Back to school: teachers discover an array of options.
Considering returning to school to earn a teaching degree? Whether you've been at your profession for decades or you're just starting out, whether you're seeking a B.S., M.A., or M.F.A., and if you want to study full-time or must fit classes around your full-time job, there's a college program available to suit your needs and your focus. Janet Weeks, editor of Dance Magazine College Guide, recently talked with five teachers from varying backgrounds about why they returned to school, what they hope to achieve by attaining a degree, and why they selected the particular program they did.Judy Kurjan
New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
"After I got my undergraduate degree in dance from the University of Maryland, I decided to spend a year teaching and managing a dance studio in my hometown. I was okay at it--but I knew I could be better. My mom is an educator and she gave me some tips that really helped my teaching. I applied to grad school at Steinhardt on a whim. I always figured I'd go back to school someday but not this soon.
"During my time at Steinhardt, I've decided that I want to leave studio teaching and work in a public school. One experience I've had here that's been really meaningful was a chance to teach in Uganda. We taught kids from refugee camps. Dance is an integral part of their culture, so they taught us just as much as we taught them. It made me realize that learning is a process we do together. I've taught in lots of different types of schools since I've been at Steinhardt and the kids are all so different. But the Uganda trip showed me how to let students' experiences into class in ways that help make the lesson relevant to them. If I ask a class to do something and they say 'Can we try it this way?', I'll say 'sure.' Learning is a community effort."
ABOUT NYU STEINHARDT
"Steinhardt's not for dancers who just want to earn a little extra money teaching," says Susan Koff, dance education program director at New York University's Steinhardt School. You must be intensely dedicated to inquiry into teaching and learning."
This fall, Steinhardt will welcome the first class of a new master's program in ballet pedagogy. Offered in partnership with American Ballet Theatre, the degree is for those who want to teach in private studios or conservatories. Courses include education theory, dance history, and business skills to help teachers run a successful studio. All pedagogy courses will be taught at American Ballet Theatre studios by ABT faculty.
The current M.A. program offers a New York State K-12 teaching license and embraces all dance styles. Most students plan to teach in public schools (and those interested in working in New York City's schools, are practically guaranteed a job once they graduate). So, managing that environment is one of the program's focuses. "Students come in wanting to teach better. But they leave realizing that they need to be program directors," says associate director Barbara Bashaw, who coordinates Steinhardt's PK-12 teaching certification program. "They need to cut a path through the jungle--to advocate for dance with fellow-faculty members, school administrators, and with parents. They learn to speak articulately about their work and justify it."
Geordie Wright
California State University, Long Beach
"I got my dance degree from California Institute of the Arts 30 years ago, and then did one year of grad school at UCLA. I didn't finish because I was dancing with a company and doing other professional work in TV. Now I teach dance at Los Angeles Valley College. The job usually requires a master's degree but I was granted equivalency because of my experience.
"I went back to school to be eligible for a better salary, to have better prospects if I ever decide to apply to teach somewhere else--and because after many years of doling out information to students, it's nice to have a chance to take it in. I found CSU's program online and right away it looked perfect. I chose it mainly for its structure. I'm a mom and a teacher and couldn't do a standard two-year program.
"One of the best courses was on lighting design. (The guy I hire to light the shows at Los Angeles Valley College noticed a big difference after I took it.) The course emphasizes collaboration, teaches vocabulary, and makes you aware of a broader range of lighting possibilities.
"The class that had the biggest effect on my teaching was kinesiology. We learned the names of muscles, what they do, and which one you need to improve a specific step. Now I rattle off kinesiology terms in dance class all the time and I've adapted some of my exercises based on what I learned. The course also validated and solidified many things I was already doing in the classroom. But having them scientifically articulated was helpful--and has helped me articulate them to my students."
ABOUT CSU, LONG BEACH:
This M.A. in dance is for teachers already working in secondary schools and community colleges.
"Many students come here because they realize they have gaps in their technical training or in, say, dance history," says Cyrus Parker-Jeannette, department chair. Students audition for the modern-based program, and must be intermediate to advanced-level dancers. Coursework is completed over three intensive six-week summer sessions. Students also have assignments during the year--many of which they complete using their own students. Prior to the third summer session, for example, students submit a video for critique of a piece they've set on their kids. After collecting comments from classmates and faculty, they reset the piece on their fellow M.A. students.
