Dance & Literacy

1. Dance & Literacy an arts integrated education leads to a thriving learning environment

2. Why should dance be offered within our schools? • Including dance within the school system leads to a strong teaching and learning environment where students are able to embody their lessons and increase their learning potential!

3. WRITING Idea Individual Words Individual Words used to form Sentences Sentences combined to form Paragraphs Paragraphs linked to form a complete piece of writing DANCE Idea Individual Movements Individual Movements used to form Movement Phrases Movement Phrases are arranged to create an entire dance The Similarities Between Writing & DanceA piece of choreography and a piece of writing have similar compositional elements According to Susan McGreevy Nichols, a Past President of NDA, Founding Member of NDEO, and Current Co-President of CDEA: “Dance and writing both have a vocabulary, which the writer/reader and dancer use to create meaning.  A piece of writing and a dance have a beginning, middle and end and use an organizing structure. A series of dances can be used to tell a story or express a more complex theme; the same is true of the chapters of in a written story.” http://www.teachingarts.org/dance/stories/storyReader$41

4. Dance Aids in the Development of Reading Skills • Dance can play an important and active role in any school environment, with any grade level. • According to the Crayola.com website, “two urban teachers, a dancer and a kindergarten teacher, worked together to support their students' emergent literacy. Within just two months, all of the kindergarten children were reading their own, and other classmates', books.” • As a result of the arts-integrated approach to literacy, the two educators found the kindergarten students to: • pay more attention to detail • improve their recall of sequences of events in a story through dance and then words • increasingly grasp concepts • use their imaginations • become increasingly cooperative as a group • listen more attentively • exhibit leadership skills

5. Multiple Intelligences According to Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, students learn in a variety of ways. For instance, some children are visual learners, some are audio learners, and some learn best from a hands-on approach. Therefore, it is the responsibility of our schools to provide a multitude of teaching and learning approaches to give each student an equal chance at success. Pictures: http://www.whirlwind-results.org/

6. But…most importantly • Dance is a fun and innovative approach to traditional education that will enhance our schools and play an important factor in the success of our students today to ensure thriving adults tomorrow.

7. Katie Petronio Fall 2005 Technology Resources for the Performing Arts New York University