Making Dance

 

Dance in a Classroom

Creative Movement and Dance - Teaching Strategies

Video Concepts

Patterns

Outlines

Steps

TEXT:

Text Concepts

Creative Dance for All Ages

The kinesthetic Loop

proprioception

sensing

feeling

motor nerves

rhythm

body

force element

time element

space element

unison

complement

contrast

shapes 

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Question

 

What aspect of her lesson got your attention as examples of good teaching? 

Question

 

How effective is this teacher in explaining the four elements of movement? Explain.

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ACTIVITY

Students are divided into groups and each group plans to teach a different aspect of a dance/movement class. Because of lack of space in our classroom, they go out on the hallway and create stations on which to teach their content. The activity is fun, exciting, fast and playful. It is a perfect exercise before starting teaching the mini-lessons.

Question

 

Develop a lesson plan based on the activity

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Competency Based Curriculum

SAMPLE LESSON PLANS 

Photo by Group 5

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Group 1

Elementary: Second Grade

COMPETENCY:
  
The student can, in a repeatable sequence, execute at least three floor patterns emphasizing various body parts (head, arms, legs, back) 
The student can respond to rhythmic patterns through appropriate movements
 
OBJECTIVES: 

• Demonstrates how movement can expand and contract
• Demonstrates the contrast of sustained and sudden movement
• Demonstrates repetition or making patterns of movement
• Explores the directions of the body in space (forward, backward, up, down, sideways)
• Demonstrates locomotor movements (walk, run, hop, jump, and leap) and compound locomotor movements (gallop, slide, leap)
• Uses improvisation to explore and create movement ideas

MATERIALS

Spots (to make placeholders, one for every student in the shape of a big square)

WARMUP

1. Stand in small circle
1. Breath in/out (x2)
2. Start with feet

                                      i.      Move toes/heels

                         ii.      Pat feet

                               iii.      Brush feet

3. Move to legs

                                        i.      Move knees/hips

                          ii.      Pat legs

                               iii.      Brush legs

4. Stomach
5. Chest
6. Shoulders
7. Arms(elbow, wrist, finger)

ACTIVITY

2. Move to a spot in the room
1. Start by going right

                                   i.      Go to next spot

1. High as you can, climbing money bars

                                     ii.      Go to next spot

1. Low as you can, going through tunnel

                                       iii.      Go to next spot

1. Slow as you can, quick sand

                                        iv.      Go to next spot

1. Quick as you can, hop like a bunny
1. Change directions by going to the left

                                                  i.      Repeat previous  steps

1. High
2. Low
3. Slow
4. Quick
2. Stand on spot

                                                     i.      Put right arm and right leg in

1. Shake

                                                     ii.      Put left arm in and left leg in

1. Shake

                           iii.      Put head in

1. Shake

                                                iv.      Run in with whole body

1. Shake

                                       v.      Return to your spot

1. Do whatever motion students want (creativity)
3. Make eye contact with someone else in the square

                         i.      High five

5. Return to your spot

                                      i.      Break in/out (x2)

 

ASSESSMENT

Now that we have finished the activity, remember back to our warm up at the beginning:

• Who can name the order of body parts we warmed up
• What were the 4 ways we moved when going from spot to spot

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 Group 2

Component: 

Movement Skills and Underlying Principles

Objectives: 

1. Demonstrates control in producing motion and stillness 

2.Understands how gestures and movement communicate meaning (DA.B.1.1.1)

Competency: 

After listening to a fast tempo musical composition and a low tempo musical composition, the student can demonstrate four non-locomotor skills that correspond with the tempos.(DA.A.1.1.1)(DA.A.1.1.2)(DA.A.1.1.4)(DA.A.1.1.5)(DA.C.1.1.2)

Activity:

Today in class, we decided to take time doing a very long warm-up, of which we went through a bunch of different emotions that the children feel everyday throughout their lives. 

We made the warm-up incorporate different movements and emotions during the timeline of a day so that it would be easy for them to remember and understand. 

Starting with waking up in the morning, using the emotion “tired”, we stretched  with our arms reaching up, and then reaching from side to side. 

Then after, we show the emotion of “sadness” by hanging down to our toes and swinging side to side. 

Next, we show the emotion of being “relaxed” by simply going around in circles with our head. 

The fourth movement, portrayed the emotion of “happy” where we started skipping around in a circle, and this led into the emotion of “energetic”, which we showed by doing jumping jacks. 

Lastly, we showed the emotion of “exhaustion” by falling on the floor and pretending to sleep.

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 Group 3

Component: 

cognitions and interest. We are teaching through a cooking story and assign students with characters. Each student is play a part of the ingredient and create a dance. It’s a great scenario for kids to learn teamwork and corporations.  

Objectives:

Understands how gestures and movement communicate meaning.  

Make students understand the importance of teamwork.

Activities:

First, we warm up as our own characters. We use the component of brain dance to make the kids relax and stretched. 

Secondly, we start to combine the movements into a story of cooking spaghetti. 

Competency:

In this way, students could be more creative through upper and lower level movements. 

Props:

Five plastic bowls. 

Assessment:

Make the students to do this again or to create their own dance.

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Group 4

Grade level: first grade (approximately 6 years old) 

Competency: The student can express himself/herself by demonstrating improvisational movement using various stimuli to influence the focus of the dance. 

Objective: Understand how gestures and movement communicate meaning. Improvises in order to discover movements related to specific props or ideas. 

Materials: 1 gliding disc per student and open space. 

Activity: Beginning with the warm up to establish starting movements with the body and the brain. 

Once warmed up the students will follow instruction from the teacher by each being given a disc and they must remain in their spatial area, respect one another and the props given. 

Students are to follow the teachers instructions with the disc to start the imaginative process and use the disc as a different item (like a steering wheel, hat, drum etc.) 

Here the students are to mirror the teacher and one another. It is vital the students realize that objects can be used to enhance the imaginative process. 

Then  it’s is important that the students get a little time on their own to imagine what they would use the disc for on their own. 

Then once this commences the students are to place their disc on the ground in their own space to establish their spatial area and allow for awareness of their space and others. 

This will highlight respect for one another and items. 

Assessment: 

Watching / observing the interaction among students and students with their discs.  The importance of this lesson is to see if they can properly follow instructions and behave (properly respecting one another and objects). Lastly to see how ones imaginative process can be enhanced with objects.

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Group 5

 Age group: Kindergartners 

Component: Movement skills and underlying principles 

Objectives:

- Gain body awareness 

- Exploration of kinesphere (brain dance)

- Explore both non and regular locomotor skills (obstacle course)

Competency:

- students will learn to solve locomotor and non locomotor problems by coming up with creative ways to move through the obstacle course

Obstacle course:

- gliders as stepping stones (step or jump or run)

- mat section (test the floor via crawling, or rolling)

- cones (movement patterns such as a zig zag or rotation)

- jump rope as a tight rope (balance)

- stepping squares (test different parts of the feet such as top toes or heels)