Week 1 Day 7
My blog, vlog, Fund for Teachers Passport and my Twitter feed, contain reflections from over the summer, as I became a student again. Spending three weeks at Lincoln Center, as well the National Dance Institute, where I worked as a teaching artist alongside 19 other teacher/artists and danced daily as I had not done so in several years. It was hard work but it gave me a sense of what is important in my teaching practice.
Thanks for your initial responses. I’m still looking forward to the documents you said you were going to forward last week. Please also include the “original study outline” you referenced in your response below. Also, I was surprised that I didn’t read anything about your experiences in NYC this past year/summer—those seemed quite important to you and want to make sure that your excitement about those learning experiences make their way into your Essay.
The links above contain reflections from over the summer, as I became a student again. Spending three weeks at Lincoln Center, as well the National Dance Institute, where I worked as a teaching artist alongside 19 other teacher/artists and danced daily as I had not done so in several years renewed my faith in rigorous standards for myself. It was hard work but it gave me a sense of what is important in my teaching practice.
This semester will be a time to reflect on my learning as it relates to the summer intensive at National Dance Institute and the Lincoln Center Forum for Aesthetic Education in New York City. It was a time of regaining my artistic voice in a way that seemed impossible before leaving for the fellowship. I have not been taking regular dance technique class for a while. Even so, this workshop showed me that stepping outside of my comfort zone is one of the ways I can achieve growth mindset. Attached is the vlog from this week's first thoughts about school and my work
As I begin the work on my essay, I am ready to look at my life, my work, and my experiences as an outside observer, removing any judgement and resolving to keep a growth mindset, as I progress through my writing. An essay, being taken from the point of view from an individual, will be biased in some ways, beyond what can be justified, but it is critical from the perspective of a working teacher.
Anxiety is my friend as it is often part of students' lives as well. And reflecting on my calm demeanor on the first day of Kindergarten dance classes, made me wonder why. That has continued and my feelings, instead of intensifying, have become more stable and concrete. Here is what I hope to learn from this personal journey. I am not certain if these are concrete enough, and not certain if the shape of the essay can be shaped after I explore the immediacy of my daily work, or if that is a coward's way out; that I need to decide and deal with an idea and follow its path.
This all started as a wondering; what are the ways imagination holds students to more rigorous standards when they are in the flow of process? My summer process gave me a chance to hold myself to more rigorous standards. I was challenged by the way classes were structured, and learned how to hold students accountable. At the same time my life expanded because of the chance to see dance by others. My work has been changed by not being safe.
Imaginative thought and rigor will be examined in a side by side comparison as I investigate in what ways one influences the other. If imaginative play is instituted in the classroom, what opportunities do they find to create new ways of solving problems and making personal artistic choices? It will be exciting to give students choices that are playful and imaginative choices in creative dance, to see how it sustains the work throughout the year. Even though this is the way I have conducted classes for the past 13 years, one of my outcomes needs to be extracting data that can give me a sense of what is working. I also to investigate how those elements which drive me creatively (writing, choreographing, drawing, etc.) sustain me in my work as a teacher, and it helps me build a sustainable curriculum. What ways does my process lend itself to imaginative play and learning? Why does artistry seem to wane when I am working on scaffolding information concerning dance concepts, with students? Are there ways that I can accelerate my own learning that can be replicated for students, though differentiated? What about kids who say, "I don't like dance?" What are some methods which involve students in the learning and planning process?
My initial title, which most likely will change is, A Year of Imaginative Learning; What Happens to Rigor When Playfulness is Emphasized in the Creative Dance Classroom.
This semester will be a time to reflect on my learning as it relates to the summer intensive at National Dance Institute in New York City. It was a time of regaining my artistic voice in a way that seemed impossible before leaving for the fellowship. I have not been taking regular dance technique class for a while. Even so, this workshop showed me that stepping outside of my comfort zone is one of the ways I can achieve growth mindset.
Anxiety is my friend as it is often part of students' lives as well. And reflecting on my calm demeanor on the first day of Kindergarten dance classes, made me wonder why. That has continued and my feelings, instead of intensifying, have become more stable and concrete. Here is what I hope to learn from this personal journey. I am not certain if these are concrete enough, and not certain if the shape of the essay can be shaped after I explore the immediacy of my daily work, or if that is a coward's way out; that I need to decide and deal with an idea and follow its path.
My initial title, which most likely will change is, A Year of Imaginative Learning; What Happens to Rigor When Playfulness is Emphasized in the Creative Dance Classroom.