Lesson #7: The Dance!

We started out reviewing what we had learned of the dance. We reviewed section by section. I had them listen to the music so they would know their cues to move onto the next section. It would have been better to have counts but teaching them counting would have taken a whole other class so we had to just stick with lyrics and accents in the music to know when to transition. I then taught them the last section of the dance that added in the last concept we had learned. Then we put it all together!

Next it was time to practice. My goal by the end of class was for them to be able to do it on their own instead of having to watch me every time. I wanted them to know it well enough that when I left, they would remember it and could still practice. We ran through the dance many, many times and I wore them out! Each time I would help them less and less until they had it on their own. The last time we did it, I filmed it and just let them do it. They did a great job! It's always rewarding to be able to see your hard work show and the kids did just that! 

At the end, I asked them to raise their hand and tell me their favorite parts and favorite things they learned from the 7 weeks I had been coming. I got some great answers and it was really interesting to see what they liked the most. I then told them how wonderful this experience has been for me. They were wonderful students and I learned so much about myself and my teaching! I handed out treats I brought for them and we all took a class picture together. They then asked me to dance for them for a minute since they had never seen me dance so I did the combination I had choreographed for my technique class. Mrs. Washburn then gave me letters they had each written to me. This is the best present a teacher can get! It made me so happy to read them when I got home! They were very insightful and very funny! 

I talked at the end with Mrs. Washburn for a moment to go over a few things and to thank her. She was just wonderful to work with! I am going to miss both her and her students a lot! ArtsBridge has been an incredible opportunity for me. I am excited to apply the valuable lessons I have learned to future experiences.

 

This past year I have also blogged for BYU's McKay School of Education and I recently wrote a blog about my ArtsBridge experience! If you would like to view this article, please visit:

http://mckayschooleducators.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/artsbridge-bridging-the-gap-between-core-curriculum-and-the-arts/

 Love them!

Lesson #6: Commas, Apostrophes, Quotation Marks

Mrs. Washburn had told me that her students were struggling with apostrophes, commas, and quotation marks and where to put them in a sentence. I wanted to come up with a short dance exercise that would help them with this before moving on to more choreography. However, I struggled coming up with ideas this time. I emailed my mentor and even asked my parents! Both came up with ideas and I took some ideas from both to create what I did—and it worked! 

  We started out by coming up with a movement or shape that would represent a quotation mark and one to represent a comma. I then showed them one sentence on my computer that was missing its commas, quotation marks. I chose enough volunteers for each word in the sentence and they stood up front in a line facing their peers. They then came up with a movement and did that movement while saying the word they represented. I then asked who knew where the quotation marks and comma goes. I chose those with raised hands and they would run up and do the quotation mark or comma movement we had come up with in between the correct people (or words those people represented). We did this a few times with various sentences.

Next, we did a comma exercise. We, again, came up with an apostrophe and an “s” movement. I then told the students to create a movement that would be about 2 counts. Some of the students were confused by this or came up with the same silly moves they always do. I should have given them parameters of what kind of movement to create, something beyond hand gestures. Most of the time just saying, “be creative” doesn't work as I have found. You need to give them ideas and examples to work off of. For the next part of the exercise, we got in one big circle and each student would show their movement. We would then copy it as a class and add on the apostrophe and “s” movement to the end. Therefore, the movement would become, for example, Caleb's movement because we did his movement and then added on an apostrophe 's'. They enjoyed this activity as well.

  

We then went on with the dance. It went okay. While teaching the next parts of the dance, I learned that I need to be very careful with my vocabulary. I sometimes use words that I have used in the past that meant a different thing. If I try to use that term again, the students think I mean what it meant the first time. The students can't read my mind so I must remember to use clear and specific words to convey what I want. We finished learning the majority of the dance. We used a concept from every lesson and I added fun, basic hip hop in between, which they loved! Went well! Lots of practicing for next week!

