Dance and Social Studies

This activity integrates Social Studies into Art, more specifically integrating a global issue into dance.
Read the book If Kids Ran the World as a minds on, afterwards, students would brainstorm various global issues that we hear about in the news. Some issues that we talked about were deforestation, poverty, Trump as president, war, and global warming. Then, we got into groups and chose one of the issues to interpret into a dance.

The strategies that we had to use were:

Cat and mouse technique: Partner A will begin by performing a movement series while Partner B remains frozen. When A is finished, she/he will freeze; this is B's silent cue to begin her/his series. The communication continues back and forth until the 'conversation' is complete/ Remind students that they are not playing charades, but rather, communicating through movement.

ABA: The ABA form is derived from a musical form and has two sections, A and B, followed by an ending A section. In the first part, a series of movement phrases, or theme A, is stated and manipulated. Part B then presents a contrasting theme, and in the final section there is a return to theme A with a twist.

For the cat and mouse technique, we were in pairs, instead of alone. One pair started the theme A and then froze, then the second pair would complete theme B then freeze. Finally the first pair finished with theme A.  We also used scarves to create a visual effect.


As you can see, in the video we chose to interpret deforestation. We chose green and blue scarves for theme A to represent the forest and the sky/water, which has a more graceful tone. Theme B is much harsher because it represents cutting down trees and death, which is also why we chose to use black scarves.

This lesson was designed for grade 6 and addressed the Overall Expectation: People and environments: Canada's interactions with the global community, but it can be adapted to be used for a different grade and/or topic. This was a good activity to address a difficult subject, because global issues can be a sensitive topic. Addressing it through dance can really get students to express their feelings and opinions on the matters in a safe place.

French and Drama

I have had 2 teaching blocks in Core French, so I know that french and drama go hand in hand. It was good to see other instructional strategies to integrate french with drama from my peers. These are some of the activities that I would want to use in my french classroom.

Learning vocabulary is always a difficult task. Giving dictées are very passé, so it was good to see a new method to help students learn and recall new words in french. For this strategy, you would give students a list of vocab words and have them choose 3 words in their groups. Students create a situation or story that incorporate the chosen words to help them remember the words and their meanings. In the scene, students only say the three vocab words during the scene. After the scene, the audience will guess what words they chose. The goal is to have students see the new vocabulary words in an authentic setting, rather than just have them memorize strange words. This brings the words to life and gives them meaning.

Another strategy that was taught in class was pantomime, or mimed activity, which is when students act out a word/phrase without speaking and exaggerate their expressions. I thought this was a great strategy to incorporate into a french class, because not only does it help students remember new vocabulary, but it is a typical french activity. Students will recognize the stereotypical mime with the painted white face and beret, so you could introduce them to this image as a fun way to get them to use pantomine, or miming.

In my final teaching block, I was at Tapleytown elementary school, in a Core French classroom. I taught a unit on french festivals to grades 4-8, each focusing on a different festival in a Canadian province, the United-States, or in France. Almost every day I would incorporate drama in my instructional strategies or in the activities that I had my students complete. When I teach, I try to instruct mainly in french, to immerse students in the language. To help them understand, I act out words and over exaggerate my gestures to get my meaning across.  For their final task, I had students create a travelogue (video postcard) of them visiting the festival that they were studying. Below is the example I created with a student volunteer, Mademoiselle Turner:

These are the Drama and French curriculum expectations that I incorporated into this task:
Drama:
B1. Creating and Presenting: apply the creative process (see pages 19–22) to process drama and the development of drama works, using the elements and conventions of drama to communicate feelings, ideas, and stories.
B3. Exploring Forms and Cultural Contexts: demonstrate an understanding of a variety of drama and theatre forms, traditions, and styles from the past and present, and their sociocultural and historical contexts.
French:
A3.1 Intercultural Awareness: using information from oral French texts, identify French-speaking communities in Ontario, find out about aspects of their cultures, and make connections to personal experiences and their own and other communities

After learning about their respective festival, students wrote a script about the festival their were visiting and talk about the food, activities, weather, and culture at the festival, and compared it to their own lives. They used a green screen to act out their scene.

