Anna Schiess

TWS 7
Reflection and Self-Evaluation

-The learning goal that my students had the most success with is below:
Lesson 5:
Dance 1 students will work collaboratively with a small group to combine their pathway
sequences into a short piece that has a beginning and ending shape.
I believe my students had success here for two reasons. First, I had provided them with
an example of how to structure their personal pathway sequences. They were given the
freedom to create their own, but they had confidence because they had watched someone else
do it before them and even been involved in that process with me during class. Second,
allowing them to work together in small groups gave this tentative bunch of students even
more confidence. Not only did they have the help of their group members, but they were also
given opportunities to have other groups watch their composition and get feedback from them.




Anna Schiess
-The learning goal that my students had the least success with is the following:
Lesson 2:
Dance 1 students will grasp the concept of body shaping and spatial relationships by
demonstrating twisted, curved, straight, and angular shapes in their bodies while maintaining
consistent space between themselves and a partner.
In my opinion, this learning goal was not as successful as others for two reasons. The
first reason was because, for many of the students, this was their first introduction into spatial
relationships and maintaining those spatial relationships. The sequence we focused on heavily
during this time was quite complicated. I set very high expectations to think they could this
movement task. Were they able to do it? Yes. Was it a bumpy road to get there? Definitely.
This goal might seem rather random compared to other learning goals within this unit. I knew it
was something I wanted to cover because it is important as you get into performances as a
dancer. However, I did not scaffold my way there. This is the second reason it was not as
successful as it could have been. This was my first unit with these students and I overestimated
their ability to pick up a difficult concept so quickly. Things I could improve for next time are
scaffolding, rich, clear, and descriptive language, and visual cues instead of just audible.

Anna Schiess
-Reflection on possibilities for professional development. Professional goals:
1. The first professional learning goal that emerged from my experience with the TWS is to be
more prepared with knowledge about what is appropriate for different class levels, skill-wise
and age levels, developmentally.
-I plan to research the common core more thoroughly before planning lessons, acquire
knowledge from those who have taught before, and get their opinions about what movements
or challenges are acceptable for different levels.

2. The second professional learning goal that emerged from my experience with the TWS is to
improve my language in every way.
-Ways to improve my language include expanding my vocabulary for more rich
language, using more qualitative instead of quantitative feedback, watching how I give
constructive feedback, finding better ways to be strict with my language when unacceptable
behavior is occurring, and using dynamics and energy in my voice to keep students engaged
throughout the class.