Practical Applications of Movement in the Classroom

Catalog description

This course will guide the students in movement-oriented activities and explore how these activities relate to learning academic concepts. DANCE 412 Practical Applications of Movement in the Classroom (3) Moving and learning is the focus of this course. Classrooms vary in size, age, understanding, world experience and venue. Being able to recognize all these situations as learning opportunities is a talent built on experience. This class will challenge the students to see learning not just as an event that must happen in desk chairs with only the use of traditional classroom technology to support the 'lesson' but also as an opportunity for expansion into the whole child, including the moving child. Experience in designing and applying movement ideas into curriculum ideas and concepts will be developed throughout the semester. The student will begin to see ideas and learning themes as opportunities to engage the child through their physicality while expressing ideas, challenging the expected way of learning and yes, even having fun. Teaching is a creative act, learning is a creative act, and designing moving opportunities to reinforce the act of learning creates a sense of knowing within the child that becomes embodied. Reading, discussion, classroom application of material, and critical assessment of self and others will create an environment, at times, modeling some of the potential venues in which the student may expect to find themselves. Using this information will be critical to their growth into visualizing movement as a viable option for teaching and learning.