Life as a Modern Dancer

For Brand New Teaching Artists (Grades PreK-12): Teaching Tips from the Book Dance Education Essentials

 

In August 2014, Valerie Gutwirth and I published a pocket guide/journal of 55 teaching tips we wished we had learned before embarking on a career teaching children and teens. This book is not teaching advice about content or lesson planning; it is about those essential details - the brass tacks (teaching supplies, paychecks, shoes for teaching, observing at the school before you begin, protocol for days when you are sick...). Whether you are teaching one class a week or twenty, these tips are practical and easily applicable right away in a wide variety of teaching settings including in a studio, preschool, or K-12 school. Since many dance teachers teach a variety of ages within a given week, Dance Education Essentials touches upon ideas that are universal to all dance classes as well as some specific to preschoolers, elementary age students, and teenage students.

For the next few weeks, we will share some of these teaching tips. If you would like to purchase your own copy of the pocket guide/journal ($7.99), click here.

We welcome college professors to print out these teaching tips and use within a college course on dance education.

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Tip #33: Custodian/Secretary/Librarian

Befriend the school custodian, the school secretary, and the librarian. The custodian is responsible for keeping your floor clean (which may take some explaining, on the lines of “the floor in a dance class is like the chalkboard and the desktops in a regular classroom”), the secretary is the most important gatekeeper in the school (for supplies, explanations of procedures, and LOTS of other useful information), and the librarian will save you hundreds of dollars a year in books.

Tip #34: Your Colleagues - The Non-Dance Teachers

Who might be supportive and willing to collaborate? Who might not? Who else in the school sees your students? Do you see students with a non-dance teacher present? If so, how will you work together to support the students? Even letting that person know where to sit and to observe (or get their work done while you are teaching) is a collaborative act.

Tip #35: Students Sitting Out

Be prepared that students in preschool or elementary school might sit out. Sitting and watching is also “participating” for that age group. Find a consistent place where a child might sit and watch, preferably close to where you are or near the classroom teacher if she/he is present. With each shift of activity in your class, in a matter-of-fact way, invite the child in again. Many kids begin this way; let them have their timeline. It might be a few weeks or months before they engage. If the student sitting out begins acting out - distracting others, running around or throwing things - immediately go to the classroom teacher or administrator for assistance.  

Tip #36: Injured Students Showing Up for Class

Middle school and high school students might still attend class even if they are injured. Make a plan to include these students, keep them active, and keep them engaged. Does this student become your teaching assistant/rehearsal assistant for the day? The documentor? The DJ? Do you ask the student to write a one page reflection based on what he/she saw today as an observer versus being the participant?

Tip #38: Student Injuries

Students will get injured in your class. While sometimes scary, it is important to handle things immediately and professionally. Find out what the policy is at your school or studio. Is there a form to complete? Do you call home? In general, if a student bumps his/her head and there is any chance of a concussion, ALWAYS call home. Also keep some form of documentation for yourself - a note in your planner, a Word Doc on your computer, or a photocopy of the accident report. Cover your bases.

Tip #39: Sick Time Policy

Find out at the beginning what the sick time policy is. In general, 12-24 hours notice is appreciated. In many settings (studio, preschool, community center), your class will simply be cancelled. Also find out if you will be paid for this missed class and if you need to do a make up class. Program into your phone the key person or people to call when you are out sick. Though we might want to just keep plugging along even while sick, consider what you are modeling for your students. Take care of yourself and take a day or two off!  

Tip #40: Teaching Attire

What is proper teaching attire for you at your site? Remember that you are modeling for students; you want to be neat, clean, and hole-in-your-sweatpants free if possible. You also want to consider modesty/coverage. If you are not sure what the policy is, check with the principal or secretary.

Tip #41: Bathroom Policy

When can students go to the restroom? Does an adult need to accompany the student?

