Theresa Purcell Cone

In the Moment: Honoring the Teaching and Learning Lived Experience.

JOPERD • Volume 78 No. 4 • April 2007 A s teachers, we are eternal learners. Everyday, we learn something new about ourselves, about our students, and about our teaching. We dread the days when our lessons just do not work. We are bothered when we feel we cannot reach each student, and we are destined to refl ect, revise, and reteach until we feel we have made a meaningful connection with them. The unyielding commitment to help students reach their full potential drives us to question what and how we teach, because we want our students to be engaged in their own learning and to cultivate their personal voice. We are fi lled with the hope for a world that could be, but is not yet. Teaching is embedded as part of our identity. We are works in progress, continuously evolving, seeking, and transforming. What is it about teaching that draws us to a culture of education? Consider how your experiences and the experiences of your students infl uence your selection of content and pedagogy. As I prepared for this lecture, I used these questions to guide my refl ection about my motivation for teaching and to analyze how my teaching practice is representative of my teaching values and beliefs. This refl ection led me to contemplate those teaching moments that I fi nd most exciting and fulfi lling. These are moments when I am “pedagogically freefalling”—moments of pure spontaneity. I am aware, responding, feeling, creating, pushing boundaries, and discovering. Essentially, they are “go with the fl ow” moments: I let go, hang on for the ride, explore, and allow myself to be swept up in new possibilities. In this lecture, I will explore those teaching moments that fall outside of the planned course of tasks and investigate how they become collaborative constructions of the teaching and learning experience.

Teaching Dance for Access, Inclusion, and Equity

Address correspondence to Theresa Purcell Cone, PhD, Department of Health and Exercise Science, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028. E-mail: conet@rowan.edu This issue provides readers with strategies, program examples, and personal perspectives on how to present a meaningful dance learning experience for students with a range of disabilities. Dance for students with disabilities is an essential medium for expression and communication of their feelings and ideas and an opportunity to learn, create, and respond to dance in all its forms. Teaching dance to students with disabilities requires teachers to be flexible, creative, informed, and willing to make modifications to include all students. “As a learning experience, dance celebrates individuality and acknowledges a variety of movements and styles within a wide range of competencies” (Cone and Cone 2011, 25). The teacher holds a strong belief in the concepts of acceptance and inclusion and establishes a learning environment where everyone is respected and acknowledged for his or her abilities and perspectives. Karen Kaufmann (2006) stated, “The word inclusion suggests a place where everybody belongs and feels accepted, where each individual and his or her uniqueness is embraced and celebrated” (4). In this learning environment, each student’s individual contributions are valued, and different ways of creating and performing dance are viewed as a benefit for everyone in the class. Suzi Tortora (2006) noted, “Each particular nuance of a movement—conscious or unconsciously chosen—reflects a personal choice. There are an infinite number of qualitative ways that an action can be performed and even the slightest variation expresses something different about a person’s feelings, expressions and interactions. These variations provide information about every person’s unique ways of relating to the surroundings” (14). When students with disabilities have access to dance whether it is in a P–12 school environment, a private studio, or a community program, they learn that there are no limits to what they can learn and do. Students fully participate and experience the joy of dancing when the teacher has the knowledge and skills to offer modifications, when needed, and she or he models acceptance in pedagogy, materials, and class. The teacher sees the unique abilities of each student and is committed to helping each student reach his or her full potential. Kim Dunphy and Jenny Scott (2003) stated, “It is often difficult to know what a person might like when they have never had the chance to try it, when they can’t speak, or when what they might like to do is not available at a level they can manage, or anywhere near where they live” (10). Providing opportunity and access along with a commitment to equality leads to successful achievement as a learner, dancer, choreographer, and audience member. Bailey Anderson’s article “Using a Principle-Based Method to Support a Disability Aesthetic” sets the stage for this issue by challenging readers to consider how they view dance for individuals with disabilities. This article suggests a teaching method based on broad conceptual teaching and personal interpretation rather than specific reproduction of a movement or dance style. Dancers and students with disabilities present new possibilities and expand the notion that dance is best suited for those who are physically, intellectually, and emotionally able. Jane Elin and Boni B. Boswell

Numbers on the Move: 1 2 3 Dance and Count with Me

Bernard, A., W. Steinmuller, and U. Stricker. 2006. Ideokinesis: A creative approach to human movement and body alignment. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books. Dowd, I. 1990. Taking root to fly: Ten articles on functional anatomy. Northampton, MA: Contact Editions. Franklin, E. 1996. Dynamic alignment through imagery. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Press. Krasnow, D. 2010. Conditioning with imagery for dancers. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing. Matt, P. 1993. A kinesthetic legacy: The life and works of Barbara Clark. Prescott, AZ: CMT Press.