"This summer was my first teaching in the M.A. program and it was thrilling to experience this group of educators enthusiastically discussing problems and theories," says Parker-Jeannette. "They want to replenish and refresh--to be re-fed. Dance teaching can be very isolating. Students in this program truly become a community of peers."
Ellen Gerdes
Temple University, Boyer College of Music and Dance, Philadelphia, PA
"After getting my B.A. in dance, I got interested in culture and history and spent some time in China interviewing dance teachers who taught folk and traditional classical forms. I went back to school because I love being in an environment where dance, culture, and intellectual questioning intersect. I think I'd like to teach at the college-level, eventually.
"I'd taught kids in a day camp setting, older women, and in China I taught English. Right now, I'm teaching an undergrad course for non-dance majors called, Entry to Dance as Art. The students are at different levels and some have had no dance at all. They watch dance, discuss it, and write reviews of performances they see.
"One teaching course that I found especially helpful looked at how dance education has developed as a field. In it we learned to plan classes and courses that they really benefit students. We have this idea that dance can change people and the world. This course gave me practical instructions on how to actually do that. I applied things I learned to the undergraduate class I teach.
"I chose Temple for its diversity of classes and focus on different cultures, but also because I wanted an opportunity to teach undergraduates on my own. I'd hoped this program would help me introduce people to dance in ways that would make them love it. With my undergraduates, I feel like I've been able to go to them and say, 'Look, here's this huge gift. I'll help you unwrap it.' And they trusted me and believed that there was something good inside."
ABOUT TEMPLE:
"One unique aspect of our program is that students are taught to advocate for dance from a local to a national level," says Kariamu Welsh, dance professor and the department's chairperson. "They have to be able to explain to people outside the dance world why dance is important." Temple students learn to petition for programs, successfully request resources, and about arts organizations that can support their work.
Most Temple graduate students teach in the public school system but Welsh says the program prepares teachers for any venue. Usually, students are already teaching when they enroll. "Some want to learn a more formal approach because they're self-taught, others want to expand their horizons to get a better job. And some are performers who want to move into teaching full-time," says Welsh.
Many come looking for information on how to teach children from different backgrounds--including those with special needs and disabilities. Others want to know how to design curriculum when the only lesson plan examples they have are for academic subjects that don't readily apply to dance. Still others need rejuvenation and crave the camaraderie that college can supply. "Our students' ages and levels of teaching experience vary," says Welsh. "The intergenerational mix is very inspiring."
Temple's program, which requires full-time study, immerses students in creating and performing and encourages them to approach teaching as an art form. "Dancers must know that dance teaching has its own methods, literature, and it evolves," says Welsh. "The old-school way--where you just learn to teach by taking dance classes--is no longer accepted. Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you can teach it."
Betsy Ward-Hutchinson
The University of North Carolina, Greensboro
"I teach grades six through 12 at the Cary Academy, a private school in Cary, North Carolina. Before that, I taught in an arts magnet school and before that in dance studios. When I decided to go to the UNCG master's program, I already had a B.A. in dance and an undergraduate degree in dance education. But I felt like I needed more. After teaching for a long time you get in a rut. I couldn't justify taking time off from my job, which is one reason I chose UNCG's program.
"The course that affected me the most was Dance: The Phenomenon. It was two-semesters--the hardest of my life--but the experience was rich. We studied a dance piece in depth and developed ways to use it with students. I chose a dance by Victoria Marks that involved dancers from CandoCo, a British company of differently-abled dancers. Then I invited a local wheelchair-bound dancer to come teach my high school students for a week. After that, the students took turns going through a full day of school in a wheelchair. Our school is new and supposedly wheelchair accessible but getting around was hard. When writing about the experience, one of the students said, 'High school is already so difficult. I don't know how you'd get through it like this!' The experience reaffirmed how great art is at exploring the world and teaching us about each other.
"UNCG's program showed me how to be more reflective--how to examine my teaching, to look at it critically. In some ways, this makes things harder. It's not easy to let go of preconceived notions, examine what you're doing and shake things up. But it's the only way to grow."
