Music and Dance

Last week our music/dance class was my favorite out of all my classes all semester. It was so much fun! I enjoyed seeing what the different groups put together for their lessons. These activities would add a lot of fun and creativity to lessons. I think these type of activities engage students and draw them into whatever is being taught. Movement forces them to "walk in their shoes" like we did when dramatizing the slaves with the Henry's Freedom Box book. I loved the book and would like to do that activity. The Utah Counties song was useful also. I liked that the teachers constantly changed the activity so it didn't become monotonous. They used beach balls, clapping, and striking a pose.

The schoolhouse rock dance about the revolutionary war was fun and reinforced the main events of that war. I also enjoyed the "rock" song and think it would capture student's attention for the lesson. The lesson on dancing to different types of music was a lot of fun. As a student it's a little intimidating at first to create a dance but very enjoyable. Creating the Indian dance was fun also. Lastly, the water cycle song was so cute. It was easy to learn but taught the main points of the water cycle and taught some very important vocabulary.

I would love to use dance and music in the classroom. I am amazed that it is pretty simple to introduce the song or dance and the students just take off with the idea and further dramatize and embellish on the idea. I hope that wherever I teach the arts are fully used and appreciated. I think students can retain information that was taught to music for years. Impressive!