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.