Conference Attendance
-Utah Dance Education Organization (UDEO) in Provo, Fall 2008 and Winter 2012
-dance and the Child international, Utah chapter (daCi) in Provo, Winter 2012
-dance and the Child international (daCi) in Texas, Summer 2011
-Student Dance Education Organization (SDEO) in Provo, Fall 2010
-National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) in Arizona, Fall 2010
I enjoy the sense of competency that I get from attending workshops, keynote addresses and breakout sessions. Instead of becoming intimidated by my lack of experience, I always come away with exciting lesson plans and creative ideas. I'm looking forward to presenting at the NDEO conference in California this coming fall!
Reflection and Self-Evaluation
From Section 7 of my Teacher Work Sample
- Interpretation of Student Learning
Some students seem apathetic towards Dance 1. It seems as though they signed up for the class in order to get an “easy A.” I can combat apathy by forming deeper, appropriate relationships with these students. As I show them how much I care, they will rise to my expectations more willingly. Lack of success is also due to unclear expectations. With some activities, I was much less clear than I thought I was. I need to constantly remind myself that many of these students have never danced before, so my language must be simple and easy to understand.
Successful learning activities were those that I was excited about. Students can tell when I am unsure of myself. They are much more willing to learn when I am confident and excited about the tasks we work on in class.
- Insights on Effective Instruction and Assessment
- Unsuccessful: The bellwork for “range” was my least successful activity so far. Students were asked to respond to a quote by Charles dickens, and even after explaining the meaning of it, the quote did not make sense to most students. The main problem was the abstract nature of the activity. Because students had little/no previous experience with range, the quote did not make sense to them. This activity would have been more effective later in the semester.
- Successful: One of the most successful activities was allowing each group to perform their composition for the other groups. Because it was their first time performing, many students had impactful experiences. The success of this activity came when the audience was respectful and the performers were focused. When everyone was thinking about the same movement, the class was unified and interested in what was going on.
- Implications for Future Teaching
In the future, I hope to include the following ideas in order to redesign my instruction and make it more effective:
- Show more videos-This is a good way to motivate students to move well. It also exposes them to excellence in the art form.
- Take the approach of challenging students-Whether material is challenging for most students, or a select few, making it seem challenging will intrigue students and give them reason to meet my expectations.
- More formative assessment-The formative assessments I used during this unit were immensely helpful in improving student performance. Continuing to find a variety of ways to formatively assess learning will be beneficial to students.
- Implications for Personal Professional Improvement
I have been thinking a lot recently about John Goodlad’s conclusion that all good teachers possess 2 things: a love of their subject and a love of their students. Here are some activities I hope to engage in to improve my teaching performance at the very core.
- Love of subject matter:
- Teach one thing that I love every day. This could be as simple as a handstand, or as complex as the ability to sense the weight of another person as s/he lets you carry her/him. It could also be conceptual or theory-driven. But I am sure that I will enjoy myself more, and my students will enjoy class more if I teach about things I love often.
- Take dance classes of any genre outside of school. It is rejuvenating and exciting to learn movement that was not created by myself. This will also bring more variety into my classroom.
- Love of students:
- Know and use names often. Aim to use every student’s name at least once per week. Students need to feel that I care about them. This goal can be helped by studying the picture roll list.
- Recognize the goodness of each student. Keep a separate roll sheet to take notes on affirmative behavior after every class. Know what students are involved in outside of the dance studio. Make note of qualities such as willingness to ask questions, well-organized notes, etc.
- Have positive contact with parents. Send an occasional email to tell parents about their student’s success. When emailing parents about poor attendance or grades, be sure to include compliments to the student as well. Have a concerned, caring voice anytime interaction happens with parents.
These activities may seem like a hassle at first, but hopefully they will grow
into habits that I look forward to. If I do these activities over time, they will
make me a better teacher, and my students, therefore, will be more
likely to learn valuable life skills in my classroom.
