Stephanie Donovan, a qualified primary school teacher and fitness instructor leads this one-hour on-demand course aimed at enhancing knowledge and confidence in teaching primary school dance. The course structure includes easily digestible units that cover dance in the primary curriculum, lesson structures, key terminology, support for children and progression examples.
The course explores various facets of dance pedagogy emphasising the significance of selecting a unifying theme to provide pupils with direction and pertinence. The incorporation of visual stimuli, like imagery and video clips, is recommended to nurture creativity and facilitate idea generation among pupils.
During the course parallels are drawn between dance instruction and teaching writing, offering transposable approaches. Mobility, resource utilization, and game-based learning are also touched upon.
The course delves into a four-part structure for dance lessons, which includes warm-up, exploration, application and choreography, and performance and feedback. Key subject-specific dance terminology is highlighted to enhance communication and routine creation. Terms like choreography, genre, musicality, and more are discussed.
Support and Challenge are explored using various ways to support and challenge pupils in dance lessons, including the use of working walls, mind maps, stretch or challenge cards, metronomes, and different music tempos.
The course discusses ensuring progression in primary dance provision. It emphasises demonstrating progression through theme choices and skill development across key stages. Key Stage 1 introduces concepts and responses to stimuli, Lower Key Stage 2 emphasizes autonomy and collaboration, while Upper Key Stage 2 builds on skills, incorporating more complex stimuli, narrative elements, and refined performance techniques.
Finally, insights into teaching dance in the PE curriculum and enhancing confidence and practical ideas for Key Stages 1 and 2 are provided with additional recommendations for courses in the early years.
