I'm not sure how much folk dancing (or other forms of dancing) are still included in music and physical education classes, especially when the emphasis on schools is on content and standardized testing. What are other ways for teachers to incorporate dance and other cultures into the regular curriculum to continue giving students the opportunity to appreciate diversity?
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Folk Dance in Schools
Reading the article about Folk Dance in schools made me think about the purpose of dance in schools. While folk dancing was gaining popularity, the music and dancing appeared in music and physical education classes at school, exposing students to different forms of dancing. Being an educator, I think this is a great idea. Not only does it promote physical activity in schools, which students need, it allows students to learn about different cultures. The article also talks about the development of international folk dancing, where programs developed retaining and including dances from a variety of cultures. Not only will students learn about the history of folk dancing, they also will be more accepting of other cultures and their values, so diversity will be appreciated in schools. Anyway students can learn about other cultures and respect them and the differences, will help us live in a more tolerant world.
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It's interesting you mentioned standardized testing as a possible detractor of teaching cultural diversity in schools, particularly when it comes to dance. After all, how can you standardize or even TEST a student's proficiency in dance? Even within the physical education curriculum, athletic proficiency has been standardized with tests like the mile-long run, and pull-up, sit-up, and push-up quotas that connote presidential fitness awards.
ReplyDeleteThere was a dance segment in my P.E. class, but it only lasted for about two weeks and focused primarily on disco and square dancing. After the segment, testing on the material learned was widely overlooked.
I don't know if there's a future for widely teaching folk dances in P.E. if such standardization continues, but I can think of another outlet for teaching them: history classes! How awesome would it be if, for one class, you would learn about the prominent dances of the culture/time period/group you're studying? I know I'd remember material better if I had an oppurtunity to actually physically participate in some aspect of the history I'm learning about.