Abstract:
Students use dance to enhance their study of poetry in this video.
This video podcast, featuring Andre Gravelijn and Grade 1 and 2 students, was developed by Curriculum Services Canada. Students use dance to enhance their study of poetry.
13:14 in length.
One thing I noticed during this lesson was how students integrated the success criteria into their dance/movement routines. Student has already begun to explore movement and create a routine in small groups. The teacher paused the activity, co-created success criteria with students by drawing from prior knowledge acquired from a previous lesson, and then allowed students to continue developing their dance routine. Immediately, student reflected on the success criteria and incorporated movements and positions that introduced different levels and space into their routine. I enjoyed watching this because it demonstrated that students were capable of reflecting on their own work and making changes to their routines in order to create a "better" product. I also enjoyed seeing the teacher providing students with descriptive feedback while they were developing their routines. This afforded students an opportunity to learn about how they could improve their routine before sharing with the rest of the class. - commentary from a pre-service candidate
I really liked the activities in this video, as they were all very inclusive and inviting. Students explored different body movements through an "Express Dance", where they each demonstrated a movement that the rest of the class then did altogether in a circle (the circle formation makes everything more inclusive since every student is visible). I think that this activity made students who were nervous to move their bodies much more comfortable and it was also a quick activity that relieved a lot of pressure for students. I think that I would definitely try this activity in a classroom for either Drama or Dance since it introduces students to movement and the different ways that they can move their bodies to show expression. - commentary from a pre-service candidate
I love how this video utilized movement as a way of showing specific terms as they relate to poetry; I think this is a great method for interweaving literacy with dance and allowing students to both independently and collaboratively represent their ideas using movement. I also really like how much collaboration was emphasized in terms of having students co-create success criteria for their dances as a way of putting students in charge of their own learning and having them self-guide and self-monitor. Another thing I really enjoyed was how the teacher made all the students comfortable with creating dances with one another, especially with the use of negative space so that students wouldn't necessarily have to be in close contact. I think this was an excellent way of being sensitive to cultural differences and varying levels of comfort. - commentary from a pre-service candidate