Lesson #5: Personal Narrative

Because of Thanksgiving break, it had been a while since I'd seen the students. I decided to talk about personal narrative for this lesson. They hadn't started talking about it in class yet, so I made it an introduction to the concept. I told them a personal narrative is as simple as a true story about yourself. I wanted to start out a bit different, so I asked Mrs. Washburn to have them all bring a piece of paper and a pencil with them. We started out doing one of my favorite English/writing exercises: a free write. I gave them the sentence, “During Thanksgiving break, I...” and told them to finish it. I timed them for 3 minutes and told them to not ever stop writing. Even if your mind started going in a new direction, just keep going! They could write down names of people they saw over Thanksgiving break, things they did, what they ate, etc. 

After 3 minutes, we left our papers and spread out on the floor. We discussed abstraction. What does it mean to abstract something? In dance, you can take one move, change it slightly, and it can become a whole new thing. We focused on 4 different ways you can abstract: level, body part, speed, and size. We then tried some simple, everyday gestures as examples. Show me how you would drink a cup of water. What would it look like? You normally use your hand. But what if you drink a cup of water with your foot? Or what if you drank a giant cup of water, how would you show that? Or maybe kicking a soccer ball really fast or really slow? I told them that this is what we were going to do with their Thanksgiving break activities that they wrote about. In abstraction, it's okay if others can't tell what you are doing, as long as you know. It doesn't even have to look like what your original idea was!

They then chose just one of the items from their free write that they could create movement out of. I gave them 5 minutes to figure out 3 moves to show your experience. Because they were very focused, I gave them a choice. If it was a long experience, they could do 3 different moves and abstract each one. Or, they could take the same move and abstract it in 3 different ways. I reminded them to not act it out but abstract it. It's a dance class, not an acting class. No matter which way they chose to abstract, they had to have 3 moves by the end of the 5 minutes.

When everyone was ready, they got in groups of 3, told their group their story from Thanksgiving, and then taught them their 3 moves. By the end of teaching, each person in the group would know a total of 9 moves. They were encouraged to help each other if a member of their group was having a hard time abstracting.

Then was performance time! I was very impressed! I saw some great things from a few groups! It was easy to see who had chosen 3 different moves and who had chosen the same move and abstracted it 3 different ways. They really enjoyed this activity and it was the most rewarding for me to watch as a teacher because of how well they grasped the concept this time. I think that they loved how they came up with everything and it related back to them. It was their original ideas from their life, their own movement, their own way of abstracting, and their own group work. 

After their performances, we started learning a combination that I came up with. Mrs. Washburn wanted a dance that they could practice and work on after I was gone that would help them remember what they learned from this experience. I was excited to do this! I wanted to add in both fun movement as well as a concept we learned from every lesson we have had. We started out the dance with body shapes, as this is what we worked on the very first class. We talked a little bit about music and timing so that we could create shapes to the beats of the music. I chose the song “I Got a Feeling” from Black-Eyed Peas as it is clean but upbeat and recognizable for the students. We only got through the shapes today, but we will work on more next week!

Lesson #4: Persuasive Essays

On November 18, I switched gears and taught about writing! I was excited for a completely new topic. We created movement based on writing persuasive essays. At the start, I had them raise their right hand to the square and promise to be focused today because it was a bit of a tougher lesson to understand and I wanted them to get it. We warmed up by “writing” our names with our bodies. I let them move around the room and write their bodies however they wanted, on the floor with a finger, in the air with an elbow or a foot, by making the shape of the letter with their body, anything! After they had figured out how they wanted to write their names, I split the class in half and had them watch each other and say something they saw and liked. 

Last lesson the class had been a bit chatty and I didn't want them to think that they could get away with that, so I told myself I would be more patient in waiting for them to be quiet before I continued. I have also been working on moving around the room and among the students when I speak instead of always at the front of the room. As I focused on this, their attention was better and I had less chatting. I am planning on continuing this in my future teaching. I also used proximity to quiet a talkative student. I continued to speak, but came close to this student until they got the idea and were quiet. I also had been studying their names a bit more so I was able to use a few names during class, but I am still working on it! It is amazing how much using a name really helps! One particularly chatty boy was focused the rest of class after I used his name when asking him to focus. 