Dance and Science

I collaborated with my peers to create this dance lesson that integrated Dance and Science. The curriculum connections include:

Grade 5 Science and Technology: Understanding Structures and Mechanism

Overall Expectation:

1. analyse social and environmental impacts of forces acting on structures and mechanisms;

Specific Expectations:

1.1 analyse the effects of forces from natural phenomena (e.g., tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis) on the natural and built environment

1.2 evaluate the impact of society and the environment on structures and mechanisms, taking different perspectives into account (e.g., the perspectives of golfers, local bird-watching groups, families, a school board), and suggest ways in which structures and mechanisms can be modified to best achieve social and environmental objectives

Grade 5 Dance

Overall Expectation:

A1. Creating and Presenting: apply the creative process to the composition of movement sequences and short dance pieces, using the elements of dance to communicate feelings and ideas

Specific Expectations:

A1.1 translate into movement sequences a variety of images and ideas from other classroom subjects, including the arts

A1.3 use movement in the choreographic form call and response in a variety of ways when creating dance pieces

Minds On 10 min.

Use the Action Pak dance cards and select cards based on themes (i.e. fire, water, wind... ) focus on words related to storms/natural disasters such as “wind, rain, sway”

• Have students stand up and interpret some of the selected words with no inferencing. (3 Minutes total)
• Stop and ask students to think about these words in relation to weather
• How does the word “fall” or “sway” change when you are using it to describe/represent a tsunami/tornado/flood?
• Have students choose a partner and face each other. Each pair will choose a leader, who will interpret “wind” using mirroring.
• Mirroring is when: partners face each other and decide who will be the first leader. The leader will begin to perform slow movements with different body parts while his/her partner follows along. The goal is to have both partners moving at (almost) the same time. Have students switch leaders, and interpret thunder and lightning using mirroring.

Action (20 mins)

• Show students a video in which a building or city infrastructure is changes because of the weather conditions. (5 mins)
• Kobe Earthquake (30-1:30)
• High Winds in Buffalo (up until 30 seconds)
• As a class, brainstorm different storms and types of weather conditions or instances that can be or were so severe that they change the way something looks: (3-5 mins)
• Tsunami
• Hurricane
• Tornado
• Wind
• Rain
• Thunder
• Lightning
• Snow
• Have students join in small groups (3-4) that will be chosen by birthday month.  
• Have groups choose one weather condition or weather instance, and show, using dance, how the weather condition has changed the way the infrastructure looked before. Keep the weather condition a secret. (5 mins)
• Students have access to the word cards
• Groups will dances will include Canon as a dance strategy:
• Cannon is when: a dance phrase is performed by more than one soloist/group and begins at different times so that the phrases overlap.
• Each dance will begin in a still pose, and will end in a different still pose.
• Music optional:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIrt5MkGpy0
• Present their dances to the class, who will guess the weather condition and dance strategy used.  (5-7 mins)

Consolidation: (10-15 mins)  

• As a class, discuss storms and their effect on cities and people:
• How do these storms and bad weather conditions affect cities?
• How do the people deal with it? In serious conditions, people will lose all of their possessions. How do they protect themselves against the weather?
• How can cities prevent damage? Is it possible?
• How can people prevent damage?
• How can we help?

• Each group will be assigned a question/topic to show in a dance
• I.e group one will show how storms affect cities, group two will show how people recover from storms)
• Groups will present their work using call and response:
• Call and response is when: an individual or group performs followed by another individual or group whose performance responds to the first.

I.e call (storm) - response (how does it affect people and buildings) - response (how do people recover from natural disasters/how do people guard themselves against natural disasters).


The strategies that we incorporated in this lesson include:

Mirroring - partners face each other and decide who will be the first leader. The leader will begin to perform slow movements with different body parts while his/her partner follows along. The goal is to have both partners moving at (almost) the same time.

Modification:

• Use a rope or silks to hold onto to make the mirroring easier.

Extension:

• Integrate more people making it a group effort.

Call and Response - an individual or group performs followed by another individual or group whose performance responds to the first

Interaction of different elements/opposites ( wind vs. rain) (thunder vs. lightning)  (rain v. sunlight) (Storm vs. Calm)

Modification:

• This activity can be adapted for science and you can use the call and response to show the interactions of elements in science such as magnets, ions, protons, and different forms of matter.

Extension:

• Once the students have an idea how the different forces work together have them focus on different forces and how all the different forces would interact with each other.
• Have each individual take on one specific force and create a series of movements that represent that force and have them face off with different forces(students) in the class.

