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 […]
Entries Tagged as 'students'
Note to self: boys & girls dance differently
June 27th, 2010 · Comments Off · Uncategorized
Well, duh. In some styles of dance, of course, boys & girls, men & women learn the same moves — contemporary, modern, tap. But in most cultures, as well as ballet & jazz, boys & girls, men & women have distinctly different styles. Coming from a modern background, when I first started teaching in the […]
Post-performance reflection: 2nd grade
June 25th, 2010 · Comments Off · Uncategorized
Although my space is clean & clear, I’m still processing the end of year… For many years I’ve gone directly from the close of school to teaching an intensive graduate course on “Learning through Movement.” It’s made for a grueling transition to summer vacation, but it’s always given me a chance to take a long […]
Tags:primary·reflection·students
Summer homework: Dance Day
June 20th, 2010 · Comments Off · Uncategorized
Tomorrow’s the last day of classes. With my 4th & 5th graders, we’ll watch the Dance Day video & I’ll give them their summer assignment. Here it is… Summer homework Learn a dance, get some exercise & celebrate Dance Day on July 31! Go to www.dizzyfeetfoundation.org & click on the Dance Day video, where Napoleon […]
Tags:intermediate·students·video
Post-performance reflection: 1st grade
June 12th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
The 1st grade dance was based on number sense, in 3 parts: I. Groups of students grew from low to high, counting from 1-10 in various languages, including Spanish, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Somali, Cambodian, Arabic, Laotian, Tagalog, Cham, Korean, and English. It was usually their home language, but a few had a language from martial […]
Post-performance reflection: kindergarten
June 9th, 2010 · 5 Comments · Uncategorized
First, a rush of relief — the performances came off fantastically! Then, the rush of all the “to-do’s” that have been piling up… scheduling for next year, plans for end-of-year activities & events, grades for report cards, & post-performance reflections. Here are some of kindergarten responses after watching a video of their work (the writing […]
Turning corners
May 18th, 2010 · 4 Comments · Autism, Uncategorized
It’s the end of the year. Although I’m too busy to be blogging about it, we’re turning a lot of corners! “Can we practice our part of the dance during recess?” Corner turned: kids are taking ownership in their upcoming performance. “What are we going to wear?” Corner turned: they’re starting to think like an […]
Why Dance Matters: more voices from the dance classroom
May 2nd, 2010 · Comments Off · Guest Voices, why dance matters
by Randy Barron, a dance educator who is putting his own classroom experiences into the blog Classroom Choreography… At the end of a short Classroom Choreography residency in Arizona, I asked students to reflect in writing on their experiences making dances about poetry. One of my 5th grade students (a boy!) said on his closing […]
Why Dance Matters: it’s playful
April 30th, 2010 · Comments Off · why dance matters
Each day at 2:10, as I bid farewell to my 6th class of the day, students who are out for recess start knocking on my outside door. The knocks keep coming all the way through recess, and the questions are always the same: “Can we dance today?” “Can we come in?” “Can we show you […]
Why Dance Matters: it builds self & community
April 25th, 2010 · 5 Comments · why dance matters
Each year my 5th graders build a dance together before graduating. It’s a process fraught with difficulties , but the end result is a real high: they come together to share their work. One year, my 5th graders performed a medley of dances, which included a dance from every continent. Most were dances I taught […]