A healthy assessment
When
thinking about my feelings of being assessed when I was studying, and how I
want my students to feel when I assess them…
I moved
through the Dance Examinations route, before going onto study at Northern
School of Contemporary Dance. With it came intense critique and criticism and
when we got those notes from the Examiner and our grade it was damning to read.
It was like the things you least like about your technique was given to you as
proof and finalized. Not great for ones confidence!
We did
have a wonderful, funny, extremely hard working, very successful teacher both
as a dance in her career, and as a teacher and choreographer, and knew how to
push you to your limits and get the best from you. We were never pitted against
one another, and we knew clearly that each student had their unique body type
and with that came strengths and limitations.
I am
very careful to promote a healthy body image to my students in the classroom. I
teach them to be strong and healthy not about weight. I feel it is important to
let them know that each body is different and I ask them to gather round and
show them my corrections, have them make corrections on each other to really
see and feel how the body moves, how to improve technique and what they need to
work on.
I teach
in an Elementary School. Students who choose to study Dance can continue until
the International Baccalaureate
as a senior in High School.
They
start from Kindergarten with me and can dance for 12 years in the School. It’s
a system I created, and I’m very proud of it. I wanted Dance to be available
within School not just in Private Dance Schools.
I am
learning that assessment and grades at the end of the year can be damaging and
lower self-esteem. I overheard students very disheartened with an 85/100 for
example. My aim was to encourage them to work harder and apply themselves and
come to me for feedback on what they could do to raise their grade. But instead
they were disheartened and wanted 100/100 like their friend and felt inadequate.
So now
I speak with them regularly both as a group and individually about how I assess
their progress, what I’m looking for, let them know their current grades, so
they can work on it until the end of the year. We use videos, choreography
projects, group work, they teach each other small sections of the class so they
have to come prepared with for example a warm up, and I give feedback to the
whole group on positive work as it happens. Watching one another and working
with one another is a great learning tool, opposed to always following teacher,
do as he/she does.
If I
feel a student is not applying him or herself, I will speak to them, the
student counsellor, form tutor if necessary, to find a solution to help this
student have a positive experience and if they are blocked emotionally we try
to turn these feelings into strengths in their creative journey.
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