SKIP TO CONTENT

Dance: Illustration of Planning – 'Metamorphosis' unit

  • image
  • Author :  admin
  • Date :  May 31, 2013
  • Views :  9874
  • Type :  2
  • Security:  image

Dance

Dance
PLANNING


This Dance Arts-POP illustrates how planning in dance involves a number of levels of critical thought, implementation and reflective evaluation.  

Firstly, the teacher created a concept map or curriculum web, which outlined the range of possibilities associated with the intended learning. In this case, the intended learning focused on the life cycle of the butterfly, including the notion of metamorphosis. This plan identified the concept knowledge that the teacher wished to introduce, materials of dance to be explored, the movement skills that could be specifically targeted over a four-week time span and the props and music that would support the learning (e.g. long, light yellow piece of fabric; stretchy pieces of light lycra tubes; Bach's Harmony of the seasons).

At this stage, the teacher also identified A stimulus or thought-provoker, often phrased as a question or dilemma. or open-ended questions such as, 'What would it feel like to be a tiny still egg on a leaf?'; 'How does a butterfly fly?'; and 'Where does a butterfly go when it rains?'

Movement qualities associated with each part of the life cycle (egg, cocoon, chrysalis, emergence of the butterfly) were also identified.

Additionally, the teacher considered how she would share the outcomes of learning with the families (see the example provided).

The second stage of the planning process involved the week-by-week identification of specific learning objectives, content and procedures. These included the teacher's ideas for extension, based on the teacher's evaluation and reflection, which in turn informed the next stage of the planning (see lesson plans 1|2|3|4).

The video on this page features an interview with the dance teacher. She describes a model of Education approach centred on the needs of the child rather than, for example, the educational institution or system., A pedagogical approach that draws together a range of discipline areas to allow for in-depth investigation across different spheres of learning., where a broad-ranging topic is identified, investigated, analysed and synthesised by the children through dance. 

The third and final stage of the planning cycle involved the The ongoing process of recording the process and outcomes of learning. of the children's learning through teacher's photographs, the children's drawings and their discussion of these drawings. These documents were systematically collected and stored, week-by week, in a portfolio (see an example of portfolio documentation) that provided a way of assessing children's learning over time.


This project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.