Dance Week!

This was a really fun couple of weeks in class! I will admit that when I saw that there was dance on the syllabus I was apprehensive about how much fun I would have doing it. I'm not a dancer and I'm not sure I felt qualified to lead students in some sort of dance activity. It was great to find out that it can be pretty simple and a lot of fun! I never would have thought that you could take a simple book like Where the Wild Things Are and turn it into an activity that everyone is participating in and thoroughly enjoying!

These movements and activities were so great not only to get out of a desk but to also have to think on our feet. You really have to internalize what you are doing because you have to think for yourself and create movements that reflect what the teacher is talking about. Especially if you are teaching something directly from a lesson plan (types of dinosaurs, water cycle,etc.) students will be able to remember almost everything from that day because they acted it out and watched others act it out.

For our group we chose dinosaurs and a cool dinosaur book. It was a lot of fun to collaborate with my group and talk about how we could really make our subject come alive. It was fun to see our lesson plan come to life when the whole class participated. It made teaching really fun and I've gained a whole new perspective on dance in the classroom!

Presentation Week

This week was actually really fun. Not only presenting our ideas with our group but also being able to see the ideas of others. It's amazing that with one simple instruction a million ideas can come from it. Some of the groups did fairy tales and some did biographies. I was surprised to find that the activities that went along with the biographies were just as fun and interactive as the activities for the other fictional (fun) stories. That was a good lesson for me because I assumed that the fun activities go with the fun books but they proved to me that fun can be had with any sort of topic/book that you have!

I really love the idea of making story time interactive. So often teachers make the students sit on the floor and just read an entire story to them. This can be fun but I think a lot of the students might disengage and not pay attention. With dramatic activities the students can all feel involved and really process all that they are hearing about. This can make more "boring" topics like history or math more exciting because the students will know that they will be able to get and and move around instead of being lectured to all day. Great week!

Drama Week

This week was so great! I love being able to get out of the desk and DO something! Especially when it involves moving around and being creative! And I think that students feel pretty much the same way (being that I don't consider myself THAT much more mature or restless... :) ). I loved how much interaction and group participation these activities promoted! It was a little uncomfortable at first to do the mirror activity because neither person really knew what to expect but after a few minutes it began to be fun and challenging. The machine was by far the best activity because it was fun and made us think of new and fun ways to work together. This would be so great for students to learn to come out of their shells and work together for the greater good.

The story dramas were equally as fun because it let us interact with each other in a new and creative way. It made us all re think about a story that we have heard a million times. It was fun and made us all think deeper which is what students need to do with stories and reading that they do. It was so much fun and was genuinely the only class that week that I wish wouldn't end. :) Thanks!