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Conversations with India

January 24th, 2009 · ····

My list of reflect-and-blog-about topics is growing, even as I reflect and blog not at all. Spare time and energy has been spent in conversations with India about my computer.

The short story:

1. I moved to a laptop & iTunes sound system two years ago and love it.

2. Don’t buy a Dell computer!

The longer version:

1. For years I used CDs.  When a CD player dies, there are difficult moments in the midst of class, struggling with a CD that won’t seat, or buttons that don’t search and play.  More recently, my CDs began to wear out — more difficult moments of unexpected skips and stops in the midst of a dance.

I made the change to a laptop and loaded every CD into one place.  I love the big screen (which provides a bigger perspective than an iPod).  It’s great having all my music in one place. There’s never the problem of a forgotten or misplaced CD, and the originals stay fresh. For finding individual cuts, searching with a mouse is much quicker than opening and closing jewel cases.  And the playlists are fantastic. At 6 classes a day, I don’t have time to make a playlist for each class or day, but I do have playlists for “locomotor,” “meditative,” “Latin,” “3/4 time,” and certain workshops I do regularly.  The laptop is a fantastic tool, and I’ll never go back willingly.

The kids' attention goes straight to the screen saver of their dancing selves.

The kids' attention goes straight to the screen saver of their dancing selves.

2. But I’m planning for a new one, and it won’t be a Dell. I chose a Dell Inspiron E1405 (April 2007), drawn by the easy-to-access sound controls on the front, which gave the impression that the computer was made for music. Wrong. There seems to be a defect in the output jack, making the connection to external speakers (necessary for dance classes) fail either intermittently or permanently.

A menu of music for dancing

A menu of music for dancing

The sound controls are deceptive -- it's not really made for sound!

The sound controls are deceptive -- it's not really made for sound!

Which shouldn’t be a problem because I bought the 3-year Complete Care contract.  It worked beautifully once, when the output jack failed the first time (last May) — Dell tech support came to my school within a few days and replaced the mother board. Everything was copacetic until the problem recurred 6 months later (November 2008).

This time around, Dell’s approach to customer service seems to have had an overhaul, with their apparent mission being to obfuscate, delay, and inconvenience the customer. I’ve had late night and early morning phone conversations with Akhil, Amin, and Nagondra, who have remotely accessed and mucked around in my computer several times. Then, “Chris” emailed that he was taking ownership of my problem, and we emailed back and forth for several days until he quit responding due to weekoffs. At the company’s insistence that it might be a software problem rather than a hardware problem, “Raoul” talked me through taking my computer back to factory settings, a maneuver that took me several hours to prepare for and more to recover from. Now I’m trading emails and phone messages with “Ronnie,” who’s taken ownership of my problem.  We have an appointment to talk on Monday, after his weekoffs. Because, even back on factory settings, the problem is still there.  Hello….. wasn’t it the mother board the last time?

I actually don’t object to having conversations with India — I shared my excitement with “Raoul” about Inauguration Day last week, and he agreed that they were feeling hopeful too. But a technician thousands of miles away (or even hundreds) can’t do hands-on repair.  Of course, as I wait for my conversations with India, Dell provides a helpful taped message assuring me that I can receive care from one of their best technicians in North America, in under 2 minutes… for an additional fee.

The other day, I googled Dell customer service and discovered that there is plenty of evidence that I’m not alone in my frustrations. So…

I’ll move on. Use my computer as is for now. Maintain my gnat-like irritation of the Dell elephant, without expectations of success. Plan for a new computer. And return to things I like to do.

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Cultural dances for kids from many cultures

January 6th, 2009 · ·····

Cultural diversity? My classes provide a good visual definition:

Students who were born or whose parents were born in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia.  More who moved from Louisiana, Georgia, Texas, California. Some born here in Washington State.

Students who speak English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Cham, Tagalog, Amharic, Somalian, Cambodian, Mien, Toishanese, Laotian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Swahili, and Ilokano at home.  Some speak three languages.

