When planning your dance lesson, consider the overall goals of the class. These goals may be as specific as the dance curriculum or as general as identifying what your students don’t know and how to use what they do know. You may also want to consider incorporating dance into other learning areas, such as social studies or science. Whatever the goal, the stimulus for your lesson should be thought-provoking and inspire inquiry. It should also tie into the curriculum, so that it becomes more meaningful to your students.
If you’re teaching children, you may want to explore the history of dance. There are some ancient cave paintings in India that are thought to be the oldest evidence of dance. While these paintings depict communal drinking, religious rites, hunting, childbirth, and burials, dance scenes can be found throughout. Using these paintings as a guideline for your dance lesson can help students understand why and how dance came to be as it is today.
Another way to connect with children is through a predictive story-based form dance activity. This activity aims to help students develop literacy skills as well as empathy. Students will create movement that represents the dinosaur’s emotions, and brainstorm ways to make it feel better. Using this model, children can practice listening to other people’s feelings and expressing them through dance. They can then apply these lessons to their own lives and share them with others. You can also incorporate improvisations in your lesson.
