Mrs. Golesh's Class Jan. 18th, 2013

On my final visit to Mrs. Golesh's class we continued to practice the Pavane, the Gallard, and the class dance so that the students would be ready for their performance. The dances that we worked on helped the student to review the concepts that they had learned from their Middle Ages unit. This Arts Bridge experience occurred with one of the 6th grade classes at Herramin Elementary, but Mrs. Golesh has said that she plans to also do this with the other 6th grade classes as the classes switch teachers for each unit in Social Studies at Herramin Elementary.

Mrs. Golesh's Class Jan. 16th, 2013

On my sixth visit to Mrs. Golesh's class most of the class was back from being sick, but we did still have quite a few students missing. Instead of warming up using the brain dance we practiced the Pavane and the Gallard which would also be performed for the other 6th grade classes. We then added the students who were absent on day five into the lineup for the dance and went over what we had worked on before. The new students were given time to come up with their solos while the students who already had their solos were given time to practice their solos. We then spent most of the class practicing the dance and making sure that they were being clear about their performance.

Mrs. Golesh's Class Jan. 14th, 2013

For the fifth day I visited Mrs. Golesh's class we started work on putting together a class dance to be performed for the other 6th grade classes. Over half of the class was absent due to a flu bug that had been going around so the students who were there learned the dance so that other students could be added in between them for my next visit. We started off with the brain dance to get warmed up and then got to work putting together movement from the concepts we had already talked about in classes. The first part of the dance was representative of what we learned about pathways and locomotor movement that followed the patterns found in maps. The second part of the dance brought each student on stage in small groups to do their movement from the day we talked about speed and the social pyramid. The last part we learned on the fifth day was related to the lesson we did on body parts and stained class windows. Each student was asked to find three different shapes that the could dance between which emphasized two body parts for each shape. The students performed these as short solo sequences starting one after the other. We then spent the rest of the class practicing the movement they had come up with for the dance.

Mrs. Golesh's Class Wednesday Jan. 9th, 2013

The fourth day I visited Mrs. Golesh's class we talked about the castles that were built in the Middle ages and their construction. To start the class we, again, warmed up with the brain dance. This time Mrs. Golesh led them in the brain dance. She did very good incorporating some crossovers to keep the brain dance interesting. I have noticed that starting every class with the brain dance seems to be a nice opportunity for students to come to class knowing what it will start with. They seem to enjoy being able to remember what order the brain dance goes in and have fun changing it up sometimes.

 I taught the students two dances that were done in castles in the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance periods. The first dance was called the Pavane. The Pavane was always the first dance done at any dancing parties held in castles. The dance following the Pavane was called the Gallard. The Gallard was a more lively, quick, jumping dance. As I taught both of these classes we talked about the music that was played live at the dances by musicians who sat up on a balcony over the dance. We practiced the dances to the actual music that would have been played at these dances. We also talked about the different clothing and costumes that would have been worn at these dances. We talked about how the clothes were extremely heavy so they probably would not have jumped very high and they would have needed to be very graceful in their dancing. The students were allowed to dance in boy-boy, girl-girl, or boy-girl partnerships so they were more comfortable, but I did explain that traditionally the dances would have always been done boy-girl.

Overall the lesson seemed to go really well. The students were very receptive to being taught a dance that really came from the time period they were studying. I could tell that the students were a little uncomfortable with some of the creative portions of the classes that we had been working on, but they did seem much more comfortable learning the pre-set movement. The students also seemed to enjoy getting to know more about the social culture of the time period they were learning about. In the future  it would be nice to have access to even more pictures, videos, and possibly even costume pieces for the students to see. I think this was one of the most enjoyable and successful classes we have had so far.