Finishing Up

Today I taught my 2^nd graders for the last time. I did a literature lesson with them using the book Starry Safari by Linda Ashman. As I read the book to them we stopped to dance some of the action loaded words that we found. One of the great things about this lesson was that the students learned some new words like sturdy, herd, and wallow. When I asked them if they knew what these words meant they came up with rhyming words but most didn’t have an understanding of the meaning. After learning the definition and then physically moving it, I think these students will better remember these new vocabulary words. The students danced a lot today and I could tell that they loved it. I was having fun as the teacher and I could feel the fun energy from them.

At the end of class I asked them to tell me some things they learned from dance this semester. Many of them mentioned some of the dance elements or terms, but I was really impressed by one boy who said that dance taught him that he could have fun and learn at the same time. Another boy with today’s lesson in mind asked if he could read the dictionary and dance the words in it like we did today. Another girl told me she taught her cousins the locomotor steps. I have wondered about my influence and if I have done any good teaching dance to these students, but today it was clear that even this short time with one second grade class has made a difference. They experienced the power of learning through the arts and it will always be a part of who they are, and I hope many of them will continue to explore the arts and share with others like the girl who taught her cousins.

This experience with Arts Bridge has had its challenges for sure, but I am grateful for the experience. Every day teaching children is an adventure. As much as you prepare, things always turn out a bit different than you expect. Some lessons go fabulously and some don’t. One thing I have learned is that I need to keep my expectations high but give students sufficient structure to reach the desired objectives. Also, I need to really see the students and see what they need. It takes a keen sense of discernment as well as experience to know in the moment how best to teach individuals within a classroom setting. I have a long way to go, but this will come in time.

My message to whoever is reading this blog is that dance is a powerful tool for learning and I hope that you will continue to support arts in education. Thank you to those who do and to those who specifically supported this program.

Review, Assessment, and Problem Solving

I decided to do a review class because I have taught a lot of new concepts to the students. Also, I'm hoping to create some more substantial dances soon and they will need to remember all of the elements of dance that they can use. For a review and a warm up I came up with a story about going on a grand adventure which incorporated all the locomotors, axials, shape forms, and concepts of space that they have learned so far. This was a great part of the lesson. The students were engaged and committed to the movement. After we did the grand adventure I did a assessment by asking them if they remembered the terms that they learned in previous weeks that were part of the grand adventure. They did very well remembering and I think it was great that they had something specific from the adventure to link each term with. I left the rest of the time for working on group dances because I really wanted to work on problem solving and teamwork. I made the mistake of splitting them into groups before giving the assignment because by the time they were all spread out it was very hard to get the details across. I had planned a 6 part dance and each part gave the group a chance to choose one thing from a category of dance elements. We only had time to work on the beginning shape because again I found that some groups could still not work well enough together to decide on a shape. Some groups were done very quickly and then had nothing to do so the room felt a little bit chaotic. I feel like I gave some good feedback and additional challenges to the waiting groups, but I definitely needed to rework how to organize this group work. In talking with my mentor Marilyn we came up with a plan to have the 6 part challenges laid out and when each group got done with a part they could have me check it off and then I would send them to get the next part and work on it. Also, we talked about narrowing down the choices for each part so that the groups could make decisions more easily. I am planning to work again on this next time with some revised management strategies.

Mirroring

Because of the group work challenges we had last week and my talk with Ms. Rossiter about respect I chose to teach a class on mirroring with an emphasis on being good leaders and followers. I began class having the whole class mirror me. This brought a lot of focus to the group and I think it was good for them to see me move and get a better picture of the possibilities for movement during a mirroring activity. When I have done mirroring in the past some students didn't seem to know what to do as the leader. After mirroring me I talked with the students about what they had to do to be able to follow me. Some answers I got were concentrate and move slowly. I expounded on those and others as important skills for leading and following. Then I had the students get into partnerships to try mirroring each other. I put on music and walked around giving feedback. Most of the students were very focused and I saw them trying new things. A few partnerships got confused and started shadowing instead of mirroring but I helped them understand. Then I split them into groups of 4 so that they could try flocking. This gave them the opportunity to work in a larger group and to be both a leader and a follower within that setting. Most groups remained focused and quiet, but I had one group of gigglers. At the end of class I reminded the students that group work takes concentration and respect for both the leaders and followers.

