How to teach elementary dance during distanced learning
Considering how most teachers teach the subject of dance, pivoting it to online can be really hard to wrap your head around. Here are some tips and resources for keeping your online dance lessons meaningful and engaging for students.
Tips for Teaching Dance Online
- Use a focus on analysis as a way to side-step the difficulties of getting students to perform on-screen. Students do not need to dance themselves to show understanding of every curriculum expectation.
- Try using Flipgrid – Flipgrid is a great little free app that allows students to submit assignments via video quickly and easily. Since it’s meant for teachers, the privacy settings are well thought out.
- Canada’s National Ballet School has an excellent library of resources for elementary teachers. Registration is free, and the quality of the content is high.
Lesson Plan Ideas for Teaching Dance Online
- So You Think You Can Teach The Elements of Dance Units
These units were created to teach students the important skill of analysis – to first know what each of the elements mean, and then to be able to find examples of them and evaluate their use in performances that they watch. Because they focus on analysis, they are easy to use while teaching remotely and include Google Drive versions:- So You Think You Can Teach the Elements of Dance – Grades 4-6
- So You Think You Can Teach the Elements of Dance, Group Edition – Grades 4-6
- So You Think You Can Teach the Elements of Dance – Primary Version
- Roll-A-Dance Worksheets (Primary)
These are easy to use little worksheets that are a quick way of generating dance marks from your students. They don’t require anything except a dice – and kids can easily use an online one if they don’t have a dice to roll at home. - Introduction to Ballet (Primary)
This workbook teaches the elements of dance with a specific focus on the technique found in ballet. Just add a recording of any professional ballet performance and you have a complete unit.