Is there a hall pass? Remember that you will see students for only 45-60 minutes; if there is a revolving door of bathroom trips, you will lose valuable teaching time. It is best to check with teachers about what school policy is, and establish a policy in your classroom from day one.

 Tip #42: Snack

Do not agree to feed students snack as part of their dance class. Yes, sometimes teachers will ask you to do this.

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About the authors:

Valerie Gutwirth began teaching dance to children in high school. She graduated from Connecticut College in 1984, and received an MS in Early Childhood/Elementary Education from Bank Street College in 1992. She has taught movement, dance, and fitness classes to people from birth to age 80+, from Mommy and Me classes in church basements to Juilliard’s dance department, and everything in between. Valerie’s dance and performance experience includes companies in New York (1984-1991) and the San Francisco Bay Area (1995-present), most recently with Paufve Dance and the dance/singing/ body percussion group MoToR. Valerie has been thrilled, inspired, and challenged as a dance teacher in the Berkeley, California public schools for the past 17 years.

Jill Homan Randall graduated from the University of Utah in 1997 and has been teaching dance, or directing arts education programs, ever since. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Jill has taught in a wide variety of settings including preschools, community centers, dance studios, and public and independent K-12 schools. From 2004-2006 Jill was the Director of Education for the Lincoln Center Institute affiliate in Berkeley, California, and from 2006-2010 Jill directed Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Jill currently teaches dance full-time at The Hamlin School in San Francisco. She has performed extensively with Nina Haft & Company and Paufve Dance. As a dance writer, Jill maintains three blogs on children’s books on dance, careers in modern dance, and the intersection of dance and technology. In 2013, Jill received the Herbst Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence.

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For Brand New Teaching Artists (Grades PreK-12): Teaching Tips from the Book Dance Education Essentials

In August 2014, Valerie Gutwirth and I published a pocket guide/journal of 55 teaching tips we wished we had learned before embarking on a career teaching children and teens. This book is not teaching advice about content or lesson planning; it is about those essential details - the brass tacks (teaching supplies, paychecks, shoes for teaching, observing at the school before you begin, protocol for days when you are sick...). Whether you are teaching one class a week or twenty, these tips are practical and easily applicable right away in a wide variety of teaching settings including in a studio, preschool, or K-12 school. Since many dance teachers teach a variety of ages within a given week, Dance Education Essentials touches upon ideas that are universal to all dance classes as well as some specific to preschoolers, elementary age students, and teenage students.

For the next few weeks, we will share some of these teaching tips. If you would like to purchase your own copy of the pocket guide/journal ($7.99), click here.

We welcome college professors to print out these teaching tips and use within a college course on dance education.

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Tip #14: Visit Before You Begin

Go to the school site/studio before your first day; figure out the commute time, look at the space where you’ll be teaching, and figure out a beginning plan for set up. How much or how little space do you have? What is the surface? Will the students be able to remove socks and shoes to safely dance on the surface?  

Tip #3: Set Up Time

How many minutes do you need to set up the room before the students arrive? Is there something going on in the space before your class? Do a dry run if possible. Also consider asking your administrator to schedule 5-10 minutes in between your classes so that you can re-adapt to the age level and ability level of the students.

Tip #19: Teaching Schedule

What is a reasonable amount to teach in one day? Ballpark the idea of 4 or 5 one hour classes a day.

Tip #21: How Long Does It Take to Prep a Class?

Prep time for new dance teachers - for each 45-60 minute class, consider that you might need an hour each week to prep. Prep time includes writing notes, creating activities, referencing dance education books or standards, finding music, and gathering props. So, if you are teaching 5 different kinds of classes/age groups, consider that you might need to prep for 4-5 hours each week as well. A lesson quickly learned is that it is better to teach the same lesson plan a few times a week if you can get that kind of work (ex. 3 first grade classes a week at an elementary school).  

