Dance Unit at Paul Revere Intermediate

   This past week and for all of December our class at Paul Revere Intermediate has been working in our "Dance Unit".  I have been pleasantly surprised by the results of these classes.  I can remember when I was in high school, everyone dreaded the dance unit because it was awkward and boring.  Back then, we learned square dancing and ball room dancing, which for us was not relevant and most students lost interest.  However, the dance unit that my cooperating teacher has put together at Paul Revere is excellent.  She uses popular music and updated routines to capture the students interest and it totally works.  The students love the modern music which they can relate to.  I have heard many students say "this is awesome", "this is fun", "I can't wait to see what we do tomorrow".  Their reactions are so different from what I remember from high school and it is refreshing to see the students so excited about the topic.  Each class period starts with our typical warm-up, then we take a few minutes to learn some factual information about each dance topic or style. Following the information review, the students line up in their squads and begin following the routines that our projected up on the screen. I noticed that almost all students are able to follow the routines exactly.  However, if a student cant follow the exact steps, they are encourage to "freestyle" dance.  I think this unit is great because it really keeps all of the students active and engaged for the whole class period.  When you are playing a typical sport, sometimes a student is involved and sometimes they are not.  However, with the dance unit, it seems, that all the students are active for the entire time.  The students really seem to enjoy learning new dance moves and I see them practicing them even when class is over. My cooperating teacher uses "Zumba for Kids" videos, which I think is great because it combines dancing and fitness. The "test" for the dance unit will be having the students get into groups and design their own dance routines to perform for their classes. I look forward to seeing what the students come up with, in what seems to be one of their favorite units so far.