Fieldwork
I worked at YAYA Dance Academy over the summer. I primarily worked with elementary students but also with 4-7 years old to high school students.
Program Design: Leadership
Module 3B
Leadership is the key to sustainability and stability of any afterschool program and YAYA Dance Academy has that. Our director is someone who is incredibly knowledgeable in the field with high expectations of her staff and students. During faculty meetings, she will set out the goals of the academy for us and what we should be doing but she always takes in the faculty's suggestions if we all agree it to be a good way to execute the plan and help us reach our goal. She gives us the opportunity to develop ourselves professionally. A concrete example would be allowing us to take masterclasses on her and learn from more experienced teachers and broaden our knowledge in dance. She also gives the staff a lot of room for creativity and encourages us to try new things. I was honored to be trusted by her to lead and teach classes by myself and I am glad to get positive feedback from the students. We have a great communication structure established and it is very easy to give suggestions or ask questions with other staff members. I personally learn a lot from the faculty and feel that I gained a lot just by assisting and helping out the other teachers. My director also entrusts me with other tasks which I find to be a great personal development and challenging me to learn hard skills beyond my major and what I know. I think one thing to improve would be the on-boarding process. It would be even better if the on-boarding process was a bit more guided and has more formal help for new employees. Sometimes, my questions were answered as I was doing which may not be all bad because I like to learn by doing. However, I do know friends that prefer knowing what to expect and being very prepared.
Expectancy-Value Theory
Eccles, pg. 82-83
Expectancy-Value Theory states that achievement-related choices are motivated by a combination of one's expectations for success and subjective task value. At the dance academy, we try to increase the students’ expectations for success by teaching them in progression. Although we challenge students and have high expectations, it is never so far beyond what they can do. For example, over the course of the summer the kids in the foundations class learned techniques like grand battement leg holds. In order for some students to successfully execute the movement, we spend at least 15mins every class to help the students stretch their splits. Then they learn to kick a grand battement while lying on the ground. This can help the students learn to engage the right muscles for the kick while using the help of gravity. Later, the students can perform the kick standing up right very easily because they already trained the right muscles in the earlier versions. This sense of accomplishment will motivate the students to continue to be interested in dance. The students really do see and feel the improvement from the beginning of the semester to the end of it and that increases utility levels. Even during class, I notice that some students are more focused and interested in the class and others may be more distracted and not performing as well. I think from an academy perspective, the staff can learn more about how to engage the students that may not have a high expectancy value because their parents forced them to be here. I think we can try to grab their interest somehow and use their focus in the specific interest to help them improve in a specific skill. If they feel that they are capable of executing difficult skills in dance, they will be more engaged.
Use of S.A.F.E. features
Granger, pg. 8-11
S.A.F.E stands for sequenced, active, focused, and explicit. I think the dance academy does a great job in each of the four areas. The way we teach our classes is by progression. You must learn one thing and master it to an extent before moving on to the next movement. It is like building a house and setting the foundation. Sequencing helps students build confidence for more challenging skills because they know that by mastering the current skill they are working, it will eventually help prepare them to be ready to take on more difficult skills later on. This can translate to outside of the dance studio as well. It develops their patience and many of our students are top performers at their schools. We do a lot to help students actively learn new skills. We constantly are developing new drills and exercises to help students develop the coordination and muscles to take on more challenging skills. Additionally, different students have different ways of learning and we do our best to adapt and teach accordingly. For example, some students learn better when they are placed into the right positions and so we would do that. Other students may learn better if we tell them the logic of the movement. Like with a grand battement kick, it is initiated by brushing the floor and pointing your toes so hard, it pushes off the ground. At the same you want to keep your tummy in and tailbone to the ground. The more detailed we explain it, the better the students understand it. Dance is also a very focused activity in that we focus on their ability to communicate and cultivate themselves into dancers. We really pay attention to their team awareness and ability to communicate what they feel. We may have students work together and give each other peer review and help each other out. Other times we will have students share what they feel when they did a movement correctly to develop their communication skills. Finally, dance is art and art requires emotions. We want students to be aware of their emotions and learn to find ways of regulating it. For example, a student was having a bad day and was having an attitude in class. We pulled her aside and asked her what happened. It took awhile but she eventually shared. We understood her and asked if she still wanted to continue the class. She said yes so she tried her best to regulate her emotions and came back to class ready.