ACE // Dance Club!
Entering 2018-2019 school year I felt prepared for all the work ahead of me. I am a support in 1st grade, lead intervention with small groups, support with recess and lunch duty, as well as covering the front desk for Ms. Vickie’s lunch break. Little to my knowledge there was one more task that I suddenly had to take on. 6 days before dance club was set to start, I was approached by the Director of Operations and Compliance about potentially filling in as the dance instructor for DAA’S ACE program. Standing in “shock”, I excitingly accepted the offer. Immediately I started to think and plan for the class. I Chose what song I wanted the students to dance to and started choreographing a routine that same night. I created a GroupMe account for communication purposes as well as to inform the parents of the change that will take place that coming Wednesday in dance club.
Finally, the first day of dance club is here and I am super excited to get to meet all of the students participating. By the looks on their faces and their body language I could tell that most of the students were just as eager and excited to be there as I was. We started the class off with an icebreaker/greeting to get everyone familiar with names and faces, followed by a quick activity. As we moved forward with the class, I could tell that they were ready to learn some new dances/choreography but, to their surprise we weren’t learning any choreography this week. I wanted to set the tone for the class. So I made an anchor chart of Dance club norms as well as a chart on how dance club should look, sound and feel. Each student was able to participate in setting the norms and giving feedback on how we would honor those norms. At the end of the class we had a few extra minutes to spare so I decided to give them a sneak peek of the song they would be dancing to as well test their confidence by letting them freestyle dance to Ciara’s ‘Level up”. As parents came in to pick up their little ones I knew the first day of dance club was a success by the smiling faces that were leaving the gym.
In the weeks to come in dance club, students will begin each day with a snack, followed by stretching and the learning and practicing of the choreography. We are preparing for a performance at DAA’s 1st Celebration of learning of the school year on January, 31st 2018. I am so excited to see the growth and confidence the dancers will gain over the next 10 weeks. I am also honored to have been considered for this role and I am willing to continue in this role for the next cycle of ACE programs.