DANCE GENERIC LESSON PLAN (Liberal Studies Level)

INSTRUCTIONAL UNIT:
TEACHER
Ms. Valerie Martinez

COURSE
EDUC 349
DAY
4/23/15
CAMPUS
University of La Verne

GRADE
3rd
SUBJECT
Visual and Performing
Arts: Dance

LESSON TITLE
Degas Dancers!
LENGTH OF LESSON
45 min

CONTENT STANDARDS AND CONTENT OBJECTIVES

SUBJECT STANDARD
2.0 Creative Expression: Creating,
Performing, and Participating in Dance
Students apply choreographic principles,
processes, and skills to create and
communicate meaning through the
improvisation, composition, and performance
of dance.
2.1 Create and perform complex improvised
movement patterns, dance sequences, and
studies.
2.2 Improvise and select multiple
possibilities to solve a given movement
problem (e.g., find four different ways to
combine a turn, stretch, and jump)
2.3 Create a sequence that has a beginning,
a middle, and an end. Name and refine the
parts of the sequence.
2.4 Create a wide variety of shapes and
movements, using different levels in space.
2.5 Perform dances to communicate
personal meaning, using focus and
expression.
2.7 Demonstrate a variety of partner skills
(e.g., imitation, leading/following, mirroring).
2.8 Create, memorize, and perform original
movement sequences with a partner or a
small group.
3.0 Historical and Cultural Context:
Understanding the Historical
Contributions and Cultural Dimensions
of Dance
Students analyze the function and
development of dance in past and present
cultures throughout the world, noting human
diversity as it relates to dance and dancers.
MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE ADDRESSED
Musical-Rhythmic Intelligence: The students
will be utilizing dance to learn about balance
and recreate some of Edgar Degas paintings
by bringing them to life. Musical-Rhythmic
learners have the ability to translate sounds
of nature or those created in ones head into
patterns of music and the activities the
students will be doing will involve
choreography based on their interpretation
of the music.

GOAL OF UNIT
The goal of the unit will be for students to learn
about the history of Impressionism through
Edgar Degass paintings of his dancers and be
able to create their own pictures through dance
while simultaneously learning to work as a
group and the importance of balance.
OBJECTIVE OF LESSON
Given 45 minutes and a presentation depicting
some of Edgar Degas famous paintings on
dancers, students will participate in a variety of
activities that will teach them balance, engage
them to be creative, and ultimately perform
their own choreography to the song La
Cumparsita utilizing all the elements they
have learned to create their own real-life
pictures/paintings of dancers frozen mid dance.

ASSESSMENT
STRATEGY FOR ASSESSMENT
When the students are practicing their balance movement problems, the teacher can see
which students are struggling and give them tips to help them remained balanced.
In the across the classroom activity, the teacher is able to see whether or not the students
are working well within their groups and are able to follow directions. Until they perform well
in this activity, the students will not be able to move on to the more difficult task of coming
up with their own choreography to perform in front of the class.
By coming up with their own choreography, the teacher is able to see which students truly
understood the lesson and the students are able to showcase their creativity.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
STRATEGIES TO MEET DIVERSIFIED LEARNERS
This lesson involves a lot of high-energy activities which may fit the needs of hyperactive or
impulsive students who have a hard time staying still and always seem to be on the go.
Rather than sitting through a lesson they are actively participating and being engaged
through dance and challenging activities that force them to think not just with their mind,
but body. They can release some of their energy during the free-style portions of the
activities and this lesson reinforces their need to think fast on their feet which gages their
interest with fast-paced thinking.
MATERIALS, EQUIPMENT, and TECHNOLOGY NEEDED
https://docs.google.com/a/laverne.edu/presentation/d/14JRo4J0u9zuVSKWOo7gVPbZG2_Pm7x_to4ay7rUFMo/edit?usp=sharing
Laptop/computer, access to the internet, projector, CD player/mp3, the song La
Cumparsita and portable speakers.

STEPS THROUGH THE LESSON

INTO (Orientation)
Instant Activity

Teacher begins lesson by talking about

Edgar Degas utilizing the Google Slides
Presentation Degas Dancers and
explains how he was a famous
Impressionistic artist who often used
dancers as his subject.

Ask students to recall what the

Impressionism movement was known
for and show them pictures of some of
his paintings.
Anticipatory Set

Tell them that art isnt the only artistic

style that can be used to capture a
feeling or experience and that today
theyll be bringing Degas paintings to
life through dance.

THROUGH (Presentation, Structured Practice,

RATIONALE
Impressionism was a style, or movement, in
painting that originated in France in the 1860s,
characterized by a concern with depicting the
visual impression of the moment, especially in
terms of the shifting effect of light and color. It
was also a literary or artistic style that seeks to
capture a feeling or experience rather than to
achieve accurate depiction, such as the
paintings that will be showed to the students.
These examples will act as an opening to the
lesson and get students thinking about the
different artistic ways that are used to portray
life. Involving Edgar Degas paintings also gives
a historical background to this time period and
the dancers depicted give the students an
example of someone who used art to portray a
moment in time that one could find in everyday
life. This opening sets the stage for the
activities the students are to perform within
this lesson by creating their own paintings
showcasing themselves as the dancers.
RATIONALE

Guided Practice)

Demonstration/Lesson Modeling

First, the teacher must teach students

the importance of balance and why it is

By demonstrating balance from unbalance,

students are taught to understand that dance is

important not only in art to create an

aesthetic feeling, but vital for dancing.
Teacher demonstrates balance by
standing with both feet touching the
floor and demonstrates unbalance by
standing with only one foot touching the
floor.
Ask students to do the same in order to
show them that they must rely on their
stomach muscles to help them keep
balanced.