I mentioned how movement is a lot like writing. We have moves that represent words, multiple moves to represent phrases and sentences, and a whole dance to represent a whole story. We then talked about the format and organization of a persuasive essay. Mrs. Washburn had told me that she teaches them this using the acronym OREO, spelling the cookie. It stands for Opinion, Reason, Example, and back to Opinion. She hadn't gone over it yet in class, so hopefully it gave them a precursor of what they are going to learn about. I likened this format to how choreography is created. I showed them and we then tried a move to represent each letter of A, B, C, and D and how the order of these letters is infinite. I found that they got a bit confused using both A, B, C, D and OREO. I should have just stuck with the OREO letters. However, they eventually understood what I meant. I had them split into groups and come up with their own moves for each letter, just like how we had done as a class. After a few minutes, we again split the class in half and watched each other.

Next, we discussed the writing process, which goes from prewriting to drafting, drafting to revision, revision to editing, and editing to publishing. I told them we would use the phrases they had drafted and were now going to revise, edit, and publish them. For revision, they got with their groups and made their movement more interesting by using levels, changing tempo, or body parts. After they did this, their next step was to edit. Just like editing in writing often includes the feedback of others, they got with another group, showed each other their movement, and the other group helped them make their movement more interesting. They could choose to either take the feedback or not. Lastly, when they were ready, we “published” their movement by performing it for each other. I was very impressed by the creativity and originality of their performances! My hope is that they will connect this process to everything and realize there is always room for improvement in whatever it may be: writing or dancing. 

We had bit of extra time, so I quickly went over some energy qualities of moving such as sustained, percussive, vibratory, heavy, etc. Since they are 5^th graders, I let them guess what they thought the quality was and most of the time they were right. I don't want to always just give them the answer. I then told them to individually create an A, B, C, D pattern that convinces me on the “best” way to move, or their favorite energy quality. They were to persuade us that it was the best way to move. They first danced the quality, then gave us a reason why, next an example of something that moves this way, and last they repeated their opinion. We didn't have time for everyone to show, so I chose 4 volunteers who danced as well as talked out loud their persuasive dance. Wish we would have had more time for this, but they had fun with it. 

In the end, I reminded them that the process we went through of prewriting, drafting, revision, editing, and publishing is a never-ending cycle. There is always something more to write about and there is always something more to dance about!

Lesson #2: Animal Adaptations

We started out our second lesson reviewing rules, our three body shapes, and heredity terms. We continued to talk about heredity, but focused on animals and their adaptations. Warmed up by doing axial (staying in one place) and locomotor (moving around the room) movement. I then gave them criteria: axial and low and fast or locomotor, high, slow, etc. I tried lots of combinations and tried my best to just keep them moving so they would not get bored. Older kids get bored quicker, so it is important to keep the activities going. I then related it back to animals by asking them if they could give me an example of an animal that moves in this way. They were quick to respond. I found out during this lesson, how much they love sound effects! No matter what combination of movement I gave them, they found some animal or sound effect that would go with it. I will have to try implementing these more into my lessons to let them use their voices more. We discussed animals, their adaptations, their environments, and what those adaptations help them to do.

Beforehand, I had created notecards with a different environment written on each card. I showed them to the students and had them say them out loud and then placed them on the stairs where they students could see. I had also created cards with an animal written on each so that there were 5 animals that went into each environment category. The students helped me organize the animals to their correct environment. Mrs. Washburn and I passed out an animal card to each student. I told them that each corner of the room represented a different environment. They got in a long line, and one by one, to the beat of my drum, they ran to their designated corner and created a shape. If they got to a corner with a person already there, they had to create a shape with the people there. They could not create their own shape, but a group shape. They all made a lot of line shapes, all connected by arms or legs. I think I will incorporate some new ways to balance and weight bear in my next lessons so they can start to think more creatively in their group shapes. 