Tip #23: Reflect and Take Notes

If you review the lessons from the day within 24 hours before ideas get lost, you will save yourself time and improve your lessons. This is prep time as much as lesson creation; put it into your schedule as if it were a class or a prep. Note how things went and what you want to repeat, get rid of, or extend during the next class. Create a shorthand system of notes that work for you to describe what went well, what you didn’t get to, what you might want to discard, and what you want to repeat next time.

Tip #24: Transition Time

If you are traveling between teaching sites, you will be changing cultures with every new site. This adaptation takes attention and energy on top of teaching. It might help to develop a routine when changing from one site to another. Even if you only have time for 3 cleansing breaths, it will help refresh you. Best is to have 20 minutes in addition to travel and set up time, to review notes and resettle.

Tip #28: Meetings, Workshops, and Trainings

Will you be paid for these? Is it at your teaching rate or a different rate?

Tip #29: Cancelled Classes Due to Under-Enrollment

If you are teaching at a studio, community center, or summer program and your class is under-enrolled, will the class get cancelled? Not all small classes will get cancelled. Understand the policy around this from early on and plan/budget accordingly.

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About the authors:

Valerie Gutwirth began teaching dance to children in high school. She graduated from Connecticut College in 1984, and received an MS in Early Childhood/Elementary Education from Bank Street College in 1992. She has taught movement, dance, and fitness classes to people from birth to age 80+, from Mommy and Me classes in church basements to Juilliard’s dance department, and everything in between. Valerie’s dance and performance experience includes companies in New York (1984-1991) and the San Francisco Bay Area (1995-present), most recently with Paufve Dance and the dance/singing/ body percussion group MoToR. Valerie has been thrilled, inspired, and challenged as a dance teacher in the Berkeley, California public schools for the past 17 years.

Jill Homan Randall graduated from the University of Utah in 1997 and has been teaching dance, or directing arts education programs, ever since. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Jill has taught in a wide variety of settings including preschools, community centers, dance studios, and public and independent K-12 schools. From 2004-2006 Jill was the Director of Education for the Lincoln Center Institute affiliate in Berkeley, California, and from 2006-2010 Jill directed Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Jill currently teaches dance full-time at The Hamlin School in San Francisco. She has performed extensively with Nina Haft & Company and Paufve Dance. As a dance writer, Jill maintains three blogs on children’s books on dance, careers in modern dance, and the intersection of dance and technology. In 2013, Jill received the Herbst Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence.

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For Brand New Teaching Artists (Grades PreK-12): Teaching Tips from the Book Dance Education Essentials

In August 2014, Valerie Gutwirth and I published a pocket guide/journal of 55 teaching tips we wished we had learned before embarking on a career teaching children and teens. This book is not teaching advice about content or lesson planning; it is about those essential details - the brass tacks (teaching supplies, paychecks, shoes for teaching, observing at the school before you begin, protocol for days when you are sick...). Whether you are teaching one class a week or twenty, these tips are practical and easily applicable right away in a wide variety of teaching settings including in a studio, preschool, or K-12 school. Since many dance teachers teach a variety of ages within a given week, Dance Education Essentials touches upon ideas that are universal to all dance classes as well as some specific to preschoolers, elementary age students, and teenage students.

For the next few weeks, we will share some of these teaching tips. If you would like to purchase your own copy of the pocket guide/journal ($7.99), click here.

We welcome college professors to print out these teaching tips and use within a college course on dance education.

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TOPIC: OBJECTS

Tip #43: Blue Tape

For teaching artists working with preschoolers and elementary age students, blue tape is a simple and effective teaching tool to keep in your bag. This is  “painter’s tape” that is blue in color. It is the kind of tape that easily and safely comes off of wooden floors, marley, and walls. Young students need visible and concrete cues to help them know where to stand, where to move to, and where to move from. You can easily make a large circle by placing enough small, one-two inch pieces of tape so that everyone can “find a spot” when you want them in a circle. Blue tape is also great to make lines, for traveling work across the room, and for labeling your stuff. You can purchase blue painter’s tape in bulk at the hardware store, Target, or Home Depot.

