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Creating the curriculum for your K-12 dance classroom

This is an excerpt from Core Teaching Practices for Dance Education With HKPropel Access by Emily Enloe.

Maybe you are fortunate enough to have a state- or district-mandated curriculum to give you guidelines and pacing for the year. On the other hand, maybe you are unfortunate enough to have a poorly created curriculum, or you may have no guidance at all on where to start teaching. For some teachers, a guide is a helpful place to start and lets you know whether you are on the right path for your teaching. For others, it may feel stifling, especially if guides are poorly written or if you relish the creative process of developing lesson plans. Either way, there are several factors to consider when teaching dance in a K-12 setting that may differ from those in independent or higher education sectors of dance. The following section outlines various aspects to consider when creating, planning, and implementing a program for a K-12 dance classroom.

Planning Your Program

Whether you are starting a new dance program, entering as the new teacher in an established program, or revamping your own program for a new year, it is important to start with determining basic long- and short-term plans. Your school likely has a mission and vision statement, which you should use as a guide when developing your own program so that it fits within your school community. You can also create an additional specific mission and vision for your dance program to guide your instruction and therefore your curriculum. Once you have a broad idea of what your program’s goal is, you can begin planning your curriculum. However, before you begin reading or creating dance-specific plans, you also have other aspects of your program to plan as a K-12 educator.

One aspect of planning your program is setting up the various components of instruction that allow you to teach students throughout the year. Often guided by your school or district mandates, these items include your grading system, calendar, finances, procedures, family communication, meetings, testing, award ceremonies, and other activities throughout the year. Although you may not directly interact with each of these components during your daily instruction, they can help create a successful K-12 dance program. Additionally, your plans for some items, such as grades or performances, can guide your approach to daily lessons. To help with these planning items, the ancillary materials include an editable program plan worksheet. This worksheet provides a starting point for determining items at various points throughout the year that you may need to address and complete for your dance program to be successful.

An important item to create and share related to planning is a dance program syllabus. Although you may know and understand what your program is about, your students and families may not. A syllabus is one way to share all important information regarding your program with your students and families. How your syllabus looks depends on your grade level, as well as district requirements. Although used more often in higher grade levels, a syllabus can be modified for younger students and their families to inform them of all program expectations. It can be formal and detailed, or it can be brief, such as a simple welcome message and outline. If your district requires you to share specific information with families through a syllabus, be sure to include all required items in addition to your dance-specific information. You may have a template to follow, or you may work with a team at your school to create one for everyone to collaborate on together. In any scenario, how and what you share on a syllabus will set the tone for your program and provide important information for all dancers and their families. You can use the included syllabus checklist and sample to get started.

More Excerpts From Core Teaching Practices for Dance Education With HKPropel Access

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