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| 25th Biennial Conference of ICKL | |
| Escuela
Nacional de Danza Clásica y Contemporánea, Mexico July 29 (Arrival Day) - August 5 (Departure Day) 2007 |
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SESSIONS Mixed sessions - paper with workshop Scaffolding Language of Dance and Laban Movement Analysis concepts to teach dance technique GINGRASSO, Susan – USA Focus. This combined paper & workshop presents the author’s research into reframing the way in which dance technique is taught: scaffolding a Language of Dance (LOD) based instructional framework layered with Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) concepts. She developed this pedagogical approach to teach a beginning level modern dance technique class to dance major students at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP). This research draws on the work of Vygotsky, Gardner, Ann Hutchinson Guest, and Leslie Wilson, College of Education at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. Workshop participants will experience the instructional framework the author developed to teach the Motif Notated, LMA layered scores she created for the technique class. During this process, she will highlight the instructional scaffolds that increased student ownership and embodiment of material and decreased student dependence on her as the teacher. Problem Addressed. The author wanted to ascertain how using a LOD-based instructional framework enriched with LMA concepts to teach the five developmental and sequential movement sequences she designed for the course would create a student-centered learning environment in a technique class, and develop students‚ skills, knowledge, understanding, and embodiment of rigorous course content. Approach to Research Design. The author discovered the layers of instructional scaffolds, support structures to take students easily through increasingly demanding levels of involvement, in the process of designing and implementing the instructional framework that included instructor designed criteria and rubrics for all aspects of the course. To achieve one of the research goals, to enable the students to perform the required movement vocabulary by reading the five Motif Notated scores she created for the course, the author developed a series of developmental steps using the Movement Alphabet® to build student’s ability to sight read, correctly interpret, and perform the scores. To reach another goal, to develop technical and performance skills, the author layered LMA material, beginning with images, the component parts of which could be readily examined and embodied. Multi-phased assessment of student learning, another goal of the project, was built on a very different set of carefully scaffolded tasks, formative rather than summative in nature: peer and instructor assessed performance, creation through application, and reflection. Using scaffolded instruction radically shifted responsibility and motivation for learning to the students. As students deepened their embodiment of the movement material and their collaborative support for one another, the author’s role shifted to that of a teacher-facilitator. Results: Analysis of two semesters of data indicates that this scaffolded instructional framework promotes a deep learning and embodiment of complex movement material in which students reach a very high level of technical proficiency as measured by the criteria and rubrics. She also found significant changes in student values and class behaviors. Susan Hughes Gingrasso, CMA and Language of Dance® Specialist, recently retired from 32-years teaching and administrating the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point dance program and two three-year professional development grant projects for K-12 instructors and higher education faculty. She has presented the results of her Scholarship of Teaching research investigating how the use of Language of Dance® framework stimulates students to deeper learning in dance technique nationally and internationally.
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