Monday 21 October 2013

Literature Review- Blog Post, Sheri Leblanc -Creative Dance for Young Children Means Creative Teaching Too

Creative Dance for Young Children Means Creative Teaching Too. 
Publisher: Blog post by Sheri Leblanc Tuesday 8th October 2013

I found this piece of Literature from one of my SIG groups on Facebook. Clare Elizabeth posted this blog and I found it relevant to my Inquiry and very interesting. 

Sheri shares the information on her Blog from 4 early childhood dance specialists who gave advice on working with primary aged children and introducing dance to them.

Sheri starts by stating that although teaching young children to dance may sound like fun,there is also a serious side to early childhood dance development. And i couldn't agree more. This is exactly the point i am trying to look at in my Inquiry. The lessons are supposed to be fun but also must be educational as a child's development at this stage is crucial, and you as a teacher will have a massive input on the outcome. 

" It is important to know how children think " , says Rama Faber who developed the primary movers, a curriculum  for early movers. 
(Rima Faber - National Dance Education Organization Emerita, Joy of Motion Dance Center, Washington, DC) 

This is a fantastic point. As a new teacher i think the first thing you need to look at is how to understand who you are working with. I naturally understand adults better as that is who most of my time is spent with, and has been for the past few years of my life. Training with them, working, socializing, living etc so it is now essential for me to to study how children's brains work because of course, it is very different. 
Faber goes on to explain that children don't understand if you tell them to feel something and so you have to use images with them that they have experienced. 

Rachael Carnes says that the biggest mistake NEW teachers make with this age group is talking too much. 
(Candy Beers - Village Dance Studios, Richmond, Virginia)

"Over explaining, being unclear or muddled are great moments for kids to tune out, and you've lost them" 

This links well to my Inquiry as maybe this is one of the factors that motivates a child to misbehave in the first place. So if as a teacher you learn to say what you want, short and sweetly you can avoid a child getting bored/ loosing focus and then you wont have to deal with their misbehaving at all as the situation was resolved before it could even begin! 

"When I was first starting out, I really had to learn to teach to the positive, engaging and rewarding the behaviors you want to see. It’s hard for new teachers to see that by paying attention to the child who’s not participating, you throw everyone else off balance"

What Rachael says here is something i had never really thought about but makes so much sense.
People say in life how important it is to be positive. Be positive and positive things will happen. Well it looks like the same applies for in a classroom. Focusing on a disruptive child is simply just  bringing more negativity to class and just wasting your time and all the other children's time in the class. I admit that i often keep telling a child of in class which now from reading Rachael's comment has made me realize that this did not have any effect. 

I am really glad i have found this Blog. I feel like it has influenced be to come across to my students with a more positive approach when i am disciplining a child and not to focus too much of my time on them or this will effect the whole class. Also that understanding how children's brains work will make your life easier when teaching them and could avoid disruption in the classroom if you have a better understanding of the children. 

Link to Blog Post: 













5 comments:

  1. Hi Chelsie, I'm glad you found the blog useful for your lit review as it has been for mine too. In terms of behaviour I think it's really interesting the point about not focusing on one child if they are misbehaving. I don't think giving them too much attention will be too productive as you've said as some times attention is what they want, so it's as if by giving it to them, we are rewarding them for their behaviour. However, what do you do if the child is disrupting other students and doesn't stop when you ignore them? How do you find the balance between focusing on the children that are trying to learn and making sure that the other child learns correct behaviour and doesn't stop other children from learning?

    Hope your inquiry is going well so far :)

    Clare x

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  2. Hi Clare,

    That is a really good point you have made! Although I feel like in the past I may have focused too much on the misbehaved child in my class, if I choose now to ignore them to avoid not giving the rest of my class the lesson they should have well then am I going to have a child who is doing whatever they want and completely being in control of me?

    One of my classes that I teach I have a little girl who is constantly disrupting the lesson. I am going to try out a method with her. Before the class i am going to speak to her away form the other children and give her an incentive, something to work towards that she can receive at the end of the class of she behaves well.

    I will see how this goes!

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    1. Hi Chelsie..I know exactly what you mean, it's a big dilemma and something that would be really useful to find out a bit more about. Did you try your other method yet? How did it go? Sometimes a quiet word does a lot more than a big fuss. Although every child is different! Good to see you seem to be enjoying your teaching though, keep us posted :)

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  3. Really helpful sharing this Chelsie- please update us on your work for Module 3 0 curious to see how it is going? Please get in touch for a chat to see where you are in the process.

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  4. Hi Chelsie,
    Just wondering where you are up to in the process. I am hoping to complete in May. Your inquiry is very closely linked to mine on motivation and behaviour. I was interested to read about your disruptive student and wondered how your behavioural management technique was working out. My inquiry is as a result of several disruptive
    boys and that led me to look at motivational strategies and teaching techniques specifically aimed at boys. Looking forward to seeing your inquiry develop. Betty x

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