Matthew Fleming
4/25/12
Teaching Concepts of Dance M/W 8:00
Teaching Reflection Assignment
Today I taught my dance called the Water Dance, which involves the students
pretending to be water flowing through each season. I felt like the lesson went well except for
my mistake of using the phrase “you guys” instead of saying class or everyone. I felt like I had
the students’ attention for whole lesson by bringing them together to give the background, letting
them try the dance, and bringing them back to reflect on what they learned not only in the dance
but about the seasons. I believe the part that was most successful was the visuals of the sequence
of events, since I had signs for each of the seasons and the moves under them. I believe this gave
the students the ability to be creative while still following the seasons in order and creating a
story along with it. The signs allowed the students to see the written words and also hear them as
I explain what we had to do. The dance came out to be very successful since the students were
able to create their own moves, shapes, and pathways using the seasons they were in.
Even though my lesson was fairly successful, there are always things to improve
on and change. One thing I would have changed in my lesson would be to create my own story
to allow the students to visualize what the water is doing, instead of just thinking of the season
and the speed of the water. The other way I could approach the story is to have the students
create a story before trying the dance themselves. Also with the actual teaching of the dance I
would make sure my voice is louder and more energetic to keep the students more attentive and
having fun with the dance. During my lesson I had planned to use spot markers, but decided
against it at the last minute. I think if I had those spot markers the dance could have been a little
smoother, but we all make mistakes sometimes. The only other things I would really change are
having better music that changes in speed and also having bigger visuals so that the students
could see them from where they are standing. Other than those changes and improvements, I
believe my lesson was successful in the attempt to get the students to understand how we can use
dance to show the flow of water throughout the four seasons.