Dance: Action Pak Resource

I have never taught dance and the idea of teaching the subject felt daunting. That being said, I learned about some excellent resources in class that would make the job a lot easier. One of my favourite resources was the Action Pak Dance resource cards. They are a series of action words as well as the elements of dance on colour coded cards. They are based on the principals of movement and help to show students how their bodies can move. These cards think beyond literal steps and doing something right. They give students a chance to explore, experiment and move in different ways. Words such as expand/shrink, melt, shiver, sway and dart are just a few of the 70 cards.

The Action Pak website also has several other really useful resources such as 2 books which connect dance to the curriculum and stand alone lesson ideas. They also have an assessment and evaluation book which includes rubrics, checklists, journal reflections and report card comment samples. Finally, there is a mini pak which has the 70 creative action cards in smaller size and 4 games that you could do with your class. Having these resources available makes teacher dance feel more manageable. 

In addition, Physical and Health Education Canada has some very simple yet effective dance lesson ideas. These lessons focus on how to incorporate dance into physical education. A simple example was to give students a letter of the alphabet and have them create a movement that goes along with their letter. The movement does not have to resemble the letter but it could if they wanted (example: A = spin around, B= clap your hands ect.). Then students would show their movement to the class and you could do the alphabet with each student doing their movement. This could demonstrate a progression of movement and the unique movements that each student came up with. 

This website also talks about why it’s important to teach dance. They list 5 reasons:

1. It’s part of the curriculum!
2. Dance educates students.
3. Dance educated the entire self and provides an ideal vehicle for students to learn physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially.
4. Dance provides opportunities for cross-curricular and integrated learning.
5. Dance education creates balance within the educational program. 

These are just a few resources I found to be extremely helpful and I would recommend referring to them if you ever need an idea or supporting material.