teaching

Entries Tagged as 'teaching'

Music for Dancers — 1st & 2nd Grade

February 16th, 2009 · Comments Off · Lesson Plans

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 […]

Arts Worrier: teaching theatre & music for dancers

February 8th, 2009 · Comments Off · Uncategorized

A number of years ago, when I first started teaching as a certificated dance educator, I heard someone (I don’t know who it was) say, “Every school needs an arts worrier.” That’s someone who worries about ensuring that the kids get a well-rounded exposure to the 4 arts disciplines. Someone who thinks about offering comprehensive, […]

Check in on the latest TED Talks…

February 5th, 2009 · Comments Off · Uncategorized

TED2009 is underway, with a new flock of video talks & performances to come. It’s a good time to glimpse back at the wealth of ideas and perspectives already available. Personally, I could wish it was TEDD for Technology, Entertainment, Design, Dance. Dance is lamentably rare in this fascinating forum. Check out… Kenichi Ebina’s magic […]

Cultural dances for kids from many cultures

January 6th, 2009 · Comments Off · Uncategorized

Cultural diversity? My classes provide a good visual definition: Students who were born or whose parents were born in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia. More who moved from Louisiana, Georgia, Texas, California. Some born here in Washington State. Students who speak English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Cham, Tagalog, Amharic, Somalian, Cambodian, […]

Lesson Plan: Making Inferences about Culture

January 4th, 2009 · Comments Off · Lesson Plans

Grade Level: 5th Grade Enduring Understanding: We can make inferences about a culture from its dances. Target: Get the feeling of a culture by learning a cultural dance. Assessment criteria: Students navigate the dance successfully. Target: Make inferences about a culture after doing a cultural dance. Assessment criteria: Students guess at possible generalizations, supported by […]

Creating closure by performing early

December 20th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Uncategorized

I’m not good at creating closure. Much as I know that the best last thing in class is to guide kids to acknowledge and reflect on the topic of the day, I’m too often going full steam ahead at the moment when class should end. We finish with a flourish, and they rush out the […]

The up side of “Oh, what a day…,” or the benefit of having doubts

December 15th, 2008 · Comments Off · Uncategorized

I was struck by something John Patrick Shanley, the director of the movie Doubt, said in an NPR interview during my morning commute on Friday. Asked about the relative merits of doubt and certainty, he replied that certainty is a closed door, while doubt is an open one. I like the thought, since at the […]

Lesson Plan: Using Focus in a Narrative Dance

November 16th, 2008 · Comments Off · Lesson Plans

Grade Levels: 1-5 Enduring Understanding: Narrative dance tells a story. The use of focus supports a story. Target: Choreograph narrative dances. Assessment criteria: Students’ dance shows a story, including a beginning, middle, and end. Target: Use focus to help tell the story. Assessment criteria: Students use focus in showing the story. Context: Students already completed […]

Time: another essential ingredient

October 21st, 2008 · Comments Off · Uncategorized

Imagine a perfect schedule for teaching. I have one. Every student in the school takes dance, kindergarten through 5th grade (except one, but that’s another story). I get to know them as they grow, and they accept dance (and me), almost like air. When new students come in, as they always do, they’re swept along […]

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Tags:chaos·curriculum·schedule·teaching·time

Congratulations, Mary Easter!

October 19th, 2008 · Comments Off · Uncategorized

“The liberal arts virtues of problem solving and intellectual discipline and self-reflection and critical deliberation are rarely better tested or better witnessed than they are in dance.” — Robert A. Oden, Jr., President, Carleton College When I graduated from Carleton College, a student could major in music or visual art, but not dance. Dance was […]

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