Citation: Dunning, Jennifer. “DANCE VIEW; The Simple Secret of Teaching Dance.” The New York Times, 15 Sept. 1991, https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/15/arts/dance-view-the-simple-secret-of-teaching-dance.html?searchResultPosition=1.

Katherine Dunham, creator of the Dunham technique, explains how dance is successfully taught. Rather than following the traditional rules where students are told to stand in front of the mirror and be separated into groups, she finds a more innovative approach to help her students learn.

Author Jennifer Dunning gives examples of how Dunham told students to turn away from the mirror, face one another, and to connect and dance together rather than being separate individuals. This experience gave students the ability to find an emotional connection with their peers and in their movements, rather than critiquing their bodies in the mirror and comparing themselves with other students throughout the whole class.

I will definitely incorporate this approach to learning when I go and teach the LREI lower schoolers. While I have been taught the more traditional way in my dance classes, I think it will be important to help students go beyond their boundaries and work with each other rather than separately.

Citation: Lahey, Jessica. “Playing Nicely With Others: Why Schools Teach Social Emotional Learning.” The New York Times, 4 Dec. 2014, https://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/04/playing-nicely-with-others-why-schools-teach-social-emotional-learning/?searchResultPosition=17.

Jessica Lahey writes about the importance of social emotional learning over traditional school subjects. The five areas include, self awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.

A good teacher emphasizes these principles as “students who lack social-emotional competencies become less connected to school over time.” While parents may be concerned that their children are not learning the necessities, learning about SEL is the primary foundation to help them succeed in school and beyond. Learning the five areas of SEL additionally creates a more comfortable learning environment for the teacher and the student, benefitting both slides.

While LREI implements SEL in their students’ learning, I will continue to do so by including the lower schoolers’ voices and opinions in our classes and asking them questions about what they should do in certain situations. I will do my best to create an environment where I am not solely teaching them, but where we are all learning together as one.

Citation: Terronez, Azul. “What Makes a Good Teacher Great?” Tedx Talks, 2 Feb. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrU6YJle6Q4.

Azul Terronez speaks in a Ted Talk about what makes a good teacher great. He explains that a great teacher shouldn’t take things too seriously, don’t get overwhelmed, to think like a kid but act like an adult, understand that they have a life outside of school, and teaching kids how to listen.

Azul explains that students want teachers to understand what goes on inside of their heads so teachers can understand their students better. Yet, at the same time students expect teachers to be calm, protect them, and to keep them safe. Oftentimes, teachers won’t be able to understand that kids have a certain way of communicating and how it is necessary to deeply listen to them.

As a student myself, I can relate to several of these areas of what makes a good teacher great. Additionally, as an older sister, I’ve realized that I haven’t successfully met these expectations as I am not the most chill and understanding person to her. However, after watching this video, I’ve come to realize the ways that children will successfully learn and connect with their teachers, and I hope to practice this as I go into my next six weeks as a teacher.

Citation: Steezy.Co. “How To Teach A Dance Routine – 5 Tips Every Choreographer Should Know.” STEEZY, 19 Jan. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nzO7n9MN3g

Steezy youtube channel breaks down and gives five tips to effectively teach a dance combination. These include teaching how not what, self assessment, playing the music ASAP rather than teaching the entire dance then hearing the music, utilizing the class video, prep the counts, sounds, and lyrics, and pace reasonably.

Several teachers will tend to miss some of these tips, yet they are critical to helping a student clearly understand what they are learning in a dance class. As steezy mentioned, teaching how not what is essential. For example: If there is a kick in a dance sequence, a teacher should not simply say “do a kick,” rather they should explain how one should do a kick and the steps to succeed in doing so.

After watching the video, I realized how important these tips are as a person who has learned from several teachers who sometimes do/or don’t incorporate them in their lessons. While I may not realize, a student could be having trouble understanding a step, which is why it is important to give visualizations, sounds, lyrics that match the choreography, and examples to help them out.

Citation: Steezy.Co. “How To Find The Counts Of Any Dance Song Like A Pro.” STEEZY, 10 Nov. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6t8hwKp71g.

Steezy explains how to successfully count the beats of any song. Some may be in a simple eight, while others may have the and which is a half count in between. Steezy reveals that the beat won’t always be clear, and that it is important to listen carefully to the backbeats to understand what the count is.

For dancers, it is crucial to know what the beats are in order to learn a dance or to choreograph one. Most of the time dances have certain steps that match a count, so understanding the timing will help keep dancers on track. It is even more important for the teacher to know the counts in order to help the student match the choreography.

I’ve always struggled with getting the counts for certain dances, so watching this video helped me better understand how to find the counts of any song. While it may take practice, I know that it will benefit me as a teacher for the next six weeks and as a dancer who will need to know how to properly count a song/melody.