Assessing Dance in Physical Education

Dance education is a crucial component of a comprehensive education for all students. It is a movement art form that promotes learning to communicate and express ideas, feelings, perspectives, and concepts through kinesthetic modes of learning. Students are actively engaged in learning new ways to move that expand their range of motor skills, and increase their ability to problem solve, collaborate, think critically, and take leadership. Ultimately, they gain an aesthetic awareness about themselves and others. Through participating in the artistic processes of performing, creating, and responding, students learn how dance is a way people celebrate, share life events, express their emotions, socialize, and challenge their physical and cognitive abilities. Dance is for all students of all abilities; everyone can participate, create, learn, and experience the joy of dancing with others. Dance frequently receives little attention in many physical education programs (Bennett & Riemer, 2006). Why? Teachers feel unprepared to teach the content, students may be resistant, or it has been associated as an activity that is more readily accepted by females. However, there are school programs where both males and females thrive in dance. As physical education curricula are revised to align with state or national standards, educators have included dance as a content area to provide students with a lifetime physical activity. The question faced by educators

Following Their Lead: Supporting Children's Ideas for Creating Dances

Abstract When children create dances using their ideas, they are empowered to explore their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Through dance, they bring their inner self to the surface where they can express their dreams, fears, needs, and joys. Dance educators need to support childrens ideas and trust the childrens creative process, especially when the educator may not agree with the meaningfulness of the dance content or structure. Educators must be able to offer support without undue interference. The vision for the dance belongs to the children. The article illuminates a refective stance on teaching and observing children creating their own dances based on their ideas. Included are examples of dances that illustrate childrens choices for dance topics, dance stories, and their creative processes in dance making.

Dance Partners Making Meaningful Connections

This article describes a physical activity program that matches Rowan University health and physical education majors with students from a secondary school for students with disabilities, and creates student connections through dance.

No Gym? No Problem! Maintaining Quality Physical Education in Alternative Spaces.

hysical educators in elementary schools are very familiar with the many predictable and unpredictable situations in which they lose access to their regular instructional space. The ability to adapt to changes -especially undesirable changes-in teaching space is key to maintaining a quality physical education program. In this article, we offer several constructive strategies for adapting content to fit an alternative space while maintaining the integrity and flow of the curriculum.

Widening the Circle of Inclusion

This article describes specific strategies for ensuring that dance education is inclusive of all students, regardless of skill, beliefs, culture or disability.

Dance in SHAPE America Is Alive and Well

This article describes all the ways in which dance is currently being supported and promoted by SHAPE America through events, publications and other resources.

Complex Challenges, Meaningful Measures

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Dance Educator, an annual special issue dedicated to providing articles relevant to dance education in the P–12 education environment. This issue highlights dance assessment and presents articles focused on practical approaches from dance educators working with the P–12 population. The authors address issues such as how dance educators know they impact student learning, what types of assessment are currently used and for what purpose, and how assessment is embedded in the learning process. This is a critical time in arts education, especially in dance, as it strives to remain present as a core subject and as an essential component of a student’s education. The current discourse on assessment in education includes language such as the relevancy of assessment to outcomes, standards-based assessment, differentiated assessment for diverse learning styles, authentic assessment, performance assessment, alternative assessment, embedded assessment, and meaningful informative assessment. Dance educators are leaders in using innovative strategies that assess individual learning styles, emphasize inclusionary practice, and apply multiple means of gathering evidence of learning. They recognize the importance of frequent, meaningful, and individualized strategies to gather information about their students’ learning. In each class, they observe, record, and give feedback, as students learn and perform dance movements, create dances, and respond to dance. Information is gathered through observation, written tests, student journals, portfolios, drawings, and discussion. Yet dance educators are challenged to develop and implement reliable and feasible assessments within the constraints of time, space, technology, class frequency, and class size. They know that their teaching decisions about content and pedagogy make a difference in a student’s life. Articulating this difference becomes a complex task involving the creation of rubrics using clear descriptive language for criteria and proficiency levels. Assessment development and implementation is steeped in a cyclical revision process. First, outcomes are clarified, and then an assessment tool and rubric are developed, followed, ultimately, by implementation. Results are reviewed, adjustments made, a revised assessment is implemented, and another review begins. Refinements are finetuned to provide clear, accurate evidence of what students know and are able to do. As this recursive process evolves, the relationship between the outcomes and achievement becomes stronger and instruction becomes more effective. Dance educators are also faced with assessing multiple domains (physical, cognitive, social/affective) that naturally integrate when a student creates a shape, performs a leap, moves in unison with others, or expresses an emotion. Assessing a student’s learning in these overlapping domains calls for the dance educator to clearly articulate how performing a dance represents a student’s ability to simultaneously move with technical accuracy, show understanding, and be personally expressive. The ephemeral nature of dancing, as an in-the-moment occurrence, makes assessment even more challenging for the observer and the dancer. How a student moves, feels, and thinks at any given time in a class or in a performance cannot be reproduced in the exact same way. This characteristic of dance begs two questions: When and what should you assess, and is the process of learning (formative assessment) more important than the final dance (summative assessment), or are both equally important? Another dilemma that surfaces in dance assessment is who determines the criteria for what is considered “good dancing” or a “good dance.” Criteria can be derived from objective evidence that is observable and factual. For example, when assessing fluency in creating and demonstrating three different round shapes using the spine, the observer could count the number of different shapes and notice if the spine is curved. Yet, the qualitative aspect of good dancing or a good dance leads to subjective criteria that are sometimes nebulous and based on the teacher or assessor’s values and experiences. The assessor might use phrases such as, “That was not interesting or creative,” “Your intent was unfocused,” “Great job,” or “Well done.” Clarifying what is valued and assessed in dance evokes the question of whose