Welcome Parents and Students to orientation! Santa Susana High School Mr. Lynskey

1. Welcome Parents and Students to orientation!Santa Susana High SchoolMr. Lynskey February 6th, 2019

2. The Student Experience “Santa Susana High School thrives as an educational community committed to ensuring our scholars are prepared for the demands of a global society” (Abbe, 2017). We are a school of choice… we hope to prove to you each and every day that you made the right one!

3. Santa Susana Dance Department Courses • Swing • Jazz • Tap • Ballet • Modern

4. The Dance Classroom: For all learners • All students are welcome and encourage to study an arts discipline, which teaches students to apply complex vocabulary to their form. They are challenged to increase their knowledge about the mechanics of the body, working to develop technical skill sets, correct their alignment, and develop muscle tone. Regardless of circumstance, all students are welcome to take part on our journey to explore movement. We look forward to supporting your child’s development through arts curriculum and differentiation on multiple levels.

5. DANCE IS STRESSFUL…NOTHING ABOUT IT IS EASY. We are tasking the students to contort their bodies into uncomfortable positions, take the stage in formfitting costumes, move in time to music they may not enjoy, all while putting a smile on their face as they demonstrate (publicly) their limited knowledge of the skill sets. How do we overcome? WE CELEBRATE - We cheer for students when they make a mistake and we cheer for students when they achieve a victory. WE LAUGH - I am pretty hilarious…just ask me. We don’t take ourselves to seriously. We call out our own mistakes (including me). WE JUST HAVE FUN – Fall on your face…Laugh about it! My classroom is not about what they can not do? What they will not do? It is about what we can do! What we will do! And how we will enjoy every step. WHAT IS IT LIKE IT MY CLASSROOM?

6. GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CHILD? At the beginning of each semester the students will fill out a questionnaire. • Name (what they would like to be called): • Age: • Grade: • Favorite: Cartoon, Video Game, or Song (share one) • Years experience: • Anything I should know? They are encouraged to share about: Injuries, limitations, specialized needs, religious limitations (music or costume). • Languages spoken: • What can you teach me? This is how I learn about my students. I learn who they are and I leave room for them to open up and share (privately) about their specific needs that may not be mentioned in the child’s 504/IEP. At my school we have students whose religion limits their ability to expose their limbs, students who identify as transgendered, and students who just to want share private information that will help me support their experience in the classroom.

7. WHAT IS DIFFERENTIATION??? (Ferlazzo, 2018)

8. The Differentiated Classroom • “Differentiating instruction means "shaking up" what goes on in the classroom so that students have multiple options for taking in information, making sense of ideas, and expressing what they learn. In other words, a differentiated classroom provides different avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas, and to developing products so that each student can learn effectively” (Tomlinson, 2017, Chapter 1). By differentiating for our students’ needs, we support students in gaining access to content previously out of their reach. We support and encourage student engagement on multiple levels and in a variety of ways. The hope is that we are not delivering content in a one-size-fits-all manner. We support all the learners in a variety of ways, to demonstrate and achieve content literacy in their own way.

9. The Variety of Needs Of my Students Students come to my classroom with a variety of learning needs: • Seating close to the front of the classroom. • More time on assignments and tests. • Support of an aid in the classroom. • Some of their needs may not be listed in their IEP/504 and require arrangements between myself, counselors, parents and administrators. • For example, I have a student who is easily overwhelmed and interrupts instructional time. I made an arrangement with the student that whenever she is feeling overwhelmed, she can ask for “water.” That is the signal for needing to step outside and collect herself. This allows her to take a breath and refresh, without the negative connotations of being called out for disruptive behavior. • Another student has lots of questions, she is really inquisitive and needs one-on-one attention. She is a talented dancer, but she feels that without each question being posed, she may fall behind. We came up with a solution where she writes down each question, as they come to her. If any questions are not answered by the end of the lesson, she can come to my desk and we can work through them. (she has only had to come to my desk 1 time, for one question). Her list is getting shorter each day as she looks for answers in the content of the lesson before asking them or writing them down.

