Courtney's Dance/Drama Blog

This week our first presentation used the drama element of Choral Speaking.  Choral Speaking  is t he reading or reciting of a text by a group. Preparation for a performance may involve interpretation of the text; experimentation with language, rhythm, volume, pace, and different numbers of voices; and rehearsal. ( 2009 Ontario Arts Curriculum) Choral Speaking . (Google Images) This element was used in Past and Future Scenes created through improvisation. The scenes that we were creating tied with monumental moments in history. The first scene was in regards to First Nations/Indigenious People's of Canada and Residental Schools. The second scene was in regards to the Women's Vote. In groups of 4-5 we had to creatively come up with a choral verse to recite for a scene from the past and a scene in future in regards to both topics. These scenes/choral verses that myself and my peers created were very moving. The seriousness and tone of the room changed as a result of ...

Week 3 combined lessons of dance with those of science and math. Firstly, the teacher candidate led lesson incorporated the aspects of habitats and dance. For example, the opening activity had us dancing as certain climates/areas were shouted out. (tundra, mountains etc). Then we moved onto acting out various dance movements to animals that might be living in these climates. My animal was a polar bear. The class had to attribute two dance movements to represent the said animal. All of the students were then lined up from one side of the classroom to another putting the animals in order from highest on the food chain to lowest. The groups had to dance out their animals in order in a form of a Dance Battle . An extension of this task led us to form groups based on various climates and having the entire group act out the elements in the climate as a dance. For example, the climate is a tropical forest and the elements include (monkey, sun, human, banana tree etc). For each element, a ...

Week 2 was all about CROSS-CURRICULAR LESSONS!!! The Intro activity for our lesson was aiming at getting us comfortable with talking to one another. Our task was to say hi in a unique way while walking around the classroom to our peers. This was a fun little exercise to build up our creativity and confidence. Following this opening activity we moved onto our main activity. Directed by our instructor we had a drama x science lesson. Here our teacher led a lesson teaching about body systems, specifically the digestive system with drama. Our task was to act out through miming and provide sound scape directed to the specific part of the digestive system that we were assigned in groups. Digestive System. (Google Images) Our second activity was a student led lesson. Here my peers created a drama x Greek history lesson. To introduce this activity we started with simple improvisation skits. The group presenting would narrate a story and call up their peers to act out the skit. However...

Week 2 of dance classes kicked off with the first teacher candidate presentations! Up this week, my peers created a super engaging lesson that combined dance and time (math) together. The class was put into groups and each group had a to create a dance for a song from a particular decade. This was a fun activity to incorporate past and present dance styles. The presenters showed a video about the different decades and the various popular dance moves during each. This helped to inspire each group. As well, the groups already had specific songs assigned to their decade from the 1920s-2000s. This is an excellent teacher note because it minimizes the time students would spend looking for a song as well as avoids students coming up with any inappropriate song choices. We were given time in groups to rehearse with our music, we had to create a routine entirely our own using the Flocking Method . Flocking is when students mirror or shadow each other's movement in groups. Often u...

Total Drama Action. (Google Images) Week 1 of our first Drama Class and I could not be more terrified. Dance, is one thing, art is another but DRAMA is not my thing.... We opened with an activity that had every student writing down a personal memory, something that happened to them. Once this was complete, the entire class sat in a circle and threw their paperps in the middle. We went around in a circle and each person in the class had to pick out a piece of paper and tell a story based on what was written. This was an AWESOME exercise to get everyone comfortable with each other and see how our peers would tell each others stories.  Drama Image. (Google Images) Following this activity we stayed in our circle and our instructor read a story while holding/introducing the talking stick. Once the teacher finished telling their part of the story they passed the talking stick to the person next to them and that individual has to add onto the story. Again this is another ...

Dance Title. (Google Images) The first day back after Christmas vacation and we start with our first classes of 2018 but most importantly.... our FIRST DANCE CLASS. Getting to know your peers can be awkward. It's important as future educators to build a classroom based on trust and to connect with our students on a deeper level. Thus, to start of today's class we partook in an intro activity, Dance to the syllables in your name . The object of the game is to stand in a circle with your classmates and students think of dance movements to their name. Before moving onto the next student everyone has to remember what dance move was previously done. AHHH HAAA this helps to capture your students' attention! Branching off of this activity we got into groups of 4 and each teacher candidate had to have a different syllable in their name. Thus, the group was composed of 4 students with 4 different syllables. The group has to work together and combine the movements they used in th...