ABOUT UNC, GREENSBORO:
"Most of our students are public school teachers who have bumped up against their own limitations and are seeking more information," says Sue Stinson, who heads up the M.A. in Dance Education program. "They want to teach at a new level. But not all realize how much work the degree will take. It's not just tips and tricks for teaching, but rigorous, intellectual work."
This program doesn't require giving up your day job--but it will make your weekly schedule more intense. Students spend two summers on campus but are busy throughout the year taking online courses from UNCG and classes at local colleges.
One main focus is to increase dance literacy--to teach students to perceive a dance work in a variety of ways. In one course, students do in-depth study on a selected piece. They watch it, learn it, write about it, do a movement and structural analysis of it, read what others have written about it, and study how it fits into its socio-cultural context. Then they teach a unit on the piece to their students. In the second part of the course, they do an analysis of what they taught and what the kids got out of it.
Students are required to be intermediate level dancers and are expected to continue taking technique classes at an accredited college or professional studio during the course of the program. "They can choose to take any genre--jazz, ballet, Irish dance, even Pilates, as long as they can adequately defend their choice," says Stinson.
Back in their public school classrooms, the M.A. students won't be teaching strict technique, but Stinson stresses that their focus isn't just on kids' individual expression either. "It's important to encourage kids to create their own movement, but we want teachers to help kids understand that dance has a structure and exists in a social-historical context. They're not looking at the study of dance in isolation."
Nancy, Herard
SUNY, Empire State College/Dance Education Laboratory, New York City
"I'd tried to finish my undergrad degree a couple of other ways before but just couldn't do it. Then a drummer in La Troupe Makandal, the company I danced with, told me about Empire State. He'd done his degree there and said that lots of professional artists enrolled. At Empire State, you design a unique program, so I'm doing one in ethnic dance and teaching. Eventually, I think I'd like to get a master's in dance and movement therapy.
"I've always wanted to teach but when I entered the program I had no experience. In my first DEL course, we had to make a curriculum and teach it to the other students. There were three of us who hadn't taught before. But we got to see the more experienced DEL students teach in our class and also went to watch them work with their students. By the end, I'd gained confidence. One of my classmates was teaching a unit on international dance to her kids and asked me to teach a part on Haitian dance. At DEL there are great opportunities to guest teach at classmates' schools.
"One really amazing class was Growing a Dancer, taught by Ellen Robbins, who teaches dance composition to children at Dance Theater Workshop. She bases the class on the structure and form of classical music. At first I wasn't sure if I'd be able to apply what she does to my style of movement. But her method of teaching was so great, so simple. It opened things up for me. What she taught wasn't about a particular technique or style. It was about developing kids' own choreography and teaching them to trust their instincts."
ABOUT EMPIRE STATE AND DEL:
This program attracts adult professionals who can apply for credit for college-level learning through life experience. Students earn the rest of their credits through independent and small--group study, cross registration at other schools, projects, and internships. "We consider the resources of New York City to be part of our program," says Lucy Winner, Empire State teacher and mentor for undergraduate dancers.
Serving Empire State's dance teachers is the Dance Education Laboratory housed in Manhattan's 92nd Street Y. DEL attracts a wide variety of people. (Close to half are earning degrees through Empire State.) Some are young dancers with no teaching experience, some are professionals at the end of their performing careers, others are public school dance teachers looking for inspiration, or regular classroom teachers who want to integrate dance, and an increasing number come from overseas. "It creates a rich, inspiring community," says Ann Biddle, a DEL educator.
Classes are held on evenings, weekends, or during winter or summer vacations. The full-year Foundations of Dance Education course meets one evening per week from November through May. Other classes, including one focusing on multicultural dance education and another called Making Dances with High Schoolers, are week-long intensives. Still others, like one on using dance for conflict resolution and violence prevention, meet over the course of a weekend.
"There are no desks. You're in the studio dancing, problem-solving, and experiencing movement concepts in your body--just like kids do," says Biddle.
"It's a community of dance educators striving together to meet challenges in dance education--and education in general," says John-Mario Sevilla, director of DEL.
"We validate what teachers already do while offering tools that can invigorate them," says Biddle. "Dance teachers need to enjoy what they do. If you're not inspired--you're not inspiring."
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| Author: | Weeks, Janet |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Dance Magazine |
| Geographic Code: | 1USA |
| Date: | May 1, 2008 |
| Words: | 2750 |
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