Institution: University of Montana
Discipline: Dance / Education / Physical Education
Title: Teaching Movement in the Schools
Instructor: Karen Kaufmann
Model: Discipline-based
Rating: 5 out of 5

DA 427 Teaching Movement in the Schools

Course Requirements

Class Attendance
Attendance is extremely important. More than two absences will lower your grade. If you miss a class, it’s your responsibility to get the material you missed from someone else in the class.

Lesson Plans (15%)
Write 3 original “practice” lesson plans (specify age levels)
“Space” due: September 18
“Time” due: October 1
“Energy” due: October 10 (peer assessment)

Mid term Exam (20%) October 24

Service Learning Internship (25%) in pairs throughout November
Students will teach creative movement classes in a Missoula public school or preschool setting between Halloween and Thanksgiving. In late Sept you will pair up with a teaching partner and discuss your preferred grade level(s) for school placement. I will attempt to place you in your requested grade level. Each person will teach three classes and assist in their partners three classes, for a total of six classes in the schools (to be scheduled according to your availability). During the Teaching Internship we will discuss your successes and challenges during our regularly scheduled classes.

Classroom Observations.
Visit your teaching site the week of October 25th and observe for at least one hour. Write an in depth observation of the students, classroom environment, curriculum, teachers’ style, verbal and non verbal communication, anything you notice. Be specific. 2 pages. Due October 31

Final Class Project (20%)

Final Exam (20%) Wednesday, December 19, 8:00-10:00 AM – Essay questions concerning your philosophies of teaching creative movement.

Service Learning File

The Public School Internship involves community visits by DA 427 students. Your interactions with students, teachers and school officials should reflect professionalism and maturity. Please be punctual, well organized and reasonably dressed when you visit the schools.

Your Service Learning File will be assessed on the following criteria:
-The thoroughness of your preparation for each lesson.
-The sequential development from one lesson to the next.
-Your ability to observe, evaluate and record the needs and progress of the students, your own teaching progress, and the teaching of your partner.

Your Service Learning File should contain the following:

1) Demographics

Your name
Name and address of school
Supporting Teachers name
Number of students
Days and times of each class taught
Room where class was held

2) Your Original Lesson Plans for three classes – include date, grade level, length of class and step by step progression of the lesson.

3) Evaluations of each of your classes and each of your partners’ classes
This is the most important part of the Teaching File. This should be in journal form, written immediately after the class. The evaluation is an honest reflection of what actually happened. Record all your feelings, insecurities, successes and failures and “if onlys”. Be in depth and specific.

4) Overview of the Service Learning Experience
This should be completed at the very end, when all your lessons have been taught and evaluations written up. Think critically about these questions:

1. How would you describe your group of children?
2. Did they change at all during the course of the lessons? What are your impressions of the children now? (Include your initial observations of class).
3. Describe how you and your partner interacted in these classes.
4. Did your partner support your lesson? How or how not?
5. What did you, personally, learn about teaching this semester? Describe your knowledge base when you started. Where are you now?
6. What comments were you given about your teaching? What difficulties did you face? What was gained?
7. How can you realistically envision using creative movement in the future?

Course Objectives

To develop an understanding of the educational, artistic, physical and emotional benefits of kinesthetic learning for children.
To train artists and educators to utilize Creative Movement within the school curriculum.
To provide exposure to past and current literature and theories in the fields of creative movement, kinesthetic education and the creative arts.
To provide first hand experiences and explorations in the basic elements of movement through service learning..
To learn methods, techniques and applications for integrating movement in the curriculum.
To learn pedagogical techniques for maintaining discipline and control while guiding an active group of moving children.
To encourage personal exploration in creative movement as an expressive art form.

Required Texts

The Language of Movement, An Idea Book for Teachers by Karen Kaufmann ($12)

On Reserve at Mansfield Library: “Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence,” Frames of Mind, Howard Gardner.

“Moving and Learning: Kinesthetic Intelligence,” Teaching and Learning Through Multiple Intelligences by Linda Campbell.

A Collection of Creative Movement Lesson Plans, Written by Montana Teachers. Edited by Karen A. Kaufmann ($18)