Revised lesson

I originally did a mock lesson that was based around the song "Hey, Harmonica Man" performed by Stevie Wonder. The mock lesson was 10 minutes long (I however went past that) and even I lost sight of what my objective was. So in lieu of that, I made some revisions to the mock lesson.

One of the 'students' (real class student, but was also my fake 8th grader) asked me "What's the monkey watusi?" which was referenced in the song. I responded with a textbook answer of "The watusi was a popular dance in the late 1960's. It was second most popular, the twist was the most popular." What a simple, concise response. It was also the response you would get from typing 'watusi' into google.com (which I had done prior to the lesson).

Then it dawned on me! Instead of briefly mention the watusi, why not teach the watusi? Absurd right? (That was sarcasm). So that was the basis of my revised lesson. The lesson was under the impression that we had already analyzed "Hey, Harmonica Man", it was now the following lesson, and we were about to learn, the watusi!!

Here's where I went wrong. My objective was simple; students will learn how to dance the watusi. Assessment is based on visually seeing the students dancing the watusi. My 'students' were great sports about it and seemed to enjoy it! Where did I go wrong? Once more, I strayed away and tried to give too much information at once by playing various versions of the song "The Wah-Watusi", performed by three different groups. In a full length class this would be appropriate, but was too much for a 10 minute mock lesson.

Where else did I go wrong? I didn't teach the dance moves that well! I used youtube clips (Watusi dance ) to show how the dance went, after briefly describing the dance. I should've broke it down without the music in the background so that they could learn the steps, and accurately gain the muscle memory. My dance teacher would've been disappointed in me if she had been there! I did not do a good enough job of first breaking down the dance steps. Step to the right on beats 1 and 2, to the left on 3 and 4, etc etc. It's nearly impossible to teach a dance through text, I failed them by not leading by example and showing the moves up front, breaking it down step by step, and giving them the counts so they had a point of reference, and could further internalize the pulse. It was only because I was in a room full of college students and fellow professionals, that they were able to follow along so well and dance the watusi! Which was a credit to them, not my teaching capabilities.

What did I do right? Well personally I'm proud that I used the SmartBoard with little to no problems. nI tend to shy away from technical advances in the classroom setting, but I saw the benefits it brought to the class. I definitely am over that now, I intend on incorporating technology when appropriate in my future classes.

What else can I reflect positively on? They were all smiling! Some were a little confused, but they bounced along, and jumped in when they got the moves down. It was an enjoyable moment that got the students out of their seats, interacting with one another in a productive manner, and was a learning moment. In the context of a full class, I believe teaching the watusi will add deeper meaning to the students knowledge of 1960's dance music. This paired with history and society's views and stand points at this time, will make for a more holistic classroom environment.