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Getting acquainted: students with Autism

March 30th, 2011 · ··

Not much time, but I must reply to a comment left on my blog…

“I will be teaching a dance class for children with Autism starting next week. There will be 6 kids ages 6-10. Honestly, I have been attempting to plan the first class, but unsure where to start. Some children are fairly high functioning and other face more challenges (one also is bi-polar).

I really am unsure how to stucture the class that will be 60 minutes long. Any advice would be most appreciated.”

Wow. Yes, that’s daunting. I remember when I started, with NO idea how to begin!

First, will you have assistant(s)? If possible, talk to them beforehand about the role you would like them to take — hands-on, helping students participate, modeling participation (in my case, the assistants had to run interference for awhile, as some of my students tried the doors, turned off the lights, pushed buttons on my computer, dumped out baskets of scarves & otherwise explored their new territory). If you can’t talk to them in advance, be ready to give suggestions on the spot. If there’s no planned assistance, try to find some for the first few classes while you get acquainted!

Second, prepare your space. Reduce distractions: put things away or cover them up. Last year I had 6 garbage bags that I would use to hood computers, tvs & projectors, and I taped cardboard over the light switches.

Third, plan a variety of activities to try. Until you have an idea of where your students are in the spectrum of Autism, avoid activities that require much turn-taking, any partnering, or group organization. Some early successes for me included:

  • find a video to do along with the kids — they are accustomed to focusing on tv/video & you can either model along with the video or help them participate. On advice from another dance educator, I used Anne Green Gilbert’s Brain Dance video — the nursery rhyme version. It kept their focus, and little by little I weaned them from the video to doing the exercises with me.
  • alternate activities that require them to focus with free-dance activities.  For example, do a pause dance where you start & stop moving with the music (you may be the only one starting & stopping for awhile). Then, give them hula hoops, put on some quiet music & let them explore for awhile — observing what they are doing with the hula hoops may give you some idea about their various skills & interests, as well as the range within the group.
  • use locations to help the group focus — I used a line of stools against one wall through most of last year as a home base. We would start there with some simple songs (“head-shoulders-knees&toes” & other kids songs) and then we would return to the stools mid-class for obstacle course work.
  • as one activity (late in the class), set up & teach them how to take turns on an obstacle course — use any items you can find for crawling under (a table), jumping on (a single-person trampoline is wonderful!), stepping through (hoops on stands).
  • find a book to read (good pictures, almost no words) — they sit on the stools while you read. Some pages can inspire a movement adventure in the space, returning to the stools for more reading.  Here are some books that have a clear picture & a word to inspire movement: Move! by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page. Waddle! or Swing! or Gallop! by Rufus Butler Seder. You can easily create a sequence of movements from the pages, if your kids seem able to handle a sequence. My kids weren’t at first.
  • use visuals! Think in pictures — find/make/create simple pictures to communicate your activities. For example, I have pictures for each section of the nursery rhyme Brain Dance, I have pictures to indicate staying-on-the-spot vs. moving-in-the-general-space, and pictures for yoga shapes. Teachers of children with Autism often have computer software for producing pictures of almost anything, if you can just tell them what you want.

My before-school-time is up now; I need to take off. But I will try to add more soon — some details about suggestions above, as well as some encouragement about the fabulous progress we’ve made. Almost every day I meet with my children with Autism now, I am amazed, delighted & gratified at how far we have come!

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Colonial Dance Resources

March 7th, 2011 · ··

Looking for resources on Colonial dances?  Here are suggestions from NDEO (National Dance Education Organization) members from across the country**:

The Colonial Williamsburg website has a rich resource teacher site.
from Eileen Sheehan, Illinois

“Colonial Singing Games and Dances,” produced by the Williamsburg Foundation, has dances which are notated and easy to follow.
from Elly Porter, Washington, DC

In addition to Colonial Singing Games and Dances and White Mountain Reel [which seems to be out of print], one should know about Chip Hendrickson‘s book, Colonial Social Dancing for Children:
from Jacob Bloom, Massachusetts, a friend of NDEO member Erica Sigal, Massachusetts

Colonial Social Dancing for Children by Charles C. Hendrickson
Contact the Hendrickson group in Connecticut
Also, Williamsburg’s foundation is a wonderful resource.
from Suzanne E. Henneman, Maryland

“Early American Roots,” a CD from the Smithsonian, includes 22 short musical pieces from Colonial America. From Hesperus, a contact address is:  Maggie’s Music, PO Box 490, Shady Side, MD20764, phone 410-867-0642.  The publisher might have information about the dances done to pieces on the recording.
from Rima Faber, Maryland

Colonists would have been Englishmen and Scots primarily. Their dances were likely the dances they brought with them; round dances and country dances would give you a wealth of ideas, using circles, weaving, and partner exchanges. The steps are comprised of slip steps (chasses moving sideways), retire skips (forward or backward), skip change of step (hop step step step) and setting step (usually a pas de basques danced tightly as if doing the “pony” from the 60s). Your courtesies, based on the manners of the time, include bows from the men and “acknowledgements” from the ladies. A simple allemande is also appropriate and can be done in much the same fashion as we saw in the 70s on Soul Train…just far more refined!
A good general reference to have on hand if you are working with dance in the context of social or geographic influences is
Dance A While: Handbook for Folk, Square, Contra and Social Dance
by Jane Harris, Anne Pittman, Marlys Waller, Cathy Dark, 8th edition published in 2000 by Allyn and Bacon.
from Kathryn Austin, Florida

The Library of Congress and the Smithsonian have tons of online resources.
Try YouTube — look for the NY Baroque Ensemble and/or the Colonial Williamsburg VA dancers.
from Karen Bradley, Washington D.C.

The Library of Congress website may have some video clips of dances from that period. It’s a great site but you’ll have to kind of work your way through it to see if it has anything relevant.  From the site: “To form an idea of the type of dance that was performed during the American colonial period, see the essays on baroque and late eighteenth-century social dance in the special presentation on the history of dance accompanying An American Ballroom Companion: Dance Instruction Manuals, ca. 1490-1920.”
Another nice site:  www.americanrevolution.org/dance.html
The Society of Dance History Scholars has a really nice site as well; check out the “Colonial Dancing Master” in particular.
AND remember the Virginia Reel was supposedly Georgre Washington’s favorite dance.
from Shana Habel, California

For European-based Colonial American Dance I highly recommend the book / CD entitled Chimes of Dunkirk: Great Dances for Children, available from New England Dancing Masters at 41 West Street in Brattleboro, Vermont 05301.
For African American dances of the Colonial period, including Juba and the Ring Shout, I have always reached out to my NYC colleagues who are experts in this area such as Mickey Davidson. There is some excellent footage of early African American dance in the Channel 13 Dancing series, volume 5, ‘New Worlds, New Forms.’
from Sandra Stratton-Gonzalez, New York

The New England Dancing Masters have a wonderful series of line, contra, and square dances that could be pared down to be more authentic for Colonial Dance.  White Mountain Reel also has a collection with 2 pieces that use sparse instrumentation, more authentic to the Colonial period.
from Laurel Lesio-Eisenstadt, New York

**This list is compiled from the NDEO K-12 Special Interest Forum. NDEO (National Dance Education Organization) has a set of email forums for special interest groups within the field, where NDEO members exchange ideas. Folks not belonging to NDEO who are interested in this or any other topic on dance education should consider joining NDEO and the online discussion! Current members can get discounted prices, if they use user name & password, to order resources from the online store.

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Persistence — learned in dance class

February 11th, 2011 · ···

Yesterday I was preparing 4 groups to perform on Monday. It’s always touch-and-go. I want whatever we’re rehearsing to challenge them to practice new skills.  But I don’t want rehearsal to usurp too many of our sessions together.

I taught my 3rd graders a lovely dance I learned from Sanna Longden last week — “I Don’t Care if the Rain Comes Down.”  Once they were over the shock and ickiness of changing partners with each repeat (which is one of the skills I wanted them to practice), they were so lively & engaged dancing it, I thought, “OK, let’s show this!”

Tuesday we worked out a lot of kinks & it was looking good, but yesterday we did it again & again, and each time some kid would be standing there without a partner.  There is nobody quite so forlorn-looking as a 3rd grader, boy or girl, without a partner.  An orphan, miserable from rejection & abandonment.  Not a pretty sight to put on stage…

We tried again & again.  We fixed the two kids who were running, the one who was passing others in line, the one who was anticipating her next partner incorrectly & the game of tag that cropped up between 2 dancers.  Still we couldn’t get through the dance without orphans & it was a different problem every time.  I decided I’d misjudged — they couldn’t do it!  In an attempt to salvage our time together & let them feel successful, I decided to called it quits, apologized for choosing a dance that might be too hard & suggested we give it up for now & have some fun.

They wouldn’t have it.  The room was noisy with problem-solving.  Finally, out of the noise, a hand went up:  “Why don’t we try it without the music?”  They voted: a resounding yes!  So we did.  We sang the song slowly, we stopped at each transition, we checked, we corrected, we restarted again & again. Finally, it started to flow, from phrase to phrase, partner to partner, without stopping, no mistakes, everyone with a partner. Each time we completed a round, they looked happier — and really satisfied!

Finally, we ran it with the music again.  This time, not only were they energetic, changing & finding partners, but as they passed each other in clockwise & counterclockwise circles, they were smiling & waving to each person they passed!  Hopefully, they’ve made all the mistakes that can be made, and they’ll perform it with smiles & waves. But the performance is less important than the persistence already achieved.

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Children with autism: dancing together

January 18th, 2011 · ··

They arrive every day, my students with autism, barefoot & ready.  I don’t always have a great idea of how I’m helping them, but it’s no longer so daunting as it was at first!  We’ve come a long way.

Each of my 2 classes is a little older this year & more experienced with school.  There’s a whole team pulling for them: teachers, instructional assistants, occupational therapist, physical therapist, tutors, student helpers.  And the team is more consistent now — not so many one-day-only substitute assistants.

The younger class (K-2nd?) has added 3 students, with each new student upsetting the apple-cart of behavior & consistency.  With 9 now, the class is overloaded. Still, our days are better than most of last year & it probably helps that Milly the Wanderer* transitioned to a different program.

The older class (2nd-4th?) is pretty settled, especially since Cedrick the Screamer* was relocated to a class in another school. One of the twins moved from the younger class to the older class, given his readiness to be working in a different group.

We still do many of the activities, or variations on them, that we did last year (BrainDances, obstacle courses, Freeze Dances, props), but some of our new successes have come in the area of dancing & [literally] pulling together…

With the children sitting on stools, I pass out segments of a huge elastic band.  To the simple song of Frere Jacques by Caspar Babypants (Caspar Babypants is Chris Ballew of the The Presidents of the United States of America), we pull & release the band.  On alternating phrases of the music, we pull the band backwards to make it HUGE (“frere Jacques, frere Jacques”) & let it shrink inward to a smaller circle (“dormez vous, dorvez vous”), pull it big again (“sonnez le matin, sonnez le matin”), &. change rhythms in-out-in, out-in-out (“ding, dong, ding… ding, dong, ding”). Lo & behold, they can do it together!  We’ve even tried it standing, which amazingly, was more successful with the littler kiddos than the bigger ones.

Sitting on the floor, with our feet under a parachute, we move together to the song Dust Bunnies (also Caspar Babypants, very soothing & the imagery of the dust bunnies under the bed helps with the feet being under the parachute).  We wiggle toes, kick feet, lift the parachute & see each other underneath, pull it down & see each other over the top… We’ve even extended our repertoire to lifting it, scooting under, sitting on the edge & then kicking our feet.  Or rippling the parachute & taking turns walking across the ripples, one at a time.

Another song that’s been great for taking turns & developing individuality has been Gotta Shake [when the spirit says “shake”].  I start it with one verse, and then I ask each child to take a turn “suggesting” a move.  Some of the kids actually have an idea & can barely contain it, while with others I have to invite them repeatedly, watching for a clear move that we can replicate.  But everyone leads once, and the ideas are getting better & better.

Moving along… today I started the younger class on a few weeks of percussion.  Barely controlled chaos, but I’ve begun to recognize the beginning signs of progress.  It looks like we’re headed into new territory.

Meanwhile, if you haven’t seen the movie Temple Grandin, do.  It’s a must-see!

*Not their real names, or even their real personalities, but definitely the qualities that they seemed to personify during their time with me.

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“Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…”

January 10th, 2011 · ··

Have you ever been giving instructions in class & suddenly had a flash of what the kids are actually hearing?  Maybe it’s more so for me because 60% of my kids speak English as a second language, so for them it really is “blah, blah, blah…”  I remember that experience from my years in Japan.  Nonetheless, it’s good to redouble the effort to let them do, play & create rather than listen.

Thanks to colleague Ashley Sirls for this:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/garden/06play.html?_r=2…   Another reminder of what’s important: playfulness, kid energy, going with the flow of what they need!

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Wow! Mid-year progress!

January 9th, 2011 · ··

I have to admit I had to sort of draaaaaaaag myself out of winter break last week.

Fiiiiiind my plan book.

Reorient myself to whiiiiiiiich students I’d be seeing.

Adjust my calendar to make up for the four extra weeks I’m spending this year on world dances because my pre-assessment revealed students with a woooooooeful lack of geographic orientation.

Get myself to school waaaaaaaay early on Monday for a Building Leadership Team meeting.

However…  the stage floor was gleaming, freshly polished by a vigilant custodian.  White boards clean & clear.  Colorful evidence on all the walls of dance elements we’ve already explored, countries we’ve visited, dances we’ve learned. And when the kiddos arrived, they went right to their places, like they’ve already learned something & are ready for more!

And as the week unfolded, there were some lovely moments…

“Alicia,” a 3rd grader who always comes into class with a mope, often with a comment from her teacher about how well or badly her day has gone so far.  Alicia of the habitually sour face glowered at her partner.  But as they practiced rearranging themselves in space (under, over, beside, between, in front, behind, around…), faster & faster… Alicia was smiling & laughing!  By the end of class, Alicia was, at least temporarily, a changed person, and her partner had had a good time too.

And “Maximo,” 4th grade, new to dance this year & fighting it all the way.  Really skillful at disrupting, interrupting, arguing, distracting, grandstanding…  it’s been hard to keep him in class.  As we worked this week on developing trust with a partner, Maximo stops to loudly declare, “This is gay!”  I sought him out the next morning to talk about it, taught him the next 2 activities we’d be doing to develop sensitivity with a partner, and he agreed to demonstrate them to the class with me…  and then executed them attentively & sensitively with his partner!  Great progress, even despite the brief incident of hiding in the curtains.

Meanwhile, most of the 1st graders can name 7 continents, 5th graders are showing an interest in the connection between countries & continents & students at all levels are begging to do their favorite things again.

We’re back, we’ve built a foundation, and there’s more to come!

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Oh %$#&, another broken toe

January 8th, 2011 · ··

Occupational hazard?  Maybe. But I’ve only had one break dancing.

Not to shift the blame, but I couldn’t help noticing this week as I was reflecting-to-learn, that 3 of the 5 times I’ve broken a part of my foot have been with 5th graders. Not generally the 5th graders that still look like 4th graders, but the ones who’re well on their way to 6th or 7th grade bodies.  Nearly adult-size, without having the whole thing quite under control.  Exactly the ones for whom dance is great, cause it gives them a chance to practice using this whole, new, large-size body.

In fact, the very 5th grader whose heel my toe contacted the other day was just beginning to join the dance. She’s pretty nearly my height now & really reticent about moving, restrained not only by size but head scarf, robes & dance-averse background.  But she’s been coming to the dance studio at recess every day to watch others dance.  During recess this week she finally took her shoes off & joined in on Tinikling, checking out the rhythm of the sticks with her foot, hopping through & practicing with a partner.  It was in the class immediately following those ventures. I was helping her group set up the sticks, she was joining in during class for the first time, and my toe contacted her heel.   No one but me heard the telltale crack, so the dancing went on while I retreated, thinking “oh @#$, another broken toe!”  Right foot, 4th toe.  Nursing it & watching her dance, I mentally ran through the upcoming steps: accident report, trip to the doc, x-ray, ice, wrap…

My 2nd toe on the right foot, the one that mended crooked, cured me of nonchalance.  Yes, toes mend nicely by themselves, but only if they’re still aligned!  That toe met Big Tony, 5th grade, enthusiastically and spatially everywhere.

Flash back 2 more years: 5th grade, the Hora, I almost-but-didn’t step on someone’s foot while the line spiralled inward.  Right foot, 5th metatarsal broken in 2 places, surgery & 2 pins, 2 weeks home, 4 weeks teaching on a knee scooter.  That’s the one I broke while dancing — but still, with 5th graders!

Of course, the other 2 broken toes — one against a rock & the other against a vacuum — skew more to the dancers-are-clumsy-in-real-life theory.

In any case, I do know from experience that it’ll mend, and this time the x-ray shows a well-aligned fracture, so I’ll be back to normal in a few weeks.  If I don’t bump it again.

On the positive side, in 15 years, student injuries have so far all been solved with a quick trip to the nurse for an icepack.

And what have I learned, besides “get an x-ray”?  Wear my studio shoes with the 5th graders!

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Resources for integrating dance with curriculum

December 3rd, 2010 · ··

There are a lot of dancing minds out there at work, developing great ways to integrate dance with curriculum.  Here are a few resources, shared via email on NDEO’s K-12 Special Interest Group Forum.*  These resources offer some nitty gritty about how-to’s & what-do-you-need?’s…

Books:

Integrated Dance units, suggested by Sandra Stratton-Gonzalez, available online, such as:

  • “The Beat of Your Feet on the City Streets: Creating Dances from Poetry,”2nd grade, integrating Dance, English Language Arts, Social Studies
  • “Bringing History to Life Through Dance: The Underground Rainroad,” by Ana Nery Fragoso for 5th grade, integrating Dance & Social Studies

Lesson plans from the Kennedy Center’s Artedge:

  • Lessons plans integrating Dance, K-4
  • Lesson plans integrating Dance, 5-8
  • Lessons plans integrating Dance, 9-12

More resources on K-12 integration, from general advocacy to specific ideas, from NDEO’s online store.

Feel free to share more!

*NDEO (National Dance Education Organization) has a set of email forums for special interest groups within the field, where NDEO members exchange ideas. Folks not belonging to NDEO who are interested in this or any other topic on dance education should consider joining NDEO and the online discussion! Current members can get discounted prices, if they use user name & password to order resources from the online store.

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Dance finds a place in math class

November 26th, 2010 · ·

This email from a kindergarten teacher (when she discovered that dance found its way into her math lesson) was a real upper…

“Just wanted to let you know that yesterday in math, [my class] made a bar graph of our favorite school activities.  The winner was dance!  10 kids chose dance. Come see the bar graph.”

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Dance Arts Integration into Academic Subjects

November 24th, 2010 ·

As a dance specialist teaching full-time in a public school, I’m continually weaving several strands into my curriculum map for the year:

  • dance as a fine art, with emphasis on the vocabulary, concepts & skills of dance as a communicative tool;
  • dance integrated into academic subjects, as a tool for exploration & expression;
  • dance as a creative process, aligned & supported by the other fine arts of writing, visual art, music, and theatre;
  • dance as an expression of self, culturally & individually.

I usually start with dance as a fine art, introducing vocabulary, concepts, and skills. As soon as we have some basics, my classes begin to incorporate curriculum topics from the classrooms.  So far, this year 3rd graders have explored the mathematics of telling time, while 5th graders have created dances about erosion and other interactions of water and land. Currently, I’m using cultural dances to fill some huge gaps in my students’ understanding of geography, a sad consequence of what happens in a school where the entire focus is on improving reading & math scores.

In the area of integrating dance with other academic subjects, I’m always grateful for ideas and inspiration. It seems like I’ve integrated dance in a million ways over the years, and still it’s refreshing to hear more!  Some dance specialists are fortunate to be in programs and models where collaboration with classroom teachers is built in and where the integration is a two-way exchange; I’m on my own.

Here are two articles that just came to me via Melissa Greenblatt of the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO)… Thank you, Melissa, for sending them out!

Schools Integrate Dance into Core Academics

Science with Dance in Mind

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