I miss the time of being able to do impromptu and perfectly executed cartwheels. Or backbends, which in my day we called the bridge, but I’m gathering that’s a little passé. Every once in awhile I am filled with the proper dosage of delusion and determination to say, I could totally get good at cartwheels again. But, no. That’s like somehow convincing myself to get really stoked about band-aids again.
Cartwheels and backbends are particularly popular out on the schoolyard, especially among the younger girls. These girls are incredibly flexible, sometimes unsettlingly so, but always impressive. I suppose everything is impressive when you can’t do it yourself.
The thing about this show of gymnastics that I like so much is that they are more collaborative than you might think. They are endless cycles of watch me, then you try and I’ll watch you. They come with discussions of hand placement and running headstarts and power posing after landing. You know, the flair. And after all that, there’s actually a lot of maturational benefit to them.
Many times through their academic careers, your students will complete small surveys that tell them what type of learner they are: linguistic, spatial, mathematical, and, the most popular among our young friends--kinesthetic. A kinesthetic learner is one who learns by doing, one to whom physical activity is necessary to process new ideas. It’s no surprise that the majority of children and adolescents trend that way.
So what are they processing while doing cartwheels and backbends?
I think of early childhood, the toddler years, when simply spinning in place is a favorite activity. Kinders and first graders still often spin aimlessly on the blacktop, and occasionally we’ll spot a middle schooler making themselves dizzy enough to fall over. Then they will lie flat on the ground and watch the sky whip around until settling back in place. Remember when dizziness was fun? I miss that, too.
There’s a lot of research around a child’s inclination to spin or run in circles. It is integral to early cognitive development. It helps improve spatial awareness and balance. It helps the brain’s ability to interpret sensory information, such as vision and hearing, while in motion. We all need to develop a strong equilibrium in relation to gravity.
Cartwheels and backbends are like spinning 2.0. Instead of your vision whipping around in a level, horizontal circle, gymnastics turn that circle on its side. They are adding longitude to their worlds. Our kids trending toward kinesthetic learning shows us the importance of development and mind-body connection. (And the whole body! Not just thumbs on a screen.) So, as much as we teachers hate it when they bring these absurd experiments of mind-body-gravity-kinesthesia inside the classroom, at least they’re learning.
Signing off, Schoolyard Eagle Eye