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 […]
Entries Tagged as 'thinking skills'
Dance is to report card criteria as…
July 9th, 2011 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
Tags:assessment·logistics·standards·teaching·thinking skills
A musical — with dance, of course
July 2nd, 2011 · 1 Comment · dance arts integration into academic subjects
My students were thrilled to do a musical! Speaking lines! Acting! Being characters — & fairy tale characters at that! Singing! Dancing! We were using the musical Character Matters, by Ron Fink & John Heath at the Bad Wolf Press. It’s a great resource: script, teacher’s guide, CD with songs & intrumental accompaniment. A fun […]
Tags:choreography·dancing·intermediate·music·performance·primary·rehearsal·thinking skills
Persistence — learned in dance class
February 11th, 2011 · 5 Comments · Uncategorized
Yesterday I was preparing 4 groups to perform on Monday. It’s always touch-and-go. I want whatever we’re rehearsing to challenge them to practice new skills. But I don’t want rehearsal to usurp too many of our sessions together. I taught my 3rd graders a lovely dance I learned from Sanna Longden last week — “I […]
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.” […]
Didya know? Exercise is good for the brain…
September 28th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Uncategorized
My sister sent a reference to SPARK, a book written by Dr. John Ratey of Harvard Medical School & filled with case studies exploring the connection between exercise and the brain. It tells those of us who teach dance what we already know. But given the current trends in education, there are a lot of […]
Tags:brain·research·thinking skills
Translating Writers Workshop
August 31st, 2009 · Comments Off · Uncategorized
Pedagogy changes constantly. When I was a 5th-6th grade classroom teacher for a few years (15 years ago), the writing pedagogy sweeping through schools was characterized by 6 traits (content, voice, organization, word choice, fluency & conventions). I was trained in teaching the traits & scoring writing samples using rubrics built on them. Nowadays, however, […]
Tags:choreography·curriculum integration·getting started·obstacles·PD·teaching·thinking skills
Doing a conference
July 27th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
On the occasion of having recently been to New York City for the NDEO 2009 Conference Focus on Dance Education: Take a Bite of the Apple/Exploring Resources to Promote Best Practices, I recommend it — doing a professional conference — although it does take a fair amount of energy, time, trouble & money. Here are […]
Tags:curriculum·PD·thinking skills
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 […]
Tags:culture·curriculum·curriculum integration·intermediate·lesson plans·standards·teaching·thinking skills