Reflection #6

What -One new insight that I have is that creative dance is fun for everyone! You do not have to be a fabulous dancer to participate in creative dance. There are endless possibilities with creative dance. There are many reasons why creative dance is important to incorporate into the classroom. One reason is that dance can develop confidence and self-control. It lets shy children get out and express themselves. Also, dance is good exercise. It gets children up and moving. It is especially great for those who cannot sit still for a long period of time. It is important for children to know that in creative dance there is no right or wrong way.

Well at first I felt awkward and uncomfortable as I worked in class. Later after moving for a while I started to loosen up and not really care what moves I was making or care if others were looking at me. As we read Where The Wild Things Are the dance moves we were creating applied directly to the book. For example, when we were pretending to be the Wild Things the book seemed like it came to life. I saw that I could use forms of dance to extend a books message and to make it stand out more.

So What- To help me prepare for next week, I received a better understanding of creative dance. I am more aware of what creative dance is and how I can implement it into field. I can also get ideas from our book to use in the classroom, whether it is a book or introducing a new unit. Participating in creative dance made me realize how practical it is and I was surprised at how comfortable I felt in the end of the dance number for example, being a tree and moving its branches. At first being a tree was awkward, later I saw how the book came to life.

Now What- I plan on actively interpreting books into dance movements and practicing new ideas for creative dance and using them in my classroom. I hope to be aware of the different steps I could use and also finding the right music to go with my dance numbers.