TEDE513-15 Assignment Two:

A rationale for planning decisions in implementing the primary curriculum in Social

Studies or The Arts.
Planning Process Considerations
When initially considering my series of Dance lessons I first turned to the
achievement objectives for level two students within the four strands of Dance;
understanding the arts in context (UC); developing practical knowledge (PK); developing
ideas (DI); communicating and interpreting (CI) (Ministry of Education (MOE), 2007). The
purpose was to establish a level of complexity of expectations as a baseline of achievement.
I then discussed my intentions and ideas with some school X teachers. These informal
discussions emphasized that practical dance knowledge tends not to be highlighted within
the schools curriculum. It was discussed that teachers are inclined to focus on the UC strand
through teaching folk dances or set pieces (Personal communication, Teacher M, April 20,
2015; Personal communication, Teacher K, April 22, 2015). From this, a decision was made
to establish a series of lessons that focused on the PK strand to increase students
knowledge of the dance elements, through activities that allowed students to explore DI and
CI strands. There was also an intention to introduce the UC strand in subsequent lessons.
I subsequently considered who the learners were, why the learners were attending
and what their expectations may be (Gough, 1999). Although I had some of this information, I
had limited information about students prior knowledge and understanding of dance and
limited time to establish this. Therefore I utilised teachers informal comments to establish a
starting point and incorporated a short prior knowledge activity to establish a baseline, which
enabled flexibility to expand or contract the lessons depending on the outcomes of this
activity (Gough, 1999).
Using the gathered information, I recognised the achievement objectives and

established lesson aims and specific learning objectives for each lesson. The intention is
initially to determine purpose and expectations of achievement for each lesson and across
lessons. The lesson aims and learning intentions aided the framework of lesson content and
structure. The lessons were designed as progressional, reinforcing the previous elements
explored, while also discovering new elements (Dunkin, 2006). My dance lessons followed a
lesson structure as recommended by Gough (1999) and Brehm and McNett (2008). Brehm
and McNett (2008) highlights five stages: introduction of concept; warm up; exploration;
culminating form; closure. Within the exploration and culminating form stages of the lesson,
Gough (1999) emphasises a dance as art model where students compose, perform and
show, where the emphasis is on the process and developing students as creative and
independent agents of their own learning. Consideration was also given to activities that aid
the development of students key competencies outlined in the curriculum; thinking; using
language, symbols and texts; managing self; relating to others; participating and contributing
(MOE, 2007).
Pedagogical Reflections
Insights Gained:
Rosen (June 4, 2014) highlights within Dance the need for children to gain ownership
of the process of creativity, through individual or co-operative means and in a safe learning
environment. He also argues that students need to have meaning beyond the process,
where the work is purposeful and is to be shared with others (Rosen, June 4, 2014; Dunkin,
2006). I took a similar approach with my lesson plans, although initially taking a narrower,
teacher directed approach to ease students into a self-directed learning process (Gough,
1999). This learner-centred approach to teaching dance is concentrated around a
constructivist and socio-cultural learning theory perspective (Bourke, & St. George, 2008;
Prater, 2001). The constructivist approach within my Dance lesson plans assumes that
learners bring prior knowledge and understandings of the topic to the lesson (Pritchard,

2013). This was demonstrated within my lesson planning and pedagogy through purposely
asking students to define the rules of the games, asking students to define key concepts to
gage prior knowledge and allowing flexibility of activities where students can build on their
prior knowledge and extend their understanding. The sociocultural approach to my dance
lesson plans are focused on learning as a social activity, where students were provided
opportunities to interact and participate through a variety of relations and contexts (Bourke &
St. George, 2008; Dunkin, 2006). These interactions included whole class activities, small
groups, peer and individual exercises, where students could explore and experiment with the
dance elements together.
Factors Considered:
Attention was given to the use of a mix of appropriate music, some without lyrics and
some music familiar to students (Brehm & McNett, 2008). The intention was to expose
students to a range of experiences, while also providing familiarity to aid students confidence
in experimenting with unfamiliar territory of movement (Brehm & McNett, 2008, p. 124).
Music was carefully chosen based on tempo, lyrics and beats to match the activity and get
the students hooked on dance, excited and enjoying the process. In reflection this could have
been a reason for some students behavioural issues.
Conscious decisions were made to ensure the learning environment was safe and
inclusive, where activities were devised to meet all students affective, cognitive and
psychomotor domains (Block & Johnson, 2011; Dunkin, 2006). I found this difficult to achieve
within a single lesson and had a number of incidents where students may have felt
uncomfortable or apprehensive, which brought a laughter response to theirs and others work.
Positive feedback was utilised as much as possible and the lessons were intended to move
quickly to decrease feelings of isolation or embarrassment when experimenting with the
movements (Block & Johnson, 2011; Brehm & McNett, 2008).