Tip #44: Sneakers

Wear sneakers if you’ll be teaching on concrete or a very hard surface. Your students might be barefoot, but they are dancing for 30-45 minutes, not five classes in a row. Invest in a cushioned pair of athletic shoes to take care of your feet and to prevent shin splints and plantar fascitis.

Tip #45: Band-aids and First Aid Kits

Keep a box of band-aids in your studio space. Better yet - have a first aid kit with latex gloves and antiseptic wipes as well. If you are teaching young children, you will need a band-aid policy: if they hurt themselves IN DANCE CLASS, they get a wipe and a band-aid. Without this policy, you could be supplying 100 band-aids each week.

Tip #46: Kleenex and a Garbage Can

You’ll need both of these staples in your classroom, hopefully next to each other. The school secretary will know how to get both, and the custodian will deal with the garbage. During your first class, point out the Kleenex to the kids.

Tip #47: Props from PE

Find out what props the PE department has and would be willing to share (and the quantity of each) - hula hoops, poly spots, gymnastic mats, ribbons, small balls, cones, and more. Ask how to sign out items, where items are stored, and how soon the props need to be returned.

Tip #48: A Big Bag

The big IKEA blue bag - the one sold at the checkout for 99 cents - is the easy way to carry tons of teaching supplies. Next time at IKEA, consider purchasing about 3 of them to help you transport and store supplies.

Tip #49: Teacher Discounts

Some dance stores and other clothing stores like Lululemon offer discounts if you show proof of your teaching. This might be a teacher ID card, the teaching schedule in print, or a paycheck stub. You can even ask at stores like the fabric store if they would offer a discount for the material you are purchasing for a public school project.

Tip #50: Props

Students of all ages love them (hoops, balls, ribbons, large pieces of fabric, chairs). With younger students, consider that you might need enough props for each child in the room (ex. 20 ribbons); young students will struggle “taking turns” and you also want to keep the class rolling along without kids sitting for long. No props available? See if the principal might find enough money for one set of new props each year ($50 or so).   

Tip #51: Homemade Teaching Supplies

Supplies and costumes - what can you easily and cheaply make?

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About the authors:

Valerie Gutwirth began teaching dance to children in high school. She graduated from Connecticut College in 1984, and received an MS in Early Childhood/Elementary Education from Bank Street College in 1992. She has taught movement, dance, and fitness classes to people from birth to age 80+, from Mommy and Me classes in church basements to Juilliard’s dance department, and everything in between. Valerie’s dance and performance experience includes companies in New York (1984-1991) and the San Francisco Bay Area (1995-present), most recently with Paufve Dance and the dance/singing/ body percussion group MoToR. Valerie has been thrilled, inspired, and challenged as a dance teacher in the Berkeley, California public schools for the past 17 years.

Jill Homan Randall graduated from the University of Utah in 1997 and has been teaching dance, or directing arts education programs, ever since. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Jill has taught in a wide variety of settings including preschools, community centers, dance studios, and public and independent K-12 schools. From 2004-2006 Jill was the Director of Education for the Lincoln Center Institute affiliate in Berkeley, California, and from 2006-2010 Jill directed Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Jill currently teaches dance full-time at The Hamlin School in San Francisco. She has performed extensively with Nina Haft & Company and Paufve Dance. As a dance writer, Jill maintains three blogs on children’s books on dance, careers in modern dance, and the intersection of dance and technology. In 2013, Jill received the Herbst Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence.

---------------------

 

For Brand New Teaching Artists (Grades PreK-12): Teaching Tips from the Book Dance Education Essentials

In August 2014, Valerie Gutwirth and I published a pocket guide/journal of 55 teaching tips we wished we had learned before embarking on a career teaching children and teens. This book is not teaching advice about content or lesson planning; it is about those essential details - the brass tacks (teaching supplies, paychecks, shoes for teaching, observing at the school before you begin, protocol for days when you are sick...). Whether you are teaching one class a week or twenty, these tips are practical and easily applicable right away in a wide variety of teaching settings including in a studio, preschool, or K-12 school. Since many dance teachers teach a variety of ages within a given week, Dance Education Essentials touches upon ideas that are universal to all dance classes as well as some specific to preschoolers, elementary age students, and teenage students.