Practice
Students are divided into groups of
three and are asked to make a
connected balancing shape so that
together only three body parts are
touching the ground.
Ask them to try it again but this time
with four body parts touching the
ground, then five. Keep in mind that you
want them to come up with different
variations and learn how to rely on their
stomach muscles and learn to work
together to help maintain balance as
the criteria becomes increasingly
difficult.
Activity
Teacher asks students to line up in their
groups in rows on one side of the
classroom.
Each group will take turns getting from
one side of the classroom to the other
by interpreting the music through freestyle dancing and creating connected
balancing shapes.
Music will be playing in the background
in which students are allowed to
interpret the music how they like and
free-style dance. When the music
stops/is paused, the students will have
to reconnect with the members of their
group and the teacher will call out a
number from 3-12 representing the
number of body parts that have to
touch the ground.
This will continue until all groups have
gone twice across the classroom and
have gotten enough practice to
continue onto the next activity.

all about shifting weight from one foot to

another and that having balance is essential to
dancing and in other art forms as well.
By giving them different scenarios to try out,
students are utilizing their body and core
muscles to accommodate for the compromising
positions they may find themselves in. They are
not only testing their balance, but their bodys
abilities.

They are improvising and learning to come up

with multiple possibilities to solve a given
movement problem.
They are learning to create a wide variety of
shapes and movements, using different levels
in space. When these moves are all put
together they can create beautiful dance
routines. Examples: Lyrical and Contemporary
Dance

Addressing the following content standards:

2.1 Creating and performing complex
improvised movement patterns, dance
sequences, and studies.
The freestyle portions are their opportunities to
be creative and create movement through their
interpretation of the music using their bodies.
2.2 Improvising and selecting multiple
possibilities to solve a given movement
problem (e.g., find four different ways to
combine a turn, stretch, and jump)
Every time they stop and are assigned a certain
number of body parts that have to touch the
floor, the students are forced to think outside
the box and together test all the possibilities by
working as a team.
2.4 Creating a wide variety of shapes and
movements, using different levels in space.
2.7 Demonstrating a variety of partner skills
(e.g., imitation, leading/following, mirroring).
All depending and relying on each other.
2.8 Creating, memorizing, and performing
original movement sequences with a partner or
a small group.
With practice they start becoming better at
assessing what works and doesnt work and get
faster and slipping into position when the music
stops.

BEYOND (Independent Practice)

Teacher will tell students that for their
next activity they will be coming up with
their own choreography to the song La
Cumparsita.
Just like the activity they did earlier, every
time they hear the tuba play in the song
they have to regroup and create a picture
striking a pose just like one of Degas
paintings.
They are free to interpret the rest of the
music, but whenever the tube plays, one
person must stand in the middle and
strike an unbalanced pose using their
group members as steady frames.

RATIONALE
This assignment is testing their ability to listen
and follow directions within the parameters
they were given. It is also Assessing their
abilities to interpret the music and create a
picture in a unique way using their bodies as
the materials and subjects.

This activity addresses the following content

standards:
2.1 Creating and performing complex
improvised movement patterns, dance
sequences, and studies.
2.2 Improvising and selecting multiple
possibilities to solve a given movement
problem (e.g., find four different ways to
Closure
combine a turn, stretch, and jump)
Each group takes turn performing their
2.3 Creating a sequence that has a beginning,
choreography with each member taking a
a middle, and an end. Naming and refining the
turn striking a pose in the middle.
parts of the sequence.
After a group is finished, the other groups
2.4 Creating a wide variety of shapes and
comment on what they liked and
movements, using different levels in space.
comment positively on their peers
2.5 Performing dances to communicate
performance.
personal meaning, using focus and expression.
Once everyone has gone, the teacher with 2.7 Demonstrating a variety of partner skills
have everyone sit down and have a
(e.g., imitation, leading/following, mirroring).
discussion.
2.8 Creating, memorizing, and performing
original movement sequences with a partner or
Application
a small group.
The teacher will have students comment
on what they found the most fun and
Discussion portion allows the teacher to assess
most difficult about the activities.
his/her students observations of one another.
Ask what they learned about balance and This is a great way to check what the students
why it is important in dance. What part of have learned and whether or not they fulfilled
your body do you have to use to keep
the objective of the lesson by asking them
balance?
about their own feelings.
Ask them to choose a pose that someone
did that was their favorite that they would By asking students to choose their favorite
have Edgar Degas paint and use as one of pose that someone did that they would have
Edgar Degas paint and use as one of his
his subjects.
subjects, it ties it in with the opening of the

Have students go home and draw a

lesson.
person dancing /striking their favorite
pose to bring to class the next day and
This a fun assignment that they can take home
present.
and bring back as proof the following day to
show what they have learned and perform in
front of the class.