As I gear up from summer to back-to-school, the to-do list is long: Continue healing from a partial knee replacement. My knee’s doing beautifully, with range of motion returning, but my energy’s not its normal self yet. Integrate structures & concepts from the Readers Workshop. I started using this material last year, following a week […]
Entries Tagged as 'thinking'
Another transition: gearing up for the start of the year
September 3rd, 2010 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
Tags:curriculum·thinking·time
4 dancers: a blog for …you guessed it… dancers!
June 14th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
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, […]
Lesson plan: Let’s do an improvisation!
January 2nd, 2010 · 1 Comment · Lesson Plans
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 […]
Tags:dancing·improvisation·lesson plans·music·teaching·thinking
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Tags:Choreogram·Margret Dietz·Mary Easter·Mary Wigman·PE·teaching·thinking