For the next few weeks, we will share some of these teaching tips. If you would like to purchase your own copy of the pocket guide/journal ($7.99), click here.

We welcome college professors to print out these teaching tips and use within a college course on dance education.

---------------------------------

TOPIC: MONEY

Tip #25: Pay Rates

Consider pay rates. Are you paid for prep time and teaching time? Or just teaching time?

Tip #26: Tax Details

Taxes - are your jobs providing a W-2 or 1099? Budget accordingly!

Tip #27: Paychecks

How often will you be paid (two times a month, once a month, or at the end of the semester)?

Do you need to submit an invoice, timesheet, or something else? Is there a deadline for this information? Note - not all employers use the end or beginning of the month as a pay period.  

Tip #28: Meetings, Workshops, and Trainings

Will you be paid for these? Is it at your teaching rate or a different rate?

Tip #29: Cancelled Classes Due to Under-Enrollment

If you are teaching at a studio, community center, or summer program and your class is under-enrolled, will the class get cancelled? Not all small classes will get cancelled. Understand the policy around this from early on and plan/budget accordingly.

Tip #30: Paying for Supplies

Supplies - will you pay out of pocket or is there a budget for things such as props and simple costumes? If there is a budget, try to use it for things that can be used over and over (e.g. scarves that can be reused rather than tissue paper streamers).

Tip #31: Common Out of Pocket Expenses

On average, consider spending $300 a year on music and on books. Many schools have budgets for individual teacher expenditures, sometimes through the PTA or through a school foundation. Ask about this and keep your receipts for reimbursement or for tax deductions.

Tip #32: Save Your Receipts

Whether you get reimbursed, declare expenses for tax purposes, or just want to keep track of what you are putting out, get organized and designate a folder or drawer for work-related receipts. Print out receipts from online purchases as well - from amazon.com and iTunes - or make a folder in your email system for these receipts.  

------

About the authors:

Valerie Gutwirth began teaching dance to children in high school. She graduated from Connecticut College in 1984, and received an MS in Early Childhood/Elementary Education from Bank Street College in 1992. She has taught movement, dance, and fitness classes to people from birth to age 80+, from Mommy and Me classes in church basements to Juilliard’s dance department, and everything in between. Valerie’s dance and performance experience includes companies in New York (1984-1991) and the San Francisco Bay Area (1995-present), most recently with Paufve Dance and the dance/singing/ body percussion group MoToR. Valerie has been thrilled, inspired, and challenged as a dance teacher in the Berkeley, California public schools for the past 17 years.

Jill Homan Randall graduated from the University of Utah in 1997 and has been teaching dance, or directing arts education programs, ever since. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Jill has taught in a wide variety of settings including preschools, community centers, dance studios, and public and independent K-12 schools. From 2004-2006 Jill was the Director of Education for the Lincoln Center Institute affiliate in Berkeley, California, and from 2006-2010 Jill directed Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Jill currently teaches dance full-time at The Hamlin School in San Francisco. She has performed extensively with Nina Haft & Company and Paufve Dance. As a dance writer, Jill maintains three blogs on children’s books on dance, careers in modern dance, and the intersection of dance and technology. In 2013, Jill received the Herbst Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence.

