The Kindergarten students enjoyed the
lesson thoroughly. This enjoyment was demonstrated through laughing, smiles,
creativity, and enthusiasm. Although they have had very little experience
with creative dance, they caught on quickly to the progression of the
lesson. Surprisingly, all but two students knew how to skip and gallop and
they appeared to be developmentally advanced in their gross-motor abilities
for Kindergarten students in the first term.
The first lesson was
designed to work on the children’s ability to move safely in both general
and personal space, move in time to a steady beat, and move in a variety of
levels and pathways. Ask a class, we progressed quickly through the task
progression because the children met the objectives of the lesson through
spatial awareness, beat, and gross motor abilities (moving in a variety of
levels and pathways). Therefore, in the thirty-minute block, we were able to
progress through the first two lessons.
Once I established that
the students did not need as much guidance and practice to meet the
objectives of the first lesson, I was most eager to observe the students in
lesson two. Here, the students practiced moving as if they did not want to
be seen. With some modeling, we practiced moving on our tiptoes, on all
fours, up high, and down low. The students were successful at ‘sneaking’
when prompted. However, they did not demonstrate a diversity of movement
between each child. Quite typical of Kindergarteners, they each wanted to do
as I did, so we spent a considerable amount of time working on “thinking of
our own” sneaks.
After
working with the image of sneaking, we worked extensively with the idea of
hiding behind, beside, and under. “What will you hide under?”
I asked. The children came up with a variety of answers, suggesting a table,
door, rug, bed, and a person. We practiced each shape, and were able to
refine our shapes so that the observer could guess what we were hiding
behind, under or beside. Similar to the “sneak”, I found that the children
needed extra guidance with the idea of “choosing their own” to hide under.
So, we played a game that required us to try to come up with something new
to hide under. “What is ___ hiding under?” I asked, and they eagerly came up
with different places to hide that were different from their peers.
For the
culminating activity, we watched half of the class sneak for 7 and freeze on
8. We then guessed what each student was hiding under. Because I have never
worked with these particular students, I reinforced what a “good audience”
does to ensure that the performance ran smoothly. Quite clearly, the teacher
had worked extensively with the students with listening and watching, and
the performance was successful. Each child eagerly performed and attentively
watched. Overall, a great success!
Click HERE
for Ali's peer teaching reflection
Click
HERE for Scott's peer teaching reflection
