Context: In my years of teaching classroom teachers how to use movement in the classroom, I’ve always cautioned, “Never put on music & just tell the kids to dance!” That would be wild-party-time not dance education, and the resulting chaos would likely discourage anyone from inviting dance into the classroom. This year, however, I’ve been […]
Entries Tagged as 'teaching'
Lesson plan: Let’s do an improvisation!
January 2nd, 2010 · 1 Comment · Lesson Plans
Tags:dancing·improvisation·lesson plans·music·teaching·thinking
Lesson Plan: The Toy Shop
December 31st, 2009 · 1 Comment · Lesson Plans
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 […]
Tags:curriculum·curriculum integration·kindergarten·lesson plans·primary·teaching
Holiday dances? Which holidays?
December 29th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Uncategorized
Holidays in the public schools… now there’s a topic with little agreement! There are proponents for including all of them… for celebrating the most visible… for distinguishing between education & celebration… for celebrating none… There are legal opinions, personal opinions & curriculums… Many questions, but no prefect answer. When I was growing up, holiday projects […]
The logistics of low-key
December 16th, 2009 · 6 Comments · Uncategorized
Last year’s winter performance, scheduled for just about now, with a performance in the afternoon for the kids and another in the evening for families, was snow- and ice-stormed out. So this year, we decided on a low-key performance: Audience: the kids Performers: instrumental musicians & anyone who wants to contribute. This afternoon. Low-key, but […]
Tags:logistics·performance·teaching
Dancing through thick and thin…
December 9th, 2009 · Comments Off · Uncategorized
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
Learning about dance & autism, or what to do when you don’t know what to do
October 29th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Autism, Uncategorized
With an expanded student population this year, my schedule is pretty crazy — 40 classes per week with 5 different plans per day. Also new is that I serve two self-contained classes of autistic students. Given no previous experience with autism, I’m reading up on it, but I’m also doing a fair amount of learning-on-the-run, […]
Guest Voice: developmental movement for special needs students
October 27th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Autism, Guest Voices
When two autism classes were added to my schedule this year, I was grateful to make contact via Anne Green Gilbert with other dance educators who work with special needs & autistic children. Thusfar, this small support group of colleagues communicates somewhat erratically by email, but what a relief it is to hear from others! […]
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 […]
Lesson Plan: Setting parameters to get started
October 13th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Lesson Plans
Grades: 1st-5th grades Teaching points: The dance classroom has standards: Make good decisions. Show respect. Solve problems. [These are school-wide standards.] Targets: Understand & practice the nitty gritty: standards, routines & procedures for dance class; Get moving! Context: Just now it’s no longer the first week of school, but the first week of school comes […]
Tags:behavior·getting started·intermediate·lesson plans·management·primary·teaching
Dance — an intellectual exercise
October 4th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Uncategorized
Another note from my sister on the subject of John Ratey & his work: “I just came back from a talk by Harvard psychiatrist John Ratey on the relationship between exercise and learning. His final comment in the presentation, during the question and answer period, was this: “I think dance is the ultimate best exercise.” […]