---------------------

 

For Brand New Teaching Artists: Teaching Tips from the Book Dance Education Essentials

In August 2014, Valerie Gutwirth and I published a pocket guide/journal of 55 teaching tips we wished we had learned before embarking on a career teaching children and teens. This book is not teaching advice about content or lesson planning; it is about those essential details - the brass tacks (teaching supplies, paychecks, shoes for teaching, observing at the school before you begin, protocol for days when you are sick...). Whether you are teaching one class a week or twenty, these tips are practical and easily applicable right away in a wide variety of teaching settings including in a studio, preschool, or K-12 school. Since many dance teachers teach a variety of ages within a given week, Dance Education Essentials touches upon ideas that are universal to all dance classes as well as some specific to preschoolers, elementary age students, and teenage students.

For the next few weeks, we will share some of these teaching tips. If you would like to purchase your own copy of the pocket guide/journal ($7.99), click here.

We welcome college professors to print out these teaching tips and use within a college course on dance education.

---------------------------------

TOPIC: MUSIC

Tip #5: WiFi

Is there WiFi in your studio to show videos or stream music? What guidelines does your school/district have for what you can show? Streaming can also “slow down” the internet connection at a school, so ask about streaming if you are wanting to do it frequently for videos and music.

Tip #6: Music in Teenage Level Classes

Middle school and above - create an opportunity for the students to offer music suggestions for your classes. Playing some pop music can create “buy in” with teenagers. Again, use school and district guidelines about appropriate use. Looking at the iTunes top 10 list can also provide ideas.

Tip #7: Music for the Commute

Use your commute time to listen to music you are considering  using in classes.

Tip #31: Common Out of Pocket Expenses

On average, consider spending $300 a year on music and on books. Many schools have budgets for individual teacher expenditures, sometimes through the PTA or through a school foundation. Ask about this and keep your receipts for reimbursement or for tax deductions.

Tip #32: Save Your Receipts

Whether you get reimbursed, declare expenses for tax purposes, or just want to keep track of what you are putting out, get organized and designate a folder or drawer for work-related receipts. Print out receipts from online purchases as well - from amazon.com and iTunes - or make a folder in your email system for these receipts.  

Tip #52: Something to Play Music With or Out Of: A Drum, Boombox, or Speaker

Your site may have something or have funds to purchase something for you. Always check borrowed equipment before you use it with your students. This is a KEY detail to figure out prior to your first day teaching. (Also see #5 about WiFi.)

---------------------------------

About the authors:

Valerie Gutwirth began teaching dance to children in high school. She graduated from Connecticut College in 1984, and received an MS in Early Childhood/Elementary Education from Bank Street College in 1992. She has taught movement, dance, and fitness classes to people from birth to age 80+, from Mommy and Me classes in church basements to Juilliard’s dance department, and everything in between. Valerie’s dance and performance experience includes companies in New York (1984-1991) and the San Francisco Bay Area (1995-present), most recently with Paufve Dance and the dance/singing/ body percussion group MoToR. Valerie has been thrilled, inspired, and challenged as a dance teacher in the Berkeley, California public schools for the past 17 years.

Jill Homan Randall graduated from the University of Utah in 1997 and has been teaching dance, or directing arts education programs, ever since. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Jill has taught in a wide variety of settings including preschools, community centers, dance studios, and public and independent K-12 schools. From 2004-2006 Jill was the Director of Education for the Lincoln Center Institute affiliate in Berkeley, California, and from 2006-2010 Jill directed Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Jill currently teaches dance full-time at The Hamlin School in San Francisco. She has performed extensively with Nina Haft & Company and Paufve Dance. As a dance writer, Jill maintains three blogs on children’s books on dance, careers in modern dance, and the intersection of dance and technology. In 2013, Jill received the Herbst Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence.

-------

 

For Brand New Teaching Artists: Teaching Tips from the Book Dance Education Essentials

In August 2014, Valerie Gutwirth and I published a pocket guide/journal of 55 teaching tips we wished we had learned before embarking on a career teaching children and teens. This book is not teaching advice about content or lesson planning; it is about those essential details - the brass tacks (teaching supplies, paychecks, shoes for teaching, observing at the school before you begin, protocol for days when you are sick...). Whether you are teaching one class a week or twenty, these tips are practical and easily applicable right away in a wide variety of teaching settings including in a studio, preschool, or K-12 school. Since many dance teachers teach a variety of ages within a given week, Dance Education Essentials touches upon ideas that are universal to all dance classes as well as some specific to preschoolers, elementary age students, and teenage students.

