Modeling Socially Intelligent Behavior Social intelligence is more than “the capacity for extracting the rules, protocols, and norms that guide appropriate behavior in a given social setting,” according to Daniel Goleman, Ph.D., author of Social Intelligence. The full spectrum of what signals an individual’s social intelligence also includes “social awareness, what we sense about others, and social…
My sense of living well has shifted. The things I care about are different. I nourish plants. I roll my own pasta. I teach dance to kids. I work from home for a fintech company. I snowboard. I do yoga. I work out. I have friends outside of “dance.” I pour love into my partnership,…
This blog entry has been adapted and first appeared on DanceEdTips.com on October 15, 2019. “Art becomes more important than ever to answer man’s need to participate, to experience total involvement, to restore psychic balance, to compensate for the spiritual inadequacies of the present. In one way or another, the philosophers of the human experience…
Hey, new K-12 teacher! When you teach dance, there is a good chance that your administrators and even your instructional coaches will not understand your specialized language. They are likely to recognize markers of high-quality instruction, so keep this in mind when you’re trying to impress them. It’s likely these folks will be evaluating your…
This blog post picks up from “America’s Hidden Figures Deserve the Light of Day“ Hardly had the ink dried on many university presidents’ statements responding to the civil unrest of 2020 than the backlash began. I was one of the countless educators preparing the summer of 2020 to teach amid a global pandemic. I watched…
(This entry was originally a social media post on my personal page.) One of my biggest joys this year has been teaching kids again. I’ve been teaching beginning contemporary for 10-12 year olds regularly, but yesterday I was asked to sub hip-hop for 6-8-year-olds with only about an hour to prepare. I said yes. I…
When white parents say things like, “I don’t want my daughter to grow up feeling guilty for being white,” it offers a prime example of the blinding effects of white privilege. Instead of engaging in intercultural opportunities that could alleviate such intolerant and misguided attitudes, they choose to shelter their children from vital conversations. Protecting…
Practice is the means of inviting the perfection desired. — Martha Graham In secondary dance programs, it can be difficult to create space for everything we want to address in our curriculum. Finding adequate time to develop critical dance competencies is challenge number one, especially when the typical class format is under an hour. Tasked…
You may be wondering… Now that I’ve landed this fabulous dance teaching position, what are the expectations regarding what I teach? Must I align each lesson plan with the dance education standards from my state? Will the standards benefit my students? Will they benefit me? Educational standards benefit the dance educator in at least three…
Welcome to the new school year! Your classroom is beautifully arranged. You have plans set for the entire first quarter. On the first day, everyone in your Beginning Dance class is well-behaved. Your first week with new students is quite calm, then things start to show signs of changing. If you give ’em an inch, they’ll take a mile. Turn your…
July 17 – 23: Dunham Teacher Certification WorkshopJuly 25 – July 29: Dunham Technique Intensive The Institute for Dunham Technique Certification is dedicated to perpetuating the legacy of dancer/choreographer/anthropologist Katherine Dunham. (1909-2006) The Institute maintains a professional standard for the teaching of Dunham Technique, and creates a worldwide network of professional Dunham instructors who actively maintain…
Paul Sutherland, a Joffrey Ballet dancer who I knew as a student of the Grand Rapids Ballet School, was a tender man who sprinkled on baby powder and entered the studio every morning to perform hand-stand pushups against the wall. In class, he always addressed us as “dancers,” usually twice in a row, in his…