Lesson 1.1: A Need for Dance Integration
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Lesson Objective
Participants will be able to...
- Describe the need for more dance education and integration in K-12 schools in the United States
- Reflect on the arts education offered in their schools
Read
Did you know? Only 3% of public elementary schools in the United States of America offered instruction specifically for dance in the 2009-2010 school year. That was a significant decrease from the 21% of schools in the 1999-2000 school year. Only 12% of public secondary schools offered instruction in dance during the 2008-2009 school year. The figure to the right demonstrates the contrast between the presence of dance in secondary schools of that year compared to other arts disciplines.
Why is that important? Dance has many unique advantages that we will expand upon next lesson. There is simply not enough funding or resources to reach more students that could benefit from dance. A better understanding of these will hopefully encourage you to integrate dance into your planning. Do not worry, I recognize you are already here in this mini-course! You must have at least some interest or curiosity. However, equipping yourself with this knowledge can also help you justify your curricular choices to any potential stakeholders that may be inquiring. Teachers like you are integral in providing dance-related learning experiences to your students. In fact, 61% of public elementary schools reported incorporating dance into other subject areas in the 2009-2010 school year (physical education programs, music curricula, and other disciplines).
Will that be challenging? It does not have to be. Dance has many natural entry-points into other disciplines. Many progressive thinkers have been discovering the potential connections in recent years. We will explore some examples in later units. After that we will continue through a step-by-step process to develop units that integrates dance concepts within your content area or adapt ones you already have
Reflect
What type of arts disciplines are offered at your school or when you were a K-12 student?
References
- Parsad, B., Spiegelman, M., & Coopersmith, J. Arts Education: In public elementary and secondary schools, 1999-2000 and 2009-10, Arts Education: In public elementary and secondary schools, 1999-2000 and 2009-101–126 (2012). Washington DC. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012014rev.pdf
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