For the next few weeks, we will share some of these teaching tips. If you would like to purchase your own copy of the pocket guide/journal ($7.99), click here.

We welcome college professors to print out these teaching tips and use within a college course on dance education.

---------------------------------

TOPIC: BOOKS, WEBSITES, AND RESOURCES

Tip #18: The Local Public Library

Get to know your public library and especially the children’s librarian. Introduce yourself, talk about what you are looking for in terms of linking literature and dance, or ask for ideas. Check in monthly, and/or when you are developing new units or lessons. Subscribe to, or bookmark on your computer, the blog Dancing Words (www.dancingwords.typepad.com) to find out more about children’s books on dance and books that can be springboards for dance explorations.

Tip #54: For Your Bookshelf - Essential Dance Education and Child Development Books

Don’t be fooled by the copyright on some of these books - the information is timeless. Many of these books can be purchased used on amazon.com:

• Body, Mind, & Spirit in Action: A Teacher’s Guide to Creative Dance by Patricia Reedy; http://lunadanceinstitute.org/publication/
• Creative Dance for All Ages: A Conceptual Approach by Anne Green Gilbert
• Step by Step: A Complete Movement Education Curriculum by Sheila Kogan
• Wonderplay by Fretta Reitzes and Beth Teitelman
• Yardsticks by Chip Wood
• Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.

Tip #53: Websites, Email Lists, Blogs, and Workshops

Valuable resources for dance educators include:

• NDEO (National Dance Education Organization; www.ndeo.org
• Luna Dance Institute; www.lunadanceinstitute.org
• Dance Education Laboratory (DEL); www.danceeducationlaboratory.com
• Lincoln Center Institute (LCI); www.lincolncentereducation.org
• National Dance Institute; www.nationaldance.org
• Eric Booth (leader in the field of teaching artistry); www.ericbooth.net
• Teaching Artist Support Collaborative of California (TASC); www.tascofcalifornia.org
• Edutopia; www.edutopia.org
• Dancing Words Blog (children’s books on dance and books to be used in dance classes); www.dancingwords.typepad.com
• Dancers Using Technology Blog (the many intersections of dance and tech in art and education); www.dancingwords.typepad.com/dancers_using_technology
• Life as a Modern Dancer Blog (artist profiles, including many ideas related to becoming a teaching artist); www.dancingwords.typepad.com/life_as_a_modern_dancer

Tip #55: Dance Standards and the Common Core Standards

Standards and Common Core - get to know them even if you aren’t required to use them. The language of the standards can be very helpful when planning for an age group new to you. The NDEO website contains a lot of information, including the standards for early childhood education (www.ndeo.org). Also, check out the K-12  visual and performing arts standards for your particular state. The new Common Core Standards are at http://www.nationalartsstandards.org/.

---------------------------------

About the authors:

Valerie Gutwirth began teaching dance to children in high school. She graduated from Connecticut College in 1984, and received an MS in Early Childhood/Elementary Education from Bank Street College in 1992. She has taught movement, dance, and fitness classes to people from birth to age 80+, from Mommy and Me classes in church basements to Juilliard’s dance department, and everything in between. Valerie’s dance and performance experience includes companies in New York (1984-1991) and the San Francisco Bay Area (1995-present), most recently with Paufve Dance and the dance/singing/ body percussion group MoToR. Valerie has been thrilled, inspired, and challenged as a dance teacher in the Berkeley, California public schools for the past 17 years.

