Methods of Teaching Dance

  Unit Topic: expressing emotion through movement 1. We can have the children make a movement that represents a certain emotion we tell them.  2. Each day of the week can be dedicated to a different emotion: happy, sad, angry, excited, suprised, nervous.  3. The students will have to create a dance in groups that conveys an emotion they choose, and the rest of the class would have to guess what emotion they are trying to portray.  The easiest skill would be how to express emotion through facial expressions, and expressing through their body movement would be harder. It also might be easier to convey happiness than suprised for example. We can start with teaching basic emotions and move into more complex emotions.  We can incorporate dance by teaching a sad ballet dance or watching a video of an angry hip hop dance.  We are teaching young children how to show their emotions in dance.  They will learn how to associate their feelings through movement...

 Grade: Kindergarten Component: Dance Making Objective: Understands how gestures and movement communicate meaning. Competency: The student can tell a simple story that has a beginning, middle, and end by using various dance sequences learned in class or log creating their own sequences. Activity: Dance video and partner work. Assessment: Getting in small groups and creating short dances to share with the class. ● Warm up ○ Stretching ● Follow along with a happy dance video ○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ6BPWyIueQ ● Get with a partner and take turns giving an emotion and doing a move that reflects that emotion ● With the same partner, do a move and have your partner guess what emotion you’re trying to convey ● Get into small groups and come up with a short dance that embodies an emotion ○ Your group will perform in front of the class, and the class will have to guess what emotion you’re trying to portray

  The creative process is better than any other process because it allows the kindergarteners to have autonomy in their dancing. Being able to dance based on their feelings fosters a healthy relationship with dance. Because they are able to listen to their bodies, they can be more creative and have fun. Kindergarteners especially may have trouble learning a specific dance, so allowing them to be creative can make them participate more and be more engaged in class. 

  The creative process is better than any other process because it allows the kindergarteners to have autonomy in their dancing. Being able to dance based on their feelings fosters a healthy relationship with dance. Because they are able to listen to their bodies, they can be more creative and have fun. Kindergarteners especially may have trouble learning a specific dance, so allowing them to be creative can make them participate more and be more engaged in class. 

Mission Statement: We strive to educate and foster a healthy envrioment within the classroom that encourages young students to participate in order to cultivate the students' love for dance. Vision Statement: We aspire to foster childrens happiness and create students who are happy to learn now and in the future. We hope to give them to technical foundation to create confident dancers.

 As a teacher, I would try to be both task and relationship oriented. My classroom would aim to be like a second home for my students. I would focus on achievement at the individual level. Since I chose kindergartners, they are too young to need to compete with one another. Therefore, I would teach groups based on skill level so students can prioritize self improvement. I would also give students some autonomy by letting them create their own combinations and choosing our music. To further their relatioship with one another, I would use purpose pairing to get students to talk to peers they otherwise probably wouldn't get to know.