Axial Movements

On Thursday, February 23 I taught a lesson about Axial Movements. We didn't have the gym space this day so we danced in the classroom. It worked well though. Sometimes I think a contained space helps the students focus a little bit better. I started class by writing the axial movement words on the white board. I think this is important for the students vocabulary to see the words and say them and dance them. The warm up and introduction was a success. I came up with some good images for stretching, shaking, pushing, bouncing, bending, and twisting. Additionally, the students were eager to share their own images which mostly turned out to be effective images. To explore the concept further I tried an activity where I had them move for 8 counts and hold for 8 counts. We went down the list of axial movements each one getting 8 counts with 8 counts of holding in between. I counted for them the first few times and then I challenged them to keep the counts in their head and do the same 8 count move, 8 count hold sequence without me counting. However, I messed up and told them to hold for 4 counts so the students got a little bit confused. Some were very focused and were trying so hard to keep the counts amid the confusion of the other students, but most were giving up. I tried to clarify but then decided it wasn't going to work for that day. I don't think it is worth throwing away completely, but it needs some tweaking if I try to use it again. At the end of the lesson we tried working in groups again. Some groups worked quickly and well together while some groups could hardly get a beginning shape together. I talked with Ms. Rossiter about how they need to learn to give respect to other people when they are talking. This is one skill for group work that I want to work on with them next time.

Shapes and Skips

On Thursday, February 16, I taught a lesson about shapes and skips. We began in a circle on the floor to learn the basic shape forms. I think this worked well for the students because they all seemed to be very focused and I actually saw some very creative shapes even though we were sitting on the floor. The exploration also went very well. We practiced the locomotor steps and combined shape forms. For example, I asked them to walk with a curved or twisted spine. This was clear to them and they showed it clearly with their bodies. Next, I tried to break down a skip because last time quite a few students weren't clearly understanding what a skip was. Someone had mentioned it as a locomotor so we tried it but it was never broken down. It did not work well to have them all facing me, mirroring me, and doing the movement slowly. Some wanted to do it quickly and it was difficult to see who was really getting it and who wasn't. Also, I didn't know how to work with just one person. We tried skips with the upper body in different shapes going across the floor in 4 lines and it worked pretty well once they figured out the procedure of going across the floor. I struggle with drumming and giving feedback at the same time, but it is getting better. The create/perform section of the lesson was probably the worst. The students did not understand that they needed to combine the shapes with 1 skip at a time so their dances were very unclear. I think it was difficult for them to make decisions in their groups of 5-6 each. I felt like the way I had them perform was effective though. The 4 groups lined up on one side of the gym and went across 1 group at a time, then back the other way 1 group at a time. I decided after this lesson that the students needed some help it working together in groups. Some of them are very "me" oriented as Ms. Rossiter mentioned to me.

Free and Bound

On Tuesday, February 14 I taught a lesson about free and bound flow to Ms. Rossiter's second graders. This lesson went over very well with these students. The image of water rushing out of a faucet or down a river bed worked well for free flow. I didn't have a particularly good image for bound flow but we talked about it being controlled or having a stop in the movement like if you turned off the water faucet. An action word that worked particularly well for bound movement was dodge. I talked about the tense muscles and the controlled changing of weight that they needed to dodge. It appeared that they really understood this form of bound flow and they were committed to the movement. Also, I did the boundland/freeland activity with them and I was impressed by the clarity with which they moved between free and bound.

One of the main purposes of this lesson was to help the students understand how to control their bodies. Ms. Rossiter mentioned that she would like them to understand that they have the power to control what their bodies do. Sometimes students will act out or mess around because they feel an impulse to do so, but we believe it will be helpful for them to understand that they can choose to act on that impulse or choose not to. I see that dance is powerful in helping people to learn to move in different ways and therefore they have better control over their bodies, but I think I need to make it more explicit to these students that they have the power to decide when to move and how to move. At the end of class we did talk about times when it is appropriate to move bound and times when it is appropriate to move free. One student said it was appropriate to have bound flow while driving. I thought that was an interesting and insightful answer and I commented on the fact that in situations like driving if we do not move appropriately we can hurt other people and ourselves.

I was pleased with how class went on this day and I hope that they are retaining some of the valuable life skills that I'm trying to teach through dance.

This Thursday I taught again in Mrs. Rossiter's class. We are able to have the gym for most of the time I am there so the plan is that we will do a 5 minute warm up and introduction of the lesson concepts in the class room, then quickly move down to the gym and dance, then return to the classroom for the last five minutes to cool down and analyze what we learned. Mrs. Rossiter's students are eager to learn and participate in dance class. The lesson this time was about sharing and cooperating while exploring self space and general space. The image of a bubble around their bodies for self space was effective and it actually helped them when Mrs. Rossiter asked them to line up to go down to the gym and to stay within their own bubble even though they were close to each other. This concept of self space is crucial for these young students to understand and dance is a great way to learn it. As Mrs. Rossiter continues to suggest that I work with the students on learning how to control their bodies, I am beginning to see this as a very important skill for them to develop that will be helpful all throughout their life.

I felt like this lesson had a bit too much going on and as I have observed some master teaches I am realizing that it is okay to slow down and go more into depth with fewer concepts. Also, I think that I give the students too much to process when we create and perform because it seems like they can't quite remember what they are supposed to do. I also want to work on really seeing the students and giving meaningful feedback. It is hard when I want to keep the class moving, but feedback is essential.

A difficult thing with this class is getting the students into partnerships quickly and not having the same people left out each time. I need to work on a more effective way to do that.