Canon - a dance phrase is performed by more than one soloist/group and begins at different times so that the phrases overlap

Extreme weather event (hurricane, tsunami, tornadoes, thunder and lightening storm)

Modification:

• You could adapt this lesson to be done while being seated in a circle arms length apart so the actions are limited to the upper body and allows the students to really focus on their bodies and relationships. (great for younger students, or those with various gate issues).

Extension:

• Divide the class into smaller groups of 4 or 5 and have each person create a sequence within that group. Choose one person to begin their sequence and have the rest of the group follow the sequence. Once the first persons sequence has come to an end have the next person in the group perform their sequence and repeat that until everyone has had a chance to lead the group through their.
• Challenge each student in the class to come up with a 5-10 second sequence and attempt to run the canon sequence through the entire class allowing every student to perform their sequence.

Dance and Science

For me, Science is one of those subjects that I did not like when I was in school, but I have seen many engaging instructional strategies and methods to make this subject more enjoyable. Dance is a great strategy to get students engaged and involved in their learning.

The Elements of Dance (body, space, time, energy, and relationship) can all be related to Science. By just looking at the vocabulary, you can notice that the words are related to both the Science and Dance curriculums.

To get students moving and into the right mindset for dance, Action Pak Resource has cards that are an excellent resource for students to use. These cards have action words and use word art to illustrate the action. This helps students incorporate the elements of dance and allows students to experiment, and link action words to develop a dance vocabulary.

Woolley, E. © 2017

These cards work well with the Science curriculum because the vocabulary is linked. For example, words like "freeze, expand, and shrink" can be used to represent something like the water cycle, or states of matter.

An activity that highlights the use of these cards is to learn/review states of matter and as an extension, the water cycle. Students show how the process works through dance as a confirmation of understanding. You can have students brainstorm which action words are associated with each state of matter, and each process of the water cycle (i.e. expand, melt, etc.). You can assign a state of matter to each group of students (gas, liquid, solid) and they can explain how the particles move for each state of matter through dance. As an extension, assign each group a part of the water cycle (solidification, condensation, melting, evaporation, sublimation) and they can create a dance using the action words to represent the process.

They can explain the choices for their movement to show that they understand the properties of matter. With this type of activity, students should be explaining and experimenting. As a teacher, you should not be overly concerned with the final product (the dance), because the process is the most important part, as it shows their thinking, communication, and understanding of the information.

Language Arts and Drama

I collaborated with some of my peers to create an integrated Language and Drama lesson. The literary source of inspiration for this lesson is fables and common fairy tales. The language arts focus is to establish a distinctive voice and so we chose a literary source that many students would be familiar with. Goldilocks and the 3 Little Pigs provides students with several perspectives to consider and reenact. The goal is to provide students with simple stories that they can easily understand and relate to. Other fairytales could be used for variety or to introduce a specific theme. In this case, each story includes a villain (Goldilocks and the wolf) and 3 victims (the 3 bears and the 3 pigs). The purpose is to provide many perspectives for the students to consider and expand on through both Language Arts and Drama. Depending on the class community, the literary source may need to be adapted to ensure students know the stories. For example, if your class has a high FNMI population you may want to consider using stories that originate from their culture. For ELLs, other literary sources could be considered such as a story from their language or using characters that the student is familiar with.

The curriculum connections for this lesson include both Language Arts and Drama expectations for grade six:

Language Arts: Writing

Specific Expectations:

2.2 establish a distinctive voice in their writing appropriate to the subject and audience.

2.5 identify their point of view and other possible points of view; determine, when appropriate, if

their own view is balanced and supported by the evidence; and adjust their thinking and

expression if appropriate.

Drama

Specific Expectations:

B1.1 engage actively in drama exploration and role play, with a focus on identifying and examining a range of issues, themes, and ideas from a variety of fiction and non-fiction sources and diverse communities, times, and places

B1.3 plan and shape the direction of the drama or role play by introducing new perspectives and ideas, both in and out of role

Minds On

Hot seating:

Discuss the idea of multiple perspectives - how would another character view the story?
Have a volunteer answer questions based on a specific role (the wolf in the three little pigs)

Action

Read Goldilocks story as a class and discuss the roles in the story:

• Goldilocks
• Papa bear
• Little bear
• Mama bear

Divide students into groups of four: tape character roles under their chairs.

