Morgan Armiger

January 30, 2018

VPAA Dance Senior Seminar

For my Arts Practicum, I decided to intern at Salem Elementary School under the Pre-K

teacher, Mrs. Heather Jimerson. On Mondays and Thursdays, I would go into her class to teach

a 30-minute creative movement class to her eighteen students. On Tuesday, January 23, 2018,

I was able to shadow Mrs. Jimerson and her co-teacher/teacher aide, Mrs. Boothe, for the full

instructional day.

Mrs. Jimerson and Mrs. Boothe have a unique classroom in comparison to other

elementary school classes. In their class of eighteen, they are responsible for enriching and

creating structure in the lives of preschoolers prior to kindergarten and beyond. Their jobs

consist of providing engaging, effective, and educational resources and activities to a group of

at-risk children in a public school setting. At the start of the day, the children were provided

breakfast if needed, and others played quietly with blocks. From there, they moved on to their

“Morning Meeting,” which included the Pledge of Allegiance, reciting the alphabet, counting to

ten, observing the weather, and doing a small physical warm-up to instrumental music (shoulder

rolls, head rolls, stretching of arms). They broke off into “centers,” which included various play

stations - dramatic play (with a play kitchen/food, play tool shop, and costumes), build play with

blocks, science, reading, writing, coloring, and technology with iPads. The rest of their day

included lunch in the cafeteria, an hour of nap time, snack time, PE, story time, and a trip to the

library, all of which were monitored by Mrs. Boothe and Mrs. Jimerson. Mrs. Jimerson

incorporated the use of movement and song into a lot of her class instruction in between bigger,

more specific activities like the ones listed before.

In my hands-on portion of the internship, I taught creative movement classes. My

classes included an opening circle typically just to get the kids to warm up to my being there and

to remind them of my few rules: no running, listening ears, and hands and feet to themselves.

We stretched each class and I went through very brief ballet instruction, just teaching them the
basics such as first and second position, plié, relevé, tendu, passé, sauté, and échappé sauté.

Each class, I tried to incorporate a different creative movement activity using songs I found on

YouTube and Apple Music - “Animal Action,” “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” The Chicken

Dance, “The Wheels on the Bus,” “I’m a Little Teapot,” and so on. I tried to incorporate freeze

dance in at least once a week; free creative movement and improvisation are such important

factors of dancing and I found it a fun way to get the kids comfortable and creative in dancing.

We went across the floor with basic movement: chassés, skips, bunny hops, froggy jumps, bear

crawls, crab walks, and relevé walks on their tiptoes.

In preparing for my time at Salem Elementary, a few things were very important. I made

sure to keep constant communication with Mrs. Jimerson both via email and in person, and I

feel that we developed a very strong, professional relationship with one another over time. Over

the course of my time at the elementary school, it was crucial to go into each class with a

thought-out lesson plan and prepared activities. At the beginning of my internship, I made a

rough list of all of the activities I could potentially use over time and from there, I formed a plan

for each day. In contrast to my prior experience teaching creative movement and dance, this

was a bit more difficult. I encountered coming up with a lesson plan that was not only movement

driven, but educationally driven as well. Also differing from my past teaching experience was the

fact that I taught alone. At my old studio and at The Little Gym, where I currently teach creative

movement, ballet, tap, and gymnastics, I’ve been assisted by another instructor. While Mrs.

Boothe and Mrs. Jimerson did assist in keeping the kids on task and involved in what I was

doing, neither one of them has a background in dance or participated in the class themselves.

Another major challenge of this experience was teaching kids that weren’t exactly voluntarily

taking the class. At work or in the studio setting, I’ve taught kids that were signed up for the

class by their parents and were willingly taking the class because they enjoyed it and wanted to

dance. Also, as this was a class in a public school, there were a number (at least half of the

class) of students that were boys; at this age, they of course are convinced that certain things
are “for boys,” and others are “for girls.” Convincing kids out of this mindset was and is quite

difficult, but it’s so worth it when you realize you’ve changed their minds and they now believe

that dancing is for anyone and everyone.

I chose teaching creative movement to preschoolers in public school for a number of

reasons. First and foremost, I felt it was most beneficial and most closely tied to my career plans

as a prospective educator. This experience gave me the opportunity to experience a day in the

life of a preschool/elementary school teacher in the classroom, as well as to step up and teach

classes myself. I am a big supporter for movement of any kind in the classroom. As many

studies have shown, the cognitive impacts of movement in a learning environment are

incomparable. When kids take brain breaks and are allowed to move freely and creatively, there

are monumental effects on the way they learn. Not only does movement allow increased blood

flow to improve brain activity/function, it also improves a child’s self-confidence, works on

rhythm (mathematical and musical), improves memory, social skills, and self conduct/control as

they can sit still when expected to since they get their wiggles out.

In reflecting upon my time in Mrs. Jimerson’s class, I truly learned a lot about myself as a

dancer and an educator. Spending time with these kids most definitely confirmed my passion for

education and my decision to pursue elementary education as a career in the next chapter of

my life. I learned how to make effective lesson plans through trial and error. I also improved my

instructional style and ability through this experience. Dance and movement are such powerful

tools to connect people with one another, to inspire others, and to educate others. I am

ultimately so grateful for this experience at Salem Elementary School and very much enjoyed it.