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Welcome to my Padlet. It has been a joy ride working with 2 amazing schools this year. My first assignment was working for the after school program with Elev8 to teach Dance at Collington Square Elementary/Middle School. My second assignment was a blessing to receive, as I started off as an on call instructor going to teach dance at different Baltimore City schools and when I covered a day for Beechfield Elementary/Middle school, I was asked to keep coming back. As a first year educator, I have experienced and learned so much about myself and about my students. It's been a great year and I hope you enjoy some of the moments I have captured.

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Our Dancer's Pledge is to ensure that students understand all responsibilities of a dancer in my classroom setting. We enjoyed reciting this at the beginning of each class.   

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Our Dancer's Pledge is to ensure that students understand all responsibilities of a dancer in my classroom setting. We enjoyed reciting this at the beginning of each class.   

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As as Dancer we will be...
D- Dedicated to Learning
A- Attentive to Instructions
N- Nurturing with our words
C- Creative in our problem solving
E- Energetically participating in every aspect of class.
R- Respectful with our Actions

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This year I found it very important to teach students all different styles of dance, especially ones that they have never experienced or seen before. Ballet is always the first style that I will teach, as it brings us back to the basics of dance. When students heard that they were going to learn Ballet, it was a bit difficult for them to accept it, until they realized that they could do it and enjoyed learning some french terms while doing it. Here is a video of a simple ballet exercise practicing the 5 positions of Ballet and Pliés. with one of my 4th grade classes.

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2018 Winter Showcase at Collington Square Elementary/Middle. 

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2018 Winter Showcase at Collington Square Elementary/Middle. 

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Working with Elev8 was a great experience. The students were allowed to explore many different options during the after school program. i.e Sports, Yoga, Spirit Squad and of course Dance. I am so grateful for the students who were dedicated to making sure this performance was amazing. We only met twice out of a week, and they showed their dedication, love and passion for dance. In this clip, they performed a wintery mix where we integrated all styles of dance into this fun Hip Hop routine.

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What to do when you don't know what to do

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What to do when you don't know what to do

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Okay, transparency moment - Teaching can get a bit difficult. However I am so grateful for the tools created to make it just a bit easier. Working at an Elementary/Middle school has its Ups and downs. Educating Prek to 8th grade can be exhausting while creating fun lesson plans that relate to all ages, gets them excited and keeps them focused. Go Noodle was a great way for me to interact with my Prek and Kindergartners. There are so many Dance lessons on there for them to simply follow.
http://www.gonoodle.com/

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At Beechfield I was asked to lead the After school Spirit Squad in their dance competitions. We would meet for an hour after school to choreograph dances based on the theme for the competition. We went through 3 Competitions and the girls got better and better each time. This was Beechfield's first year competing and the students first year constantly dancing and learning to choreography/routines. Here is a photo from our 80's competition. The girls danced to a remixed rendition of Whitney Houston's "I wanna Dance with somebody" - they had a ball and realized that it wasn't about winning but about the opportunity and the chance to do something you love!

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After our first Cheer Squad Competition 😊

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After our first Cheer Squad Competition 😊

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"Oh the places we'll go using Class Dojo" 

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"Oh the places we'll go using Class Dojo" 

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During the school year, I was introduced to class Dojo. It's a wonderful tool to keep in contact with parents, to post about what they've learned in class and it acts a rewards system. It was a great way for me to keep students on track in a positive way and share with their parents all of the fun we experience in Dance Class. https://www.classdojo.com/

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Congratulations Beechfield on our BRAND NEW Playground! 

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Congratulations Beechfield on our BRAND NEW Playground! 

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2018 Winter Showcase at Beechfield Elementary/Middle. 

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2018 Winter Showcase at Beechfield Elementary/Middle. 

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This routine was so exciting to work on, as the young ladies who performed it was new to dancing, most of them shy, most of them nervous about being in front of their whole school and doing something out of the norm. These beauties made me so proud this day. I find it valuable that as a woman, it is my duty to instill confidence, self love and passion while I teach dance. While going through choreography through class, there were times where some would say they couldn’t do it, or that a movement was too difficult. At the end of the day, my 8th graders overcame their fears and did a beautiful job dancing to “This Christmas” here’s a photo of all smiles after their performance.

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Black History Month, Door Decorating Contest! 

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Black History Month, Door Decorating Contest! 

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"Dancing with your feet is one thing, but Dancing with your heart is another."
It was awesome to win “Audience’s Choice” for my Door.

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This is Harmony from Collington Square. This particular day, Harmony was the only student in my class. Trying to work with the situation, I asked Harmony what would she like to do that day... Her response was to just learn how to dance. I created this quick choreography for her. It was quite difficult because Harmony didn't see herself as a dancer; there were a lot of "I can'ts" and "I'm not a good dancer" so I danced with her and experienced this beautiful moment where she trusted me enough to not let her fail and to dance with her heart instead of skill.

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After dancing for our Ribbon Cutting Ceremony 💙

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After dancing for our Ribbon Cutting Ceremony 💙

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"Emotions in Motion" was one of my favorite lesson plans this year.l I allowed students some freedom to express themselves. The instructions were to find a song that means something to you, or makes you feel a particular emotion and create your own choreography to it. I saw that this assignment really opened up some of my students. This is Makayla. Makayla is very introverted, didn't want to dance in my class in the beginning, and never really said much, but this assignment showed her true beauty and joy. I used her video because she was the most free with her expression and I was so proud of her and her progress. Please enjoy.

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King is one of my students who are on the spectrum. Most days he was uncomfortable in class with the noise, the lights and the distractions from the other students. This day was one of his best days and I'm happy that I got it all on camera.

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The students had an opportunity to participate in a Hip Hop/Step workshop with Miss. Liz. They loved every part of it. It taught them teamwork, focus and improvisational skills. Having the kids learn from an outside source was an awesome experience. They welcomed Liz openly and followed her instructions. Liz took the time to make sure every student felt comfortable and most importantly was had fun.

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The kids showing their love for their school! Priceless moments of pure happiness. 

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Always time for a selfie break in Dance Class ❤️

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These are my 4th Quarter, 6th graders Aarya & Jaliyah. It's great that I get new students every quarter, which allows me to recycle lessons. With the same Lesson "Emotion in Motion" - these young ladies created beautiful choreography to how they deal with bullying at school.