My mind’s been neither as empty as my summer classroom nor as stagnant as this blog since June 19th. Fact is, the content of my posts reflect the intersection of dance & my life, while the rhythm of my posts is equally expressive [as in, a single post in May was all that could happen midst the detailed run-up to an end-of-year performance].
So what’s been in my mind during this blogging silence…?
from Skyline Hotel on West 10th
- A trip to New York City for the annual National Dance Education Organization conference. Usually, I go directly from the last day of school to teaching a 2-week intensive at Seattle University for pre-service teachers & grad students on the use of dance in the classroom, but this year the NDEO Conference was a great excuse for going to NYC. There’s more to say, but in a later blog…
To do pile
- An overhaul of my home office, including boxes of binders & past plan books that I gathered & brought home for organization & simplification over the summer… will I get to them?!
- Details of life — home, family, garden, future plans, friends — that get weedy & messy when ignored, blossom more generously when nurtured.
things unattended
things nurtured
- Looking ahead: For as long as I’ve taught in my current location, the grade levels have been mostly mixed (kindergarten, 1st-2nd, 3rd-4th, 5th — requiring 4 lesson plans per day). In the coming year, thanks to the pressure of grade level standards in all content areas, I’ll have straight grades for the first time (K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th — six differently-leveled classes per day?). I’m mulling strategies to accomplish the change without an overload of lesson-planning.
- Looking ahead… My entire staff, including myself, is being trained in Writers Workshop (that’s Lucy Calkins, I think) this summer. Clearly, I’ll be integrating more writing and/or using parallels with the Writers Workshop to teach choreography.
- Concentrating on my own body. No, not dancing. Recuperating and nurturing my weary joints with rest, a little swimming, a little Pilates, a little Gyrotonics, a little bike-riding, some physical therapy, and a lot of the exercise that comes with life.
So there you have it. The mind stays busy, even while on vacation. And I’ll be back, with more to say about it…
Recuperating sounds good. I’m looking forward to a few nice long, not-too-fast bike rides with some relatively flat, beautiful scenery. Join me?
Mmmhmm… so long as it’s not particularly goal-oriented! :)
Doing a conference « dancepulse // Jul 27, 2009 at 5:15 pm
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