Shana Jeter Gladys Keeton Form and Meaning in Childrens Dance December 9, 2013 Lesson Reflections My lesson plan

that needs the most improvement was the very first lesson plan of the unit. My lect-dem lesson plan was a shot in the dark. It was suppose to cover pathways and space along with a short choreographed dance. I did not cover all the material, there was a large error in predicting the amount of time needed for the lesson. By the end of the lesson the students really only knew the dance movements and not the dance concepts. This lesson was meant as a small glimpse into what the next two lessons would contain. The major components of the lesson were to learn a dance, perform dance in separate groups, both groups would discuss what they saw, the vocabulary words and concepts would be introduced, dance performed again focusing on these two ideas several times then the lesson would conclude with a similarity/differences discussion lead by the teacher. While I met my goal of keeping the students engaged I did not fully cover and complete all objectives. This lesson could have been modified for the large group that I had in that I focus only on one concept instead of two. I also now know to plan for calming down time getting that many kids to refocus and not run around I a gym takes more time than I thought. I could plan the lesson differently when I was going to have a longer time with the students to explore the concepts more fully. For example, allowing the children to create their own movement in a chosen pathway or a specified amount of space. In the analysis portion of this lesson reflection I believe I assumed the children knew their four basic directions front, back, left and right. I believe I used some correct instructional strategies because they were engaged most of the lesson. I tended to rush through

whatever I was explaining so there would be more time for actual movement. That was related to the time issue. I believe with a smaller group, more time and a reorganization of my preparational steps I would have achieved more of my objectives. In terms of feeling successful with my lesson, I saw that keeping the students moving was beneficial to them staying engaged and focused. Having them perform the short dance as often as was needed for memory sake interrupted the chance to discuss what we were doing. I believe that while my assumption of their basic direction knowledge was accurate it would have been helpful to go over directions prior to teaching the movements. Also, I could refresh their memories of the different directions when speaking about pathways. Using this first lesson as a stepping stone, I will absolutely grow from it and use my time, as well as manage it, much more wisely. While a lot of this lesson did not even get taught, I believe the idea to keep students moving and to use all of my minute (a grand total of about 7 for this one) wisely will be something I continue to do with other lessons. In the context of future curriculum, the next lesson might have been supplemented this particular lesson by bringing back the movement that was taught and encouraging a further exploration of the two concepts I originally wanted to tackle. In regards to my most creative lesson plan, it was actually a happy surprise. I planned on explaining and exploring the beginning, middle and end of poems and relating that to the dancemaking process. My objectives were met and the children really enjoyed the poem and dance making. We even had time to discuss the ABA form of the poem and create a dance with that concept as well. Relating this lesson to another core subject was important to me. The students were excited to tell me what they knew about a subject that was not dance, in this case language arts. This engaged them and they liked listening to me read the poem a few times. In previous lessons we discussed weight shifts, pathways and spatial use. This lesson was meant as a choreography class and an encourager to remember and use the concepts previously discussed.

We read the poem, discussed what it was about and if we noticed anything special, we then broke up into groups and made a dance using the concept of beginning, middle, and end as well as ABA repetition. These major components of the lesson ultimately achieved all my goals and then some. Even though this lesson was heavy in recalling all previous concepts, the idea of dance making was new. I planned on using a similar lesson plan later in the unit since the kids had a performance coming up. I enjoyed seeing the light bulbs go off as the kids remembered and recognized that they were using pathways and different level changes in their made up choreography. While there is always room to improve I believe the kids being excited and learning what I intended them to makes this lesson plan a success. Looking at my teaching patterns, I saw a difference in having a tangible visual aid with me. Usually I had only music. This shook things up and grabbed the kids attention. I did not see a pattern in my pacing or grouping however. As for my teaching abilities, I wish to improve on my knowledge of timing. I feel very unsure of myself in that area and I want to feel more comfortable when planning activities. I had a broad end goal for this particular unit the students will perform weight shifts in a choreographed and improvisational performance the students have created. My future teaching will have a more refined goal. I want to know more about childrens background knowledge when planning a lesson also. I feel that will make me a better teacher and help me connect with them on understanding the content. My strengths as a teacher are my enthusiasm and passion for children as well as my patience and command over a classroom. Using that to my advantage and practicing my timing as well as doing more research on the background knowledge or skills students have will aid in making my lesson plans even more successful. I enjoyed this process and the kids. I look forward to the next time.