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Entries Tagged as 'teaching'

Round pegs & square holes

April 24th, 2012 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized

The post also appears at Teaching Artist Journal’s ALT/Space. Creating a permanent place for the arts in public education requires some adjustment between the two in order to create a fit — a whittling process that usually affects the art more than the public institution within which it’s finding a home. Given the current trends […]

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Kindling the Spark

March 6th, 2012 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized

This entry was written for ALT/space, online forum of the Teaching Artists Journal. I’ve been honored to be a contributor to the TAJ online exchange of ideas since last August, even as I’ve felt sort of odd-man-outish. Being a certified dance specialist, located in one school for the past fifteen years, my context is quite […]

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Choreographers can be inspired by poetry!

January 19th, 2012 · 6 Comments · Uncategorized

Here’s a lesson I’ve used with 5th graders over the years. Often I integrate this lesson with other lessons on Martin Luke King Jr. and Alvin Ailey, since they were contemporaries — all alive & working toward change during the civil rights movement.*  I’m posting this lesson just now in response to a Read & […]

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Too much to ask: dance without music

January 2nd, 2012 · 4 Comments · Uncategorized

Alimah and Farihah are my students. They’re both cheerful, attentive, kind, lively, quick, and participatory. Alimah, a 1st grader, is shy, but she’s a great partner for anyone in the class. Any student, boy or girl, calm or wildly off-task, gets their work done when paired with her, because she can be on-task and have […]

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Math In Your Feet

December 27th, 2011 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized

I may be a dance specialist, but I’m no step dancer! Nonetheless, it’s been great to see my students working on precision footwork, thanks to Malke Rosenfeld’s Math in Your Feet unit, published last year in the Teaching Artist Journal (one of the sources I count as part of my Professional Learning Community).  Through a […]

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Defining success

November 23rd, 2011 · Comments Off · Autism

Success is defined differently when I’m teaching dance to my students with Autism. Given the very unique ways in which these students interact, there’s a feeling of victory when a student joins me in what I’m modeling, allows me to help, follows my lead, works with me. If every one in our small class moves […]

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Dancing your own way

July 17th, 2011 · Comments Off · Uncategorized

My 5th graders want to dance their own way, which has as many meanings as I have students. As I work on expanding their interest in all kinds of music & expressing all kinds of ideas their own way, this video should help. I’m filing it here, so I can use it next year to […]

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Dance is to report card criteria as…

July 9th, 2011 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized

Colors are to numbers Dreams are to budgets Flow is to schedule… Such are possible analogies to highlight how jarring the idea of grades can be to dance specialists focused on inspiration, creativity & collaboration! My district, Seattle, recently decided to revise the reporting of the arts on the elementary report card. Previously, what’s been […]

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Letting go

May 29th, 2011 · 3 Comments · Uncategorized

Today’s horoscope — Today is an 8. Write down your thoughts, even if they don’t make any sense, to make space for the new. You may discover that your skills are worth more than you thought. On the days when I read my horoscope, my engagement with it lasts all of about 10 seconds, as […]

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Lest anyone think it’s a straight path…

April 4th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Autism

I’ve had some pretty consistent successes, in my 2nd year of dance for students with Autism. But there are days… Friday last week, the class fell apart. There were a lot of absences, from colds & such, so only 5 students out of the usual 8 were even available for class. Of the 5, only […]

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