Students named Naeem, Shavayla, Nevin, Karima, Hebert, Newin, Guadalupe, Jada, Rahel, Jayven, Juana, Velvet, Rosethah, Amanuel, Naundi, Josue, Sorrel, Elijah, Ifrah, Rahma, Jaykeem, Debron, Hishaam, Latifa, Aldrin, Zayla, Janyce, Merron, Mandy, Cindy, Jerry, Asha, Giao, Ayub….

They love dances from around the world. They love the patterns and their own ability to dance together for the duration of the dance. They love it when it’s their culture. They love the challenge of remembering the sequence and creating their own variations. They like the steps and patterns, which serve as building blocks when it’s time to choreograph. They like returning to dances they already know. They love the momentum they experience during predictable moves and turns.

I find dances from around the world a tremendous resource. They illustrate dance concepts such as speed, relationships, and directions. They entice the most reticent newcomers to join in. They offer a great warm-up. They’re a good conclusion. They provide food for thought and for understanding cultures, cooperation, relationships — whatever your chosen topic! They exemplify the reasons that people dance — to tell a story, to fight oppression, to play cooperatively, to bring people together, to celebrate, to perform!

By the end of the year, with what we’ve learned, we can dance straight through class and around the world at the same time.

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Lesson Plan: Making Inferences about Culture

January 4th, 2009 · ·······

Grade Level: 5th Grade

Enduring Understanding:  We can make inferences about a culture from its dances.

Target:  Get the feeling of a culture by learning a cultural dance.  Assessment criteria:  Students navigate the dance successfully.

Target:  Make inferences about a culture after doing a cultural dance.  Assessment criteria:  Students guess at possible generalizations, supported by evidence from the dance.

Warm-up:

Students learn Syp Simeon from Russia.  [Two links take you to directions and a video.]  Repeat so students can enjoy the change in tempo.

Skill development:

Teach and dance the Troika. [For directions on Troika, see Phyllis Weikart’s Rhythmically Moving II.]

Creating Connections:

Review the concept of making inferences, as it’s used to support reading comprehension: As we read books, we don’t have to be told everything by the author; often we can “read between the lines,” using evidence from the book to understand more about the character or events than the author tells us directly.

Make some preliminary guesses about the people and culture that produced Syp Simeon, with evidence from the dance.  Continue the list by making inferences about the people who created and dance the Troika.

Inferences about Russian cultureExamples of inferences:

People in this culture are playful and have a sense of humor; we know because Syp Simeon is like a game, with humorous gestures.

They probably like to dance at festivals; we know because these dances are joyful and celebratory.

People in this culture are excitable and energetic; we know because the moves in their dances are fast and energetic.

Different ages of people probably dance together; we know because the patterns are simple and repetitious, and also because the Troika uses trios instead of duets (so they’re not courtship dances).

These people are full of spirit!  We know because they move fast and have fun!

Conclusion:

Are these characteristics we know, or are we just guessing?  How could we check our guesses?  …Research!

Note:  My purpose is not so much to teach students about a specific culture, but to encourage them to think about and relate characteristics of cultures to the use of space, time, and energy in dances.  As teacher, I am the guide. Students’ supporting evidence and suppositions have to make sense.

Essential Academic Learning Requirement: 1.2 Develops arts skills & knowledge, by repeating dance patterns & sequences; 4.4 Understands that the arts shape and reflect culture.

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Performing for human rights

December 27th, 2008 · ·

Thanks to Infinite Body for sending a link to this music video, featuring 16 performers from around the world, in celebration of human rights!

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Creating closure by performing early

December 20th, 2008 · ···

I’m not good at creating closure. Much as I know that the best last thing in class is to guide kids to acknowledge and reflect on the topic of the day, I’m too often going full steam ahead at the moment when class should end. We finish with a flourish, and they rush out the door. Closure missed.

