual role of the fox. It's one thing to pretend amongst kindergarteners, but another to fully immerse myself in the sights and sounds the fox might experience. I found myself thinking about my dog (who lives with my father in Minnesota). Rosie, a small-bred Cocker Spaniel, is red in color and about the size of a fox. I got to wondering what her experience might be like in the snow, what it would feel like to be that small. That being said, the articulation of hunting for prey is not inspired by my dog; instead, I thought on how I would survive as a fox and provide for my little ones.
This practice in embodied thinking has opened my eyes to the greater aspects of this overarching concept of nature in early childhood education. To find what suits the group, perhaps embodied thinking is most necessary in an elementary form; that is, maybe I can best develop a program once I think of what I'd like to do if I were a kindergartener embracing all that is natural.
For my articulation of embodied thinking, I elected to write a poem in the embodied form of a fox in the wintertime. As it connects with a winter animals unit we do in kindergarten, I thought it apt to imagine myself as the fox, rather than merely articulating my observations and knowledge of it. A fox in the wintertime piqued my interest because they, along with fellow animals in winter, know just what to do--naturally. That sort of ingrained survival is pretty incredible, an ultimate form of embodied thinking.
By imagining myself as a fox in the winter, I had to not only think about the facts that I know, but imagine myself in the actual role of the fox. It's one thing to pretend amongst kindergarteners, but another to fully immerse myself in the sights and sounds the fox might experience. I found myself thinking about my dog (who lives with my father in Minnesota). Rosie, a small-bred Cocker Spaniel, is red in color and about the size of a fox. I got to wondering what her experience might be like in the snow, what it would feel like to be that small. That being said, the articulation of hunting for prey is not inspired by my dog; instead, I thought on how I would survive as a fox and provide for my little ones.
This practice in embodied thinking has opened my eyes to the greater aspects of this overarching concept of nature in early childhood education. To find what suits the group, perhaps embodied thinking is most necessary in an elementary form; that is, maybe I can best develop a program once I think of what I'd like to do if I were a kindergartener embracing all that is natural.