10. The Variety of Needs Of my Parents “The teacher welcomes conversations with parents about their children because both have important perspectives to share. A teacher has a broad view informed by experience with children this age and developmental benchmarks. A parent has a deeper view in regard to the child's interests, feelings, and change over time. When the wide-angle lens and close-up lens both contribute images of the child, the picture becomes fuller for everyone” (Tomlinson, 2018, Chapter 8). I only know what I know. Help me help your child! Through active engagement and open conversations, I would love to be informed of any changes of behavior, the growing needs, and especially any important information that may effect how your child works/learns in my course.

11. What is an Example of Differentiation In the Dance Classroom? • Each semester the students will be creating a DANCE GOALS project. They will be tasked with demonstrating five different goals they seek to achieve during their time in the classroom. They can present their goals in a variety of mediums including: a poster board, or in a short paper. However, I prefer students to choose a medium of expression that represents them. • Student work has been demonstrated in a variety of mediums: • Cartoon • Painting • Written Song • Short Play • Picture Collage • Diorama

12. What is an Example of Differentiation In the Dance Classroom? One of the goals of this classroom is to offer students chance to engage with content in a meaningful way. Students are tasked with identifying and describing the necessary components required to complete a technical skill set. How do we do this? We have the students utilize a guided worksheet, where they speak about content and write down their conversations. How are they supported? • Students work in groups of four where they are supported by their peers to give feedback utilizing vocabulary. • They are given vocabulary reference sheets that describe the skill set with a corresponding picture.

13. What is an Example of Differentiation In the Dance Classroom? Tomlinson states that in a differentiation classroom, “the teacher will… give students a great deal of voice and choice in the work they do, with a goal of helping them learn to make consistently wiser choices and assume increasing independence and ownership of their own success as learners” (2017, Chapter 8). PROJECT BASED LEARNING – THE DANCE FINAL Students work in small groups to create a Dance Commercial. Each student group has a choice and a voice in the product they create. They can choose the song, the product, and how they will showcase the commercial. All the students come together with a variety of backgrounds and individual skills they can pull from to create a unified piece. Students can support the group in any of the following areas : performer, choreographer, producer/director, shooting/editing, etc. The Final Product is what is important…not the dancing. If the student does not want to be on camera or perform it live, they can choose to take on any other role to support their group.

14. Homework: Who needs it? Homework will not be administered in the classroom. All course requirements and activities can be completed during the allotted class time. Although there is no HOMEWORK, students are given a variety of exercises to help develop their skill set acquisition. Students are encouraged to spend time each evening stretching and strengthening their muscles to support their ability to apply complex vocabulary to their form. They will never be graded on the time spent at home working on skill sets, however their ability to progress to the higher levels in the department is based on readiness and safety. If you do not have the ability to perform a specific skill set, it would be dangerous to allow the child to attempt more complex movement. Example: If the child struggles to complete a single pirouette, we will not allow them to attempt a double pirouette.

15. !!!GRADING!!!! How do we grade students in the dance Classroom? The acquisition of technical skill sets can be hindered by a student’s mental and physical development. The evaluation of those skill sets would be completely subjective and students who do not have the facility, would be unable to pass the course. What do we do? Our grading system is based on a students work and their ability to utilize the vocabulary to identify and describe the components necessary to execute a skill set. If they understand the content vocabulary, if they know how to apply it to their form, if they know how to utilize the skill sets to create a choreographed piece…they will succeed. Your student will never receive a poor grade because they are unable to perform a skill. We are all limited in someway, with numerous supports, we will work around our limitations to achieve content literacy, celebrating each victory along the way.

16. I Am HERE! I welcome each of you parents to reach out and seek support when it is needed. If your student needs intervention, a copy of the handouts, or if you just need an update on how they are doing, send an email or make a call. I am here to support you and your student on this educational journey. Please know that at Santa Susana we want to coach the whole child, not just the dancer. Email Trevor.Lynskey@simivalleyusd.org Phone: (661)312-2651

17. References Abbe, M. (2017, August 10). About SSHS. Retrieved January 17, 2018, from https://sshs-simi-ca.schoolloop.com/AboutSSHS Ferlazzo, L. [ED Week]. (2018, September 11). Retrieved January 16, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7-D3gi2lL8 Tomlinson, C.A. (2017). How to differentiate instruction in academically diverse classrooms.Moorabbin, Victoria: Hawker Brownlow Education.