Every Goldilocks character will come together, every Papa bear will come together, every mama bear will come together, every Little bear will come together.
In groups, they will discuss the story from their own role

Create character map for their role as a group using hardcopy or online version

i.e : little bear might say that he was upset because he had been saving his porridge all day, and now he doesn’t have a bedtime snack.
Groups will brainstorm and write their own group perspective by writing in role
Groups will come together and discuss the story based on their own perspectives:

• i.e : Goldilocks: I was just tired, I didn’t mean to ruin anything
  Little Bear: I was just upset because I was saving my porridge for later.
  Using Collective role strategy

Consolidation:

In groups, students will choose one of the perspectives in the story and re-write it (as a scene) and present it to the class.

We used four drama strategies to create this lesson and included modifications and extensions to differentiate:

Hot-Seating

A character is questioned by the group about his/her background behaviour, and motivation. This method can be used to develop a role in a drama lesson, rehearsal, or to analyse a performance. This can be done as an improv or prepared activity, individually, pairs, or in a group. The student/pair/group sits in front of the class and takes on the role of their character. The class asks questions about the character.

Modification:

• Lower level/younger grade - prepared questions. Students have time to research the point of view that they will be arguing, and plan responses to questions.
• Comfort levels - can work in pairs or groups, and will not be the center of attention.

Extension:

• Research character and prepare in-depth character analysis (questions and responses)
• Research characters with opposing points of view and then be hot-seated by the class as part of a debate.

Writing in Role

Students will write or document the perspective of a character that may not be the focus of a short story or narrative. When writing, student will use the character’s voice to express thoughts or feelings about a situation. This can be done in the form of stories, diaries, letters, or spoken word.

Modification:

• Lower level/younger grade - limit the content of the point of view (i.e limit the size of the story, discuss why the character might be angry, happy, upset OR sorry instead of discussing the full character)

Extension:

• Create a storyboard or script using the perspective of their character

Character mapping

Students use a mind map to map out the key elements of a character to have a deeper understanding of the character’s attributes. Focus on attributes such as: motivation, goals, emotions, perspectives, physical description, etc. to develop a character role.

Modification:

• Online graphic organizer or hardcopy to organize ideas

Extension:

• Map more than one character’s point of view

Collective Role

A group will defend a character and speak from that character’s point of view. One person represents the character without speaking, while the rest of the group defends them based on the characters point of view. It could also be used to have a character represent themselves with a group to help the character to argue or debate for their own point of view.

Modification:

• Lower level/younger grade - Elect a speaker to give the arguments that the group has generated
• Give more time to develop a character point of view.

Extension:

• Structured discussion where each member of a group provides individual arguments.
• Formal debate: have goldilocks defend her position to the “court-room”

Finally, the guiding theory that led us was Dwyer's Learning Theory (1996). Dwyer’s Learning Theory discusses how students are able to retain information. During a school day, students are expected to absorb a lot of the information that they hear, however, according to this theory, students retain most of the information that they discuss, do, and teach. Students are more empowered when they are in charge of the information that is shared, for this reason, our lesson focuses on discussion, experience through point of view, and sharing their perspective with the whole group.

Math and Drama

I never would have thought to integrate Math into a Drama class, (or Drama into a Math class). In my mind, math and drama never cross paths, so I was really interested to see these activities.

Laman, A. © 2017

The first activity involved angles on cards. stand in a circle hold it up to the person next to you and say what kind of angle it is (ex: this is a right angle), the person says "a what?", the first person repeats "a right angle", and the other person says "oh, a right angle". That person takes the card and continues this process with the next person. Add in more cards and send it in the opposite direction. Allows students to teach each other angles and have fun with it.

Woolley, E. © 2017

Scenarios of fairytales:
Each group gets a different drama convention to use during their scene, based on a different fairytale. Students must incorporate 3 math questions into the scene that their peers must answer for the scene to continue.

The image shows the example that my group had. The fairy tale was Cinderella and the convention was an interview. We had one person act as the king and 3 others act as princesses who has to be interviewed to go to the ball. The king asked them one of these math questions and then the scene would freeze. This is the time the students would have to give the correct answer for the scene to continue.
Other examples included Rapunzel, with the convention of a news anchor, Goldilocks with the convention of people as objects, and 3 Little Pigs with the convention of tableau. Each fairytale and convention is used to quiz students on math questions to engage and entertain. The math questions can vary depending on grade and strand.