Reflection Three: Year 6 Incursion and Workshop from a Dance Academy

 

Reporting

During my latest practicum at ABC Co-educational School in Perth’s northern suburbs, I experienced a dance workshop and incursion from an external dance academy. The incursion consisted of an initial 30-minute showcase of performances by the experienced, adolescent dancers at the academy -comprised of various genres- followed by a 40-minute active dance workshop for the Year 6 students. During the workshop, the academy’s head dance teacher Mrs C taught the Year 6 students some choreography from a striking routine they had just viewed. 60 children participated in the workshop which was entirely run by the dance academy’s senior dance teachers and student dancers. Staff from ABC school were invited to participate in the workshop and together, staff and students danced in organised dancers’ lines as a large group and learned the choreography taught by the academy dancers. All children from the co-educational ABC school participated enthusiastically and happily.

 

Responding

When I first heard about the planned dance incursion from the academy, I was sure that at least half of the school (namely the boys) would not be interested at all. I was even more certain that the school children would be self-conscious and reluctant to dance during the interactive workshop. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that all children enjoyed the performance and the workshop, and appeared to fully participate with engagement and effort. The boys in particular had an enjoyable time, and almost all students demonstrated and memorised the choreography correctly. The experience made me question why I had pre-conceived notions that both watching and doing dance would be boring? Why had I internally labelled dance as a non-male activity? Why did I assume that the children would be self-conscious and reluctant to participate in the workshop?

 

Relating

In attempt to answer the question of why some children don’t want to participate in physical education, Martens (1996) states that children’s success and participation in PE hinges upon adequate teacher modelling, a sense of self-worth and enjoyment. As such Mrs C from the academy incorporated all of these principles in her dance session to achieve the result of all children participating and enjoying the session. Bruner’s (1990) notion of scaffolding and gradually releasing the responsibility of learning to students is a principle which is ingrained in good education, and supporting this notion of guided teaching is Rink and Hall’s (2008) view that successful physical education lessons work towards an achievable objective for learners.

Interestingly, despite some stereotypes concerning boys and their aversion to dance, Gallas (1994) states that many children naturally enjoy dance as a means of self-expression. Both Gallas (1994), and Subramanium and Silvermen (2007) argue that dance is both physical and artistic, and as such many boys will naturally feel at ease doing dance because of the general physical nature of dance. As such, the idea that dancing is effeminate and therefore unmanly is one which is shaped by social pressures and cultural contexts (Francis & Skelton, 2005), and these are factors which did not appear to influence the boys in the Year 6 dance workshop (Francis & Skelton, 2005). Additionally, Solmon and Carter (1995) argue that most students will feel comfortable with trying something physically new if the teacher or instructor creates a comfortable, judgement-free environment for the learners. This will foster the students’ positive attitudes towards the subject being taught and will therefore make participation and enjoyment a more likely result (Solmon & Carter, 1995). As such, this occurred in Mrs C’s lesson and explains why all children were engaged and willing to attempt the dance activity.

 

Reasoning

Upon reflecting on Mrs C’s dance incursion workshop, I now see that a very experienced teaching approach and method underpinned her lesson, which led to all students participating and a successful lesson overall. I previously thought that children from a non-dance background would not be interested nor confident in their abilities to participate in a dance activity, however Mrs C delivered a series of demonstrations and explanations which gradually released the responsibly to the students.  Mrs C presented content in a step-by-step method and taught the children a piece of choreography which was achievable and possible for all students to learn. By adding in music by the end of the session, the finished dance looked impressive, and the students all enjoyed feeling like they were engaged in an authentic dance activity. I now see that Mrs C strategically placed the students into organised lines and deliberately taught the whole group of 60 children altogether, at one time to allow all children to feel safe and confident to dance in a large group as opposed to singling-out students to perform in a judgement-filled, high-pressure environment. Such spatial management of the group and supportive, guided teaching worked together to encourage all students -including boys who would stereotypically be unimpressed and embarrassed by dancing- to participate and enjoy the experience of dancing.

 

Reconstructing

In my future teaching of any subject, I will always remember that difficult content can be broken into smaller, more manageable parts for ease of learning. Mrs C’s example of scaffolding and breaking the complicated choreography into a series of steps helped all students feel confident and able to participate, and I will aim to do the same when I become a teacher and I sense that a task is daunting or challenging for the students. I will also remember that sometimes students surprise us with what they are interested in, so it is therefore important not to generalise or categorise students. Perhaps the football-fanatic boy will also enjoy a lesson on contemporary dance if invited to do so, ergo it is our role as teachers to provide all students with opportunities to try new sports and activities which they may not otherwise seek out.

 

 

References

 

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2016, August 15). Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/health-and-physical-education/curriculum/f-10?layout=1

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Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of Meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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Francis, B., & Skelton, C. (2005). Reassessing gender and achievement. London: Routledge Falmer.

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Gallas, K. (1994). The Languages of Learning: How Children Talk, Write, Dance, Draw, and Sing Their Understanding of the World. New York: Teacher's College Press.

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Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

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Jenkinson, K., & Benson, A. (2010). Barriers to providing physical education and physical activity in victorian state secondary schools. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 35(8), 1-18.

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Martens, R. (1996). Turning kids onto physical activity for a lifetime. Quest, 48(3), 303-310.

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Morgan, P., & Hansen, V. (2007). Recommendations to improve primary school physical education: Classroom teacher's perspective. The Journal of Educational Research, 99-111.

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Petrie, K. (2010). Creating confident, motivated teachers of physical education in primary schools. European Physical Education Review, 16(1), 47-64.

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Rink, J., & Hall, T. (2008). Research on effective teaching in elementary school education. The Elementary School Journal, 108(3), 207-218.

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Seligman, M. (1992). Helplessness: On depression, development and death. New York: W.H. Freeman.

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Solmon, M., & Carter, J. (1995). Kindergarten and first grade students' perceptions of physical education in one teacher's classes. Elementary School Journal, 95(32), 355-365.

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Subramanium, P., & Silvermen, S. (2007). Middle school students; attitudes toward physical education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23(7), 602-611.

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Sutherland, K., & Singh, N. (2004). Learned helplessness and students with EBD: Deprivation in the classroom. Behavioural Disorders, 29(2), 169-81.