Next, I had the students listen to a sound effect I had found beforehand that represented each environment. I had them go across the floor like the animal that was written on their notecard only when they heard the correct sound. I wanted them to have to pay attention and decipher when they could cross the floor without me just telling them to help with listening skills. They did a pretty good job. 

Last, was their performance and creative portion. They got into groups of 4, chose an animal, figured out it's environment, and then came up with movement to show the animal first, and then it's environment. I urged them to not just act out the animal but to think about what it does or its qualities. Then they were to show us the environment by what's in it or by how it might make you feel. Their performances were quite good! Again, I am going to try to implement more focus on abstraction in future lessons, but with the directions I gave them, they did a good job! It was a really fun lesson today!

Lesson #3: Life Cycles

Had my third lesson on November 11th. We started out reviewing what we went over last week. Then we continued to talk about animals, but focused on life cycles for this lesson. We discussed how some animals, such as mammals, look the same from birth to adulthood. Other than getting larger, they have the same body shape. We also discussed animals that look different from birth to adulthood, such as a frog who starts as an egg, grows to a tadpole, and then becomes a frog. We played with low, medium, and high levels and used these levels to represent the period of life an animal was in: low for a baby, middle for a “teenager”, and high for an adult. They shadowed and copied each other, one on the ground as the baby animal, and one standing as the adult to represent an animal that looks the same from birth to adulthood. We then went across the floor showing animals who look different in each stage of life. For example, for the first 1/3 of the floor, we went across like an egg. The next 1/3 like a tadpole, and the last 1/3 like a frog. For the creating portion, they got into groups of 3 and chose two animals, one that looks the same throughout their life, and one that changes. They used levels to show what each animal looked like during different stages. They did a pretty good job on their performances. 

Next time, I hope to be more clear on my directions. Some groups really got the directions, and others were confused. I also want to help them focus on the qualities of an animal rather than just acting out an animal. I was hoping to get to discussing it this time, but I ran out of time. By the time they leave my class, I want them to realize that dance is not just “acting out” or pretending to be an animal or something you're not. Role playing is great but is not always dance. I want to boost their creativity as well as their understanding of their core curriculum.

Lesson #1!... Heredity

On Monday, October 28, I had my first lesson for ArtsBridge! I was a bit nervous, but it went pretty well! I have a class of about 25 fifth graders. I am lucky enough to get to use the gym and have a whole hour for my lessons! We went over rules first, and I told them why I was here. I told them that we were going to learn their curriculum through movement. Though it sounded weird, I was going to show them how. I showed them my drum and how I will use it in class. I then began my lesson I had planned on heredity. I used what the teacher I work with, Mrs. Washburn, suggested, as well as the Utah core curriculum for fifth graders on the UEN website. They had never had a dance class before so I started with the very basics. They were hesitant to move at first, but they loved it by the end!

We warmed up by moving all of our body parts in as many ways as we could think of: slow, fast, high, low, etc. Then we talked about shapes. And not circle, triangle, square shapes, but body shapes. We discussed three different kinds of shapes: curved, angular, and twisted. We then used shapes to show how genes are passed down from parent to offspring. We soon began moving the shapes around the room to get them moving more. We then helped each other change our shapes, as we don't inherit every characteristic from our parents. We tried a long chain as a class and “passed down” the trait through generations using a shape through all the students. As always, I have a performance or creative part of my lesson near the end. They got in groups and showed how traits are passed down. They asked to use the stage for their performances, so I let them, and they seemed to really enjoy showing their peers what they had come up with. I think I will continue to use the stage as long as it is available. In the end, we reviewed what we had learned. I hope that they walked out with even a little better understanding of heredity than they walked in with. 

They are a great class, very eager to move! They are also very chatty so it is good for me to learn how to deal with this in the quickest and most efficient way possible. I hope to get their names down as soon as possible as well, as this helps with management. Mrs. Washburn, their teacher, is wonderful to work with! She is always there, engaged, and has taken lots of pictures for me! I hope she is learning as much as I am with this project! I already have some ideas for the next few weeks and I am excited for what they can bring!