We Dance (01-23-12)

What are the two words that cause every grade school principal to frown?
 
Inside recess.
 
Last week, due to a north wind that sent wind chills into single digits on both sides of zero, Hill City Grade School had quite a lot inside recess.  But this week, things were different.  This week, we danced.
 
That, in itself, is not too unusual.  For inside recess, we divide the kids into two groups – K-2 and 3-4 – and rotate K-2 students in the gym in the morning and 3-4 students in the gym in the afternoon.
 
In the gym, we lead the students in organized activities.  We have relay races, basketball shooting competitions, games of Simon Says, and the like.  We also lead the occasional “dance party.”
 
Before this week, a dance party meant playing the “Hokey Pokey” or the “Chicken Dance” or several other songs that give instructions.  “Step to the left, step to the right, jump three times,” etc.  These type of songs focus the kids just enough to keep them from chasing and tackling, roughhousing and horse playing. But even with these songs, there is still the occasional student who loses focus, giving the principal or recess monitor reason to frown.
 
This week, however, was different. Technology came to our rescue.
 
You may have read in this very paper that our grade school was awarded $1000.00 for the purchase of a Nintendo Wii Game System, projector, sound system, and software.  At the beginning of January, we placed the order for all the equipment and our grade school custodian began work on a customized rolling cabinet to securely hold everything.
 
The money came from the Healthy Habits for Life Grant and we had planned to use the game system to both supplement our PE curriculum and for inside recess. The equipment was delivered, the cabinet built, and on Monday I finally got all the pieces in place.
 
So when the weather turned cold on Tuesday, I was ready.  I wheeled our new cart out of my office like a kid taking out a new bicycle for the first time.  Students who saw me wheel it into the gym stopped and stared.  “What is that?” they asked. “Is that a Nintendo Wii?”
The K-2 student who filed into the gym that morning were buzzing with excitement.  “I have one of those at home!” some exclaimed! “Do we get to play with that today?” others asked with excitement.
 
I put in the game, “Just Dance For Kids.”  I turned on the projector and sound system.  The opening screen appeared big and beautiful on the wall, and the speakers played the opening music loud and clear.  The kids clapped and cheered.
 
I went to the song selection screen, and scrolled through a few choices before the kids joined in a chorus of, “That one!  That one!”
 
I hit play.  On the screen appeared three kid dancers, all the same age as the kids in the gym.  The song started and something magical happened: every single K-2 student in our gym stopped talking and started dancing.
 
Unlike my old dance parties, where the students had to listen to instructions, with the Nintendo Wii, they could see the dance moves they were to perform.  There was no ambiguity, no long breaks between called instructions, just synchronized dance moves, one after another after another, for each and every song.
 
The point of the game is to hold the Wii controller (which is wireless) and to move it with your hand in time with the dancers on the screen.  As the screen dancers hand raises, so should yours.  As it twirls, so should yours.  You are awarded points for your ability to keep up.
 
I could have set the game up for as many as four players (we were able to purchase four controllers with the grant money), but earning points was not the…well…point…of this inside recess.  In fact, the students seemed convinced that they were earning points, as evident by their total concentration.  A casual observer would have thought that all eighty students had controllers and that the game was keeping track of eighty different scores.  Their attention to the dance moves was that complete.
 
It was the easiest inside recess I’ve ever led.  Zero discipline problems and 100% participation.  After the last dance, the students were suitably worn down, breathing hard but happy.  They lined up without fuss and went back to class as calm as I can ever remember seeing.
 
I suppose their transformation from frenetic to focused might have something to do with the fact that this is a new thing in our school.  It might have to do with the fact that so many of our students are used to playing video games at home and thus were captivated by the prospect of playing them at school.  Or maybe it is just the game itself:  Just Dance For Kids has great songs and easy dance moves performed by kids for kids.  
 
Whatever the reason, I am proud to say that our new Nintendo Wii Game System was an instance and smashing success, both with inside recess and later in our PE classes.
 
I don’t know if I’ll use it for every inside recess (don’t want the student to grow bored with it!) but I’ll use it plenty. Now the two words that used to make me frown have been replaced by two words that make me smile: Wii Dance!