Assessment

Assessment is the key to growth as students constantly revise their creative work in response to teacher feedback. Informal, in-the-moment assessment of quality criteria supports a healthy creative process as students consistently strive to achieve the next challenge and find joy in the rigor.

boy and girl are pantomiming
Behavior Management

When students are actively engaged in their learning and taking creative risks, sometimes behaviors rise to the surface and offer extra challenges. Behavior management starts with the culture of the classroom and the establishment of an intellectually safe environment. Then techniques such as pre-corrections, effective commands, and behavior specific praise help keep students on track.

teacher and seated children make body shapes
Facilitation

Facilitating creative strategies means actively involving learners - mentally, physically, and even emotionally. This requires: careful preparation, thoughtful prompting, coaching for quality, revision, and reflection.

boy shrugging
Hear, Think, Wonder

Students develop music literacy through this response process. First, they listen in silence. Then, students describe what they hear, using the vocabulary of music. Next, they tell us what they think the music is about, interpreting with evidence. Finally they ask wondering questions to develop curiosity about the music.

child wearing headphones
I Move, You Move

A lead dancer improvises movement within a set number of beats, and the other dancer(s) repeat the same movements directly after. Dancers continue to lead and follow with new movements exploring the B.E.S.T. elements.

two young children dancing
Mirrors

A designated leader improvises movement in place, very slowly and fluidly, as an individual, a small group, or the whole class focuses on following the movements exactly and simultaneously, as if a mirror.

two students copy the movement of the teacher
Move and Freeze

Dancers represent ideas, feelings, concepts and actions through abstract movements (move) and frozen body shapes (freeze).

girl jumping
Pantomime

Students communicate through physical gestures, actions and expressions, usually without the use of verbal language or props.

child with exacggerated expression
Playful Percussion

Students use hand held percussion instruments and/or body percussion, applying the elements of music to interpret and present their ideas.

four children playing hand percussion
Snapshots

Individual students create frozen images with their bodies. Each actor improvises imagined worlds, characters, and actions according to a prompt, with little to no preparation time.

girl in a running position