Although the scope of this assessment is restricted, a wide range of additional

considerations were made within the lesson planning, including: group arrangements; pace;
language; social factors; physical abilities and preconceptions (Brehm & McNett, 2008; Cone
& Cone, 2012)
My own teachers pedagogy was challenged within the realm of behaviour
management strategies. Previously, I believed that by controlling students behaviour you are
reducing students creativity and making them fit into a specific box of what is acceptable
within society. However through this experience I have realised that if behaviour is not
managed successfully, then limited learning occurs for the student and for other students due
to the teachers time and attention being focused on the behavioural difficulties (Personal
communication, Teacher K, May 7, 2015). The change of perspective emphasises the
importance of developing and considering inclusive behaviour management strategies that
create an effective learning environment, where all students are focused, learning and on
task, while still allowing opportunities for individual creativity and differences. I realised that
not all behaviour management strategies restrict students ability to be creative; instead
providing a creative and engaging environment for students to explore is possible with some
effective behaviour management strategies.
Future Planning Amendments
In reflection, the lessons were too segmented and focused on a single dance
element. I believe from the students performance and feedback they could have thrived with
more complexity, through potentially exploring two or more dance elements concurrently over
a couple of lessons. This may have provided more interesting, challenging and engaging
lessons for the students and may have reduced some of the behavioural difficulties (Gough,
1999). In addition to increased complexity, providing more specific parameters, structure and
guidance for activities to increase scaffolding towards increased freedom and independence
may be beneficial in future (Dunkin, 2006; Brehm & McNett, 2008). Additionally group sizes

may have been too large. In future, I would scaffold group work more progressively, starting
with more individual and peer activities and increase to small groups once group dynamics
have developed into a positive learning space (Brehm & McNett, 2008).
In reflection, I failed to put enough attention and understanding into the impact that
social factors have on influencing group dynamics and interactions and an appropriate way
to respond to this (Brehm & McNett, 2008). For example, I had my second dance lesson on
the day that a new male student arrived, which created a spiral of attention seeking and
show off behaviours from the male students. In future I need to have a greater awareness
and knowledge of the classroom dynamics and what happens when these dynamics are
disrupted by external circumstances. Additionally I need to be careful of compounding
disruptions to students comfort zone, and adapt lessons to meet students needs. Within this
increased understanding of social factors is an understanding of previous and current
teacher-student experiences. In future I would have a greater level of importance and
understanding of students experiences of ownership within their regular learning
environment and therefore adapt lessons for gradual transition of learning ownership to meet
the students needs (Gough, 1999). In future I would adopt slower progressions of ownership,
where I progressively provide less direction and students progressively gain more selfregulation over a longer period of time and lessons (Gough, 1999).
In future lessons I would like to experiment and try additional classroom management
strategies including, a loud squeaky toy to gain attention, cones to provide spatial boundaries
and increased awareness of what is happening within the room as feedback to adapt the
lesson appropriately. I would also like to try the use of only music that is unknown to students
and does not have lyrics, however creating familiarity is alternatives ways, such as relating
the movements and shapes to something that they know, such as sports players (Brehm &
McNett, 2008)
In conclusion my planning process followed an integrated sequence of curriculum

consideration, informal discussions and content structure. There were a number of

considerations made during the process in terms of teaching pedagogy and essential factors
to reflect on. In reflection on the lessons taught, there were a number of areas that had not
been given enough thought and therefore created conflict within the lessons. Consequently
adaptations have been considered and suggestions provided to guide future practices.

References
Block, B. A. & Johnson, P. V. (2011). The adapted dance process planning, partnering, and
performing. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 82(2), 16-23.
Bourke, R., & St. George, A. (2008b). Understanding learning through theory. In R. Bourke.,
A. Lawrence., A. McGee., J. ONeill & J. Curzon (Eds.). Talk about learning. Working
alongside teachers (pp. 1326). Auckland: Pearson Education.
Brehm, M. A. & McNett, L. (2008). Creative dance for learning: The kinaesthetic link. New
York, NY: Mc Graw Hill.
Cone, T. P. & Cone, S. L. (2012). Teaching children dance (3rd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human
Kinetics.
Dunkin, A. (2006). Dancing in your school: A guide for preschool and elementary school
teachers. Hightstown, NJ: Princeton Book Company.
Gough, M. (1999). Knowing dance: A guide for creative teaching. London, England: Dance
books.
Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum: For English-medium teaching
and learning in years 1-13. Wellington, NZ: Learning Media Limited.
Ministry of Education (n.d.). Elements of dance. Retrieved from
http://artsonline2.tki.org.nz/resources/planning/dance_elements_e.php
Prater, M. (2001). Constructivism and technology in art education. Art Education, 54(6), 4348.
Pritchard, A. (2013). Ways of learning: Learning theories and learning styles in the
classroom. Oxfordshire, England: Routledge.

Rosen, M. (June 4, 2014). How we teach the arts is as important as the fact we're doing it.
Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/zurich-schoolcompetition/teach-arts-michael-rosen-education-worthwhile-students