Featured Strategy Descriptions
DANCING PHRASES A CLRP STRATEGY
The strategy is designed to expand the students’ awareness of their own bodies as forms of communication – body language – that can often communicate meaning as or more effectively than simply words. The students are given opportunities to engage in the creative process as dancer and choreographer both of their messages.
OBJECTIVES
• Build a sense of community among the learners
• Identify non-linguistic communication modes
• Apply creative thinking to movement
• Engage the whole body in learning
• Explore and share voice and meaning through physical movement
GRADE(S) 4-12
Using the Strategy
GROUPING
Individual to Whole Group
MATERIALS
• Movement Space
• Sentence Strips
• Markers
• Word Cards
SOURCE
Francisca Sánchez
TIME NEEDED 90 Minutes
PROCESS
• TEACHER NOTE: This strategy borrows the concept of DANCE PHRASE from dance vocabulary. DANCE PHRASE refers to a small choreographic unit (a gesture, movement or phrase) that is the main reference from which a bigger choreography (or dance piece) is built and composed.
• In preparation for what follows in the next bullet, the teacher should provide a warm-up on exploring various type of emotions using their bodies to demonstrate. This provides the students with ideas of what it feels and looks like in their bodies. This allows students to pull from prior knowledge to create their own gestures or movements asked in bullet two
• The teacher asks students to work in pairs. She provides each pair with a set of cards. Each card has one descriptive word (can be any part of speech) on it, i.e., delighted, puzzled, destroyed, abandoned, refreshed).
• The teacher then asks students to think about how they could communicate the ideas on their cards without words, by using gestures or movement. She asks students to think about how they can listen to their own bodies and how their bodies might provide a movement that communicates the message of their words.
• The pairs then work on identifying gestures and movements to communicate each of their words.
• The pairs become groups of four (two pairs joining together) to share/perform their gestures, trying to guess which words are being performed. Together, they fine-tune their gestures/movements to be more precise and communicative.
• The teacher sets the curricular context now by explaining that while they have been studying/learning about topic X, they are now going to try to view their learnings from a different perspective, creating a different sensory experience.
• The students work in their groups of four to identify one to three key learnings or big ideas from what they have been studying. They record their learnings/big ideas on separate sentence strips.
• The teacher then asks students to think about how they could communicate their ideas without words, by using gestures or movement. She asks students to think about how they can listen to their own bodies and how their bodies might provide a movement that communicates the message of their idea.
• Student groups then create a movement or dance phrase for each of their big ideas. They practice these in order to be able to perform them for the rest of the class.
• Each group shares its big ideas, performing the related dance movement/gesture with each.
• Other students provide feedback using a simple rubric that addresses how well the selected movements communicated the big idea.
Synthesis, Reflection/Debriefing
• Journal Reflection: Individually, students reflect in their journal in response to the following prompt: How did having to translate your learnings/big ideas into the language of movement deepen your understanding of the content topic? Why do you think this happened?
• Group Conversation: Students work in small groups to respond to the following prompts: What happened here? What did we actually do/accomplish? What did we learn as a result? How might we apply what we learned to the way we approach new content in order to more fully understand and/or communicate it?
• Whole Class Sharing: A representative from each small group shares out one or two highlights from the group conversations.
VSAF 2023 | 4
Culturally & Linguistically Responsive Arts Teaching and Learning in Action
Featured Strategy Descriptions
TABLEAU A CLRP STRATEGY
Students are kinetic and visceral beings and this mode of teaching can tap into strengths and understandings that supersede the written word. Allowing students to demonstrate physically their knowledge assists those with communication needs and is inclusive in nature. Creating opportunities for students to determine and design other content areas to mime present using tableau brings cross-disciplinary learning and expands the probability that students will be able to draw from their own home/community learning and knowledge to establish deeper learning connections.
OBJECTIVES
• Connect with student expertise and competencies
• Build learning partnerships
• Develop oral language, artistic, and cognitive skills
• Develop cooperative and organization skills
• Develop critical thinking skills
• Structure application/synthesis, creativity
• Use communication and listening skills
Using the Strategy
MATERIALS
• Tableau Topic Descriptions/Handouts
• Role Descriptions
• Map/Chart
• Sentence Strips (for Plaque Descriptions)
• Markers
PROCESS
• Students work in groups of four. Each group is responsible for creating a “tableau” using their bodies that represents an important aspect of the topic/theme they have been studying. The tableau includes a “plaque” or sign that has one descriptive phrase or sentence that captures the heart of the topic of the tableau.
• All group members participate in the tableau. Each group member also takes on a specific role, i.e., sculptor, plaque writer, spokesperson, graphic designer.
• Group members read their handout. Each group gets a different handout. For example, if the topic of study is patterns, the handouts might be: patterns in nature, the environment, and works of art. If the topic of study is the life cycle of a butterfly, then the handouts might be: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly.
• As an alternative, every group can focus on the same aspect of the topic. The result will be different interpretations of the same topic, rather than different aspects of the same topic.
• Group members brainstorm ideas for the tableau; decide what the tableau’s plaque should say.
• The teacher can also provide a map or chart and ask each group to use the map/chart to place the tableau geographically, historically, biologically, artistically, etc.
• Group members “build” their tableau, and then “perform” by “freezing” and letting the other students guess the nature of their tableau. Then the group chorally recites its plaque statement.
• The audience takes notes while watching other tableaux and asks questions about the other groups’ interpretations of their assignment.
Synthesis, Reflection/Debriefing
• What was the most challenging or rewarding part of this task?
• How did this activity help you remember what you already knew about your topic? How did this activity help you learn new things about this topic?
• How can we use this same strategy (tableau) to help us learn/teach other things we are studying?
• How did this task help you (1) build stronger relationships and connections with your team/class; (2) develop respect for your team’s/class’ perspectives; (3) take responsibility for your/your team’s learning; and/or (4) connect to learning that is important/interesting to you?
• How will you be able to use what you did/learned today to help you in future learning tasks?
• What helped you/your team succeed at the task? What kept you/your team from being as successful as you would have liked?
• Did you feel that you and your classmates cooperated and listened well and communicated effectively?
VSAF 2023 | 5
GRADE(S) K-Adult GROUPING Group and/or Whole Class SOURCE Unknown – Late 17th Century TIME NEEDED 60 Minutes
CALIFORNIA COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS EDUCATIONAL SERVICES ASSOCIATION (CCSESA) • ARTS INITIATIVE
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VSAF 2023 | 5 THE MUSIC CENTER 135 N. Grand Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 972-7211
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The 2022 Very Special Arts Festival at The Music Center. Photo by John McCoy.