Jill Homan Randall graduated from the University of Utah in 1997 and has been teaching dance, or directing arts education programs, ever since. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Jill has taught in a wide variety of settings including preschools, community centers, dance studios, and public and independent K-12 schools. From 2004-2006 Jill was the Director of Education for the Lincoln Center Institute affiliate in Berkeley, California, and from 2006-2010 Jill directed Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Jill currently teaches dance full-time at The Hamlin School in San Francisco. She has performed extensively with Nina Haft & Company and Paufve Dance. As a dance writer, Jill maintains three blogs on children’s books on dance, careers in modern dance, and the intersection of dance and technology. In 2013, Jill received the Herbst Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence.

 

For Brand New Teaching Artists: Teaching Tips from the Book Dance Education Essentials

In August 2014, Valerie Gutwirth and I published a pocket guide/journal of 55 teaching tips we wished we had learned before embarking on a career teaching children and teens. This book is not teaching advice about content or lesson planning; it is about those essential details - the brass tacks (teaching supplies, paychecks, shoes for teaching, observing at the school before you begin, protocol for days when you are sick...). Whether you are teaching one class a week or twenty, these tips are practical and easily applicable right away in a wide variety of teaching settings including in a studio, preschool, or K-12 school. Since many dance teachers teach a variety of ages within a given week, Dance Education Essentials touches upon ideas that are universal to all dance classes as well as some specific to preschoolers, elementary age students, and teenage students.

For the next few weeks, we will share some of these teaching tips. If you would like to purchase your own copy of the pocket guide/journal ($7.99), click here.

We welcome college professors to print out these teaching tips and use within a college course on dance education.

---------------------------------

TOPIC: KIDS

Tip #2: The Right Mindset for the Age Group You are Teaching

Think about young people in your life who are that age - such as a sibling or cousin. Observe children at a playground, park, or at your church or temple. Head to a toy store to get inspiration for themes and props. Look at catalogs for ideas (Land of Nod, Pottery Barn Kids, Magic Cabin, Nova Natural). Learn about child development and age appropriate behavior. Great resources include the books Yardsticks (Chip Wood) and Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain (Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.) as well as workshops through the Luna Dance Institute in the San Francisco Bay Area. Keeping up with kid culture is a great reason to see children’s and teens’ movies and to listen to music that teens love.  

Tip #4: Students’ Names

Know names (or have students wear nametags). You will have much greater command over a classroom when you can call on students by their names. Ask for a student class list so that you can review names before a class begins and for the first few weeks.

Tip #12: Observe

It is time well spent to go and watch a similar class in the community (e.g. another dance class for the ages you will be teaching). Take detailed notes about the class format, timing of each activity, the energy in the room, attention signals the teacher uses, beginning and ending of the class, and what ideas you might like to try out as well.   

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About the authors:

Valerie Gutwirth began teaching dance to children in high school. She graduated from Connecticut College in 1984, and received an MS in Early Childhood/Elementary Education from Bank Street College in 1992. She has taught movement, dance, and fitness classes to people from birth to age 80+, from Mommy and Me classes in church basements to Juilliard’s dance department, and everything in between. Valerie’s dance and performance experience includes companies in New York (1984-1991) and the San Francisco Bay Area (1995-present), most recently with Paufve Dance and the dance/singing/ body percussion group MoToR. Valerie has been thrilled, inspired, and challenged as a dance teacher in the Berkeley, California public schools for the past 17 years.

Jill Homan Randall graduated from the University of Utah in 1997 and has been teaching dance, or directing arts education programs, ever since. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Jill has taught in a wide variety of settings including preschools, community centers, dance studios, and public and independent K-12 schools. From 2004-2006 Jill was the Director of Education for the Lincoln Center Institute affiliate in Berkeley, California, and from 2006-2010 Jill directed Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Jill currently teaches dance full-time at The Hamlin School in San Francisco. She has performed extensively with Nina Haft & Company and Paufve Dance. As a dance writer, Jill maintains three blogs on children’s books on dance, careers in modern dance, and the intersection of dance and technology. In 2013, Jill received the Herbst Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence.