I’m just saving this for later…
Via Maya Soto & Carla Barragan — thanks, ladies!
Entries Tagged as 'choreography'
4th & 5th graders, talkin’ about site-based choreography…
August 5th, 2010 · No Comments · Uncategorized
Transition back from vacation…
April 4th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Uncategorized
A good vacation is when you have no one but yourself to manage. It’s been a good vacation!
As I brought up my lesson plan template for planning this coming week’s classes, I realized why the coming weeks (and months) have been looming large in my mind. Starting Tuesday (tomorrow I’ll be teaching a day of [...]
Tags:choreography·culture·curriculum integration·lesson plans·performance·teaching
Dancing for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 16th, 2010 · 4 Comments · Lesson Plans
Context: I taught this series of lessons this week in response to a late request for some dances for the school’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day assembly (scheduled for & completed this past Thursday). My initial response was “no can do!” because I’d already planned my classes — focused on introducing the choreographic devices of [...]
Tags:African American·choreography·curriculum integration·intermediate·lesson plans·performance·teaching
Creating a time & place for flow
October 25th, 2009 · 4 Comments · Uncategorized
Last Tuesday, my fifth graders clicked into flow, despite the frantic limitations of this year’s 30-minute classes, and it crossed my mind that I might survive. Cause flow is why I teach & what keeps me going. Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or [...]
Translating Writers Workshop
August 31st, 2009 · No Comments · Uncategorized
Pedagogy changes constantly. When I was a 5th-6th grade classroom teacher for a few years (15 years ago), the writing pedagogy sweeping through schools was characterized by 6 traits (content, voice, organization, word choice, fluency & conventions). I was trained in teaching the traits & scoring writing samples using rubrics built on them.
Nowadays, however, [...]
Tags:choreography·curriculum integration·getting started·obstacles·PD·teaching·thinking skills
SYTYCD: so you thought you could disregard…
July 24th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Uncategorized
disregard vb. 1. to give little or no attention to; ignore. 2. to treat as unworthy of consideration or respect.
So You Think You Can Dance has been going on for 5 years now, but I’ve only just hopped on the bandwagon. Despite having seen it once or twice a couple years ago — and appreciated [...]
Performance: Kids & costumes & sound, oh my!
June 7th, 2009 · 6 Comments · Uncategorized
The silence resounding on this blog since the last entry reflects in reverse the noisy mantra that took over my brain and all spare moments of my life the past few weeks, accelerating toward and recovering from performance. Like the shrill chant of “lions & tigers & bears” in The Wizard of Oz, the details [...]
Tags:chaos·choreography·curriculum integration·intermediate·logistics·management·obstacles·performance·primary
Performance: Learning x 325
May 12th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Uncategorized
Busy time of year… building toward the final performance. We’ve had small performances throughout the year — one class at a time, showing something at the end of a unit. And we meant to have a performance last December, but it was stormed out. So the excitement is bubbling now. Each day, students ask me, [...]
Tags:achievement gap·choreography·curriculum integration·intermediate·logistics·performance·primary·teaching
Classroom management: space vs. energy
April 16th, 2009 · No Comments · Uncategorized
Spring break may still be on my mind, but it ends quickly. Immediately following spring break, we start choreographing dances for the End-of-Year Performance. The assessments I did before spring break fulfill State requirements and provide data for evaluation of my own performance. But the End-of-Year Performance is for parents, the staff, and especially the [...]
Tags:behavior·chaos·choreography·curriculum integration·getting started·management·obstacles·performance·primary·students·teaching
Assessing dance while unleashing creative chaos
March 16th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
Anyone happening into my classroom this week might think, or yell, “What’s going on here?!” Get the creative juices bubbling in 28 children, and you’re gonna have some moments of chaos…
Students in intermediate classes just now are completing Classroom-Based Assessments in Theatre & Dance, which call for the choreography of solos. As quiet and focused [...]