Finally... a reason to love Math class
Throughout the entirety of my educational career, I have never been a fan of Mathematics. This was mainly because I had not experienced a growth mindset and the benefits that it can have until first year of teachers college. After having the opportunity to teach math to my students in grade 7 and 8 on rotary I fell in love with teaching math, of course not nearly as much as my love for teaching dance and the arts. This post will share with you one of the amazing activities that teacher candidates and I did during these six weeks and how easy it is to bring dance and math together.
Teacher candidates were all grouped into small groups and given a die. Teachers were then instructed on just rolling the die and whichever number it lands on the actions on the paper are the movements they will do in their dance sequence. This was just practice. This lesson extended to then predicting. Students were instructed to 'predict the outcome of 3 rolls, roll the die three times and connect the 3 action phrases.
Students were directed to then perform the action phrases as a part of their dance routine, awhile making one action have a different tempe and to layer on space. This was not just a math activity and practice but also gave students a fun twist on being able to express their mathematical findings through movement.
Another way an activity like this could be done is, for instance in a grade 4 classroom practising multiplication. After students complete their multiplication sheet they must attach the different answers they have to the actions attached to the number. For instance, projected on the board could be 36- lunge, pause, rise, sway and 10- dart, melt, clap, slide. If a student has 6 x 6 = 36 on their paper they know their actions for 36 (their solution) will be to lunge, pause, rise and sway, etc.
Here is a blog on the benefits of dance and mathematics together in a classroom: https://blogs.ams.org/mathgradblog/2016/07/07/mathematics-dance-enhancing-understanding-movement/
When people talk about school and about the curriculum it is so easy for them to stress the importance of mathematics, science and language. Most classes have two periods dedicated a day to mathematics to ensure time for problem solve, learn and explore. Why is the arts not being taken as seriously? Dance can have so many different benefits to students, just as math can have. The article below stresses why dance class is just as important as math class.
One activity that I did with my students, after learning about the dance action cards and realizing that dance can be brought into every subject, mathematics included was with my grade 4s. Students were given a time frame, a sheet of multiplication questions to solve, suspenseful music, and a treasure box that was chained shut with chains and 6 different locks and 12 keys. Students had to work through their math problems, find all the solutions, problem solve and open the treasure box while feeling like they were in an escape room. Inside the treasure box was a variety of different actions on slips of card stock. Students had a number (1-4, grouping them into 4 groups) and the three actions/ movements they MUST incorporate into their dance routine. Unfortunately, like stated in a previous post I was not required to teach my students the arts but luckily my associate teacher allowed me to bring in my creativity and love for the arts into their other subjects. Students then worked with their small groups to perform their routines. This was a great activity and a success story that had students excited, engaged and motivated, not only int heir math work but also in their creation of their dances.
Another great example of a math and dance crossed activity is to have one movement dedicated to every number (ex. up until 30) and students can dance out an equation, leaving the remaining students to solve the equation by watching the movements and relating them back to the number they represent.
Check out my next post to see what else dance can be brought into! Thanks for tuning in today to read about dance and math! Let me know in the comments if you have another insight into dancing through math!
Emily
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