As I gear up from summer to back-to-school, the to-do list is long:
Continue healing from a partial knee replacement. My knee’s doing beautifully, with range of motion returning, but my energy’s not its normal self yet.
Integrate structures & concepts from the Readers Workshop. I started using this material last year, following a week of professional [...]
Tags:curriculum·thinking·time
OK, so today has been my days for multiple appointments: doctors, dentist, Apple one-to-one, exercise, lecture. And in between, in the fractional hours when it’s easier to stop at a cafe than to drive home, I’ve been collecting my thoughts…
Next week I’ll start my 7th month of teaching dance to 16 students with autism, without [...]
… is hard to do. No tap dance shoes. Even if I did have shoes for the kids, no way am I going to let the floor get scuffed up.
Nonetheless, we just finished some tap dancing, and it was successful, thanks to the instructional DVD Rhythm Kidz — Tap Dance in Tennis Shoes with Steve [...]
Well, this is interesting! …the why’s, how’s, and where-to’s of making a teaching portfolio from Chicago Artists Resource, via 4dancers — which is also a good resource for useful items of import. So I’m going to stash this information right here on my blog where I can find it again, just in case I ever [...]
With my classes cut to 30 minutes this year, it’s been more important than ever to define a single clear teaching point for each class, so I’ve taken to writing on the board the kernel of learning I want the kids to grasp. I start with it, I teach to it, & I end [...]
Grades: Kindergarten-2nd grade
Teaching points: Dancers use free & bound flow. Dancers tell stories through narrative dance.
Targets:
Explore free & bound flow;
Participate in a story-telling dance.
Context: This lesson takes two 30-minute sessions, one to introduce/explore the element of flow and the other to develop/enact the story (or one session of more reasonable length!). Kids love [...]
Tags:curriculum·curriculum integration·kindergarten·lesson plans·primary·teaching
November was a challenging month, and I’m still looking for December to work some special magic. Upheaval and turmoil aside, the daily schedule continues… 25 kids, 8 times a day, five days a week… sometimes I wonder how. But classes get planned, executed, tracked & reflected upon. ‘Cause appropriate instruction is the difference between order [...]
Tags:curriculum·teaching·video
As the start of a new school year approaches, it looms large. I write lists to clear my brain. Then I have lists, as well as an overloaded brain. Most ominous among my thoughts is “What am I going to teach and how?” In the largest sense. How am I going to organize everything I [...]
Tags:chaos·curriculum·curriculum integration·getting started·obstacles·problems·teaching
On the occasion of having recently been to New York City for the NDEO 2009 Conference Focus on Dance Education: Take a Bite of the Apple/Exploring Resources to Promote Best Practices, I recommend it — doing a professional conference — although it does take a fair amount of energy, time, trouble & money. Here [...]
Tags:curriculum·PD·thinking skills
January was all about music, by way of percussion (see my previous post on Arts Worriers).
In planning classes (dance, theatre, or music), I keep in mind the 3 categories of Vocabulary & Concepts, Skills, & Ensembles. It helps me keep track of my goals and our progress toward them. In a specific lesson, these categories [...]
Tags:culture·curriculum·curriculum integration·music·primary·teaching