And today I’m honored to be the featured interviewee! Check out my interview for more questions than you ever thought to have about me! And while you’re there, take a look around. 4 dancers is a blog about so many aspects of dance — news from all around, glimpses of many styles, perspectives from teachers, […]
Entries Tagged as 'teaching'
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 […]
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 […]
Tags:choreography·culture·curriculum integration·lesson plans·performance·teaching
Check this out: Math Dance
April 2nd, 2010 · Comments Off · Uncategorized
The Math Dance website is the place to go for further information on DanceTeacher Magazine‘s K-12 article on the math explorations of Karl Schaffer & Erik Stern (March 2010). They’ve included some versatile lesson plans related to math, as well as a link to a video of their work.
Dancing – and constantly growing — with autism
March 31st, 2010 · 10 Comments · Autism, Uncategorized
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, […]
Tap Dance in the public schools
March 7th, 2010 · Comments Off · Uncategorized
… 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 […]
Dancing metaphorically…
January 27th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
Here’s a lovely reflection by a teacher about dancing metaphorically in the classroom.
Tags:management·teaching
In winter, the kids are sunshine…
January 25th, 2010 · 4 Comments · Uncategorized
Among 185 kids per day, there’s a lot of sunlight. There’s… Yusuf, 4th grade. When his teacher was teaching the class a song and having them do it as a round, he said, “This is just like the canon we did in dance!” Anisah, 5th grade. She was with us from kindergarten through 3rd grade, […]
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
A single clear teaching point
January 10th, 2010 · 5 Comments · Uncategorized
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 with […]