This week was the dance lesson that Cheryl, Jessica, Rebecca, and I. I found the project of creating a dance lesson both fun and difficult. As someone who loves to dance but also experiences the nervousness of performing improv, I knew it was going to be a challenge to stand in front of the class and teach this lesson. Overall, I believe that things went well!

For our opening activity we did a popcorn activity! This is such as simple, fun activity that I believe students at a variety of ages would appreciate. However, I was thinking, what if you really hate to dance? I wonder if, when this activity would be done in the older grades, would there be students who don’t want to participate for fear of being judged? This game would require a classroom culture that is inclusive and supportive of others so that no one feels nervous to perform their own dance moves with the class.

For our main activity we chose to teach “Watch Me” to the entire group. We did this first by teaching different animal moves and the chorus moves in a fun game. This part of the activity did not go as well as I would have hoped. For next time, I would like to modify this game so that the participants are not running towards each other while doing the actions because I feel that it provided the risk of students being hurt if they were to run into each other. Besides this setback, I really enjoyed the energy everyone brought to the dance off and I believe I would be capable of teaching this lesson. Not only that, I feel that the lesson would be easily modified for a variety of different age groups.

Lastly, standing in a circle for stretching was a great idea that I stole from the gymnastic group before us. I thought this was a great idea and way more appropriate than just standing in front of the group because it allows the teacher to see everyone’s eyes and make sure that everyone is performing the movements. By stretching in a big circle, there is a less chance that someone shorter will miss out on the stretching movement because they don’t want to participate or because they can’t see what is happening at the front of the gym.