You probably know by now that I’m not much of a dancer. Despite 8 years of classical ballet training I don’t have much of a sense of rhythm nor do my limbs seem to coordinate themselves particularly gracefully.
I’d really love to be a PE teacher, but one of the things that makes me apprehensive about following this dream is that I’d have to teach dance. I managed to get through PE dance lessons by hiding in the back, but that’s not an option when I’m the one teaching it!
Aiming to solve this problem, I went on a hunt and found this great resource about teaching dance in PE:
SPARK PE’s Tips for Teaching Dance in PE
I LOVE that the first thing they say is to start small. That’s manageable. I can do that. I even already know the Pata Pata (thanks Ms. DL & the grade 1s!)
I also love all the ways they integrate media and pop culture into their suggestions. I know that as a child I was always more excited to do something when there was a video or multimedia component to it; hopefully this is still the case for today’s kids.
This week’s dance lesson was a great example of how to “hand the heavy lifting” over to your students. While the teachers demonstrated the steps, they weren’t in front the whole time, which handed the responsibility over to us but also took them out of the spotlight, which is key for me if I were to teach dance. I loved the way the iPads were integrated into the lesson, and I think this would be awesome for a whole unit for students to see their progress from the first time they tried the dance to the end of the unit.
Thanks to this week’s teachers!
Hi Ally,
Thanks for sharing “SPARK PE’s Tips for Teaching Dance in PE.” I think it will be an excellent resource for me to teach in a Grade 2 class because they all love dancing. I love music, but I don’t like to dance because I am not confident in my dancing skills(?). However, I enjoyed our dancing class because our instructors always danced with us and used friendly instruction words to motivate us.
Also, I agree with your suggestion that it is better to start small. One of the most important things I have learned from my two-week practicum is that a simple lesson plan is better than a complicated lesson plan.
Particularly for young students, I think it is better to start small and work to motivate them. I think using an iPad in a teaching will be an excellent tool to motivate students.