Dance Units - iPads for Descriptive Feedback…and deeper understanding

by Donna Hannivan-Taylor

We have used video devices to provide descriptive feedback to students in the past, but iPads provide an opportunity for students to experience deeper understanding.

CRITERIA

Visible Effort Do your best!

Be on Beat Practice evident

Moves work with music & flow --Unison with other group members

Use a Variety of Elements—Speed, Weight, Relationships, Level, Directions

Use a Variety of Elements—Body Parts used & balanced on +Shapes, Floor Paths, Types travel (walk, run, skip, sidestep, crawl…)

Routine is original/ interesting

A Learning Goal for this unit is to have students understand & apply various elements of movement.  This results in an assignment where they work in groups to choreograph & present a dance routine.

My goal was to get students more invested in stepping outside their comfort zone of only using the typical dance moves they know & enjoy.  So, to begin the process I had them help develop the criteria that would be used for evaluation.

Next, once the dance routines were done, the iPads were used to video each group so they could compare their routines to the criteria for feedback.  You can’t get any more descriptive than that!

Finally students videotaped their final product, then used iMovie to voice over this recording, explaining exactly what they did during their routine that demonstrated the evaluation criteria.

This step places the responsibility for demonstrating learning onto the students.  They thoroughly understand the elements and what is expected of them & get immediate feedback on their achievement.  They also were proud of what they did.