So much better to use the last two to three minutes for processing. On days when I do it right, I give the kids “homework” — “your homework for tonight is to practice the pattern of skip, circle, turn, and add an ending shape… we’ll see it first thing tomorrow.” Which gives us a great entrance-and-settling-down activity the next day — written on the board: “Practice your skip, circle, turn & ending!”  …or “teach someone at home how to make shapes under, over & around…” Closure is not to be underestimated!

This week, despite five days of inclement weather, including two days of late starts and three days of canceled school, we got closure. It didn’t look good, but we did. Our evening performance for parents was scheduled for Thursday night. On Monday,  it snowed, there was a two-hour late start, and two classes missed their rehearsal slots. Weather news predicted such bad weather all week, with the worst to fall on Thursday night, that the kids still rehearsing were sharing the weather report with me at every opportunity. On Tuesday, it was icy, another two-hour late start, and the same two classes missed their rehearsal slots.

By Tuesday morning, it was clear that, even if we managed a performance Thursday night, it would be ill-attended, so we called it off and scheduled an all-school performance for Tuesday afternoon — allowing the kids to perform for each other, if not their families. Slightly under-rehearsed, the performance was a little rough on transitions, but lovely, and the kids had a great time sharing their work with peers and teachers. Closure: showing what you’ve created and rehearsed! I only wish the families could have shared it.

Meanwhile, a great vacation is starting three days early and watching it snow, satisfied at having achieved some closure.

And a happy new year is starting fresh on new material, without having to rehearse old stuff for a rain-checked performance.

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The up side of “Oh, what a day…,” or the benefit of having doubts

December 15th, 2008 · ···

I was struck by something John Patrick Shanley, the director of the movie Doubt, said in an NPR interview during my morning commute on Friday.  Asked about the relative merits of doubt and certainty, he replied that certainty is a closed door, while doubt is an open one.

I like the thought, since at the end of many days, I doubt myself.  It’s not a particularly comfortable feeling, so I like to think there’s an up side to the discomfort… to admitting that one class hit a bump, another never got off the ground, that I was less than stellar. It’s comforting to think that, by diving into the discomfort, I open up the possibility for change. I question management, instruction, sequencing… anything that could be making classes chop instead of flow. And then I try new timing, a different transition, a clearer demonstration. Doubt opens the door to improvement.

Of course, I love the days when I’m not pushed to examine things too closely. Everything went smoothly; we were all engaged. End of story. But I learn more from days when doubt opens the door to reflection.

On the other hand, certainty has its place. Personally, I’m certain that dance never hurt anyone. Certain that there are multiple ways it benefits. Certain that dance belongs in education, every student deserves a dose, and society would be better for it.  These are certitudes that keep me going, venturing through the doors my daily doubts open.

So I might amend the thought:  Doubt opens the door, but it’s certainty that pushes me forward.

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Tech challenges dance. Dance wins.

December 9th, 2008 · ·

I’m limping a bit of late… both literally and metaphorically.
~Not quite on top of my game physically, so I’ve added a wireless microphone to take the strain off my voice, and I’m making an extra effort to thank the kids for their help. It’s actually easier to dance with a microphone on than it is to dance with a bum knee!
~My email at school has been down for two days, so there’s this odd communication void throughout the day and too much time spent catching up at night, from home.
~My computer/sound system works sometimes, so I’m struggling with the uncertainty, developing a series of back-up systems, and trying to run music smoothly from a CD player (which — oh my gosh! — I used to do all the time).

Fortunately, there’s still some good stuff going on with kids, rhythms, levels, number sense, and contra dancing!

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And the winners are…

December 2nd, 2008 · ···

Check out the contest winners for Dance Your PhD… I’m so glad there are scientists who wanted to dance their theses. I wish the choreography was on the same level as the science probably is.  But that would take… more dance education, wouldn’t it?!

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Dance & curriculum integration — advanced course

November 20th, 2008 · ·

News item from my daughter — You can dance your PhD!

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Dance vs. Parkinson’s Disease

November 17th, 2008 ·

Parkinson’s and dance…

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