Pages

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Swimming toward Specificity: Understanding Pattern Properties

Today's work was to make a four-beat Pattern A. I structure each day/"lesson" as an activity progression with planned pauses to discuss certain key points of the math/dance making.  Today I recorded two similar moments, in two different classes, in the process of making Pattern A. When I transcribed the conversations this afternoon what struck me was how differently they unfolded. 

LESSON SUMMARY: My goal on the second day of my residency is to end the class with every team having a Pattern A they can dance the same way with their partner. We do this by watching individual teams demonstrate their patterns and then talking about what we see/notice about the pattern. This ideally means talking about the pattern properties that reside within the three different categories that build our patterns (movement, foot position and direction). Yesterday's notices made me think that the categories made sense to most kids. At the beginning of each class today we reviewed "what do we use to make our patterns" but when we started looking at the Pattern As I realized that though both groups were making nice patterns, both groups still didn't quite "get" what they were looking at in others' work.

The first story illustrates what it looks/feels like to work with a class that has a sense of what dancing "the same" might mean but is very far away from saying exactly what is the same (maybe the equivalent to van Hiele Level 1?)

The second story illustrates a class that is still learning how to interact with the movement variables but has what seems like a more flexible understanding the relationship between the categories and the properties within those categories (van Hiele Level 1.5?)

NOTE: In the two stories below my words are italicized, and the kids' responses are bolded. In both conversations many children contributed, I just haven't specifically noted change of speaker here.

-------------------

CLASS #1: Swimming Upstream

Let’s say what we noticed about that pattern (that the demo team just danced).  Kid:They’re both doing the same thing and they’re not off beat.

Okay, so by “same” do you mean same tempo? Did you mean same in any other way? (To class): [First kid] was seeing same in the tempo, the same speed. What else did you notice about their pattern? Let’s watch it again. That they’ve got a really good rhythm, like how they do it.

So we’ve talked about the tempo. What else did you notice? That they were doing it together they weren’t like one person wasn’t doing different things they were all together.

Okay, so “all together”  What does it mean? People were saying they were dancing together. So what does it mean to be "all together"? What words will help us describe a pattern that is "all together"? What kinds of things can we identify?  [Kids start picking words kinda randomly from our word board] Ooh! Symmetry. Interesting. But what have we been talking about how the patterns have been made? What kinds of things are we using to build our patterns that we could also use to say if a pattern was being danced the same or not?

Ummm. TransformNo…we haven’t actually talked about that yet. Reflect or…

You know, I've been spending most of my time when I’m up at the front of the classroom, near these posters.  This is the information that I’d like you to think about. What kind of words on these posters might help you describe these patterns? 
[Long pause] Movements? 

Yeah! [talking to the demo team] Did you guys do mostly jumps? Were the jumps the same on every beat.?[bringing the demo team back up to the ] Let’s say jump for each beat while they dance…Now there was another movement in there.  Look up at the list. The category of movement has a lot of movement words. Turn?

Turn! Right, let’s say jump, jump, jump, jump/turn. And how far did they turn? If they went from front to back? 180!

Now, let’s look at their foot positions. Let’s do it slowly. We can also describe the sameness of their dance by looking at their foot positions.  Right now they’re together. Do the first beat and stop. Is that split, together, right, left or cross? Split.

So let’s see their second beat. Ready, go. What are their feet doing now? Split. Where’s their third beat? Split. 

Good! You’re staying in this category of foot position…And where’s the fourth beat? Split! Did they do 4 splits?  My goodness. Let’s watch this pattern one more time and let’s talk about their direction.  So their beat zero is where? Center.  So first beat the direction is what? Diagonal.

Thank you! Is it a right diagonal or a left diagonal do you think? Right. Now let’s look at the next direction. They went to the…side. 

The right side!  And now the third direction? It looks like they went to a different kind of side with their feet to the right and left. Give them a round of applause! So what I’d like you to do right now is go back to your work with your partner and we need to make sure that everyone has the same pattern as their partner. You’re working together. 

-------------------

CLASS #2: Swimming Downstream
So what do you notice about this pattern? Let’s watch it one more time and see if you can come up with some words that can help us understand what you see in the pattern. What did you notice about that?  [inaudible] So you noticed a type of foot position which wasa cross. Okay let’s watch again and notice other foot positions.  

Tell me more about what you noticed? They really liked corners. 

(giggles from all the kids) What else could we be noticing? 

Okay before we watch this tell me what else we could be noticing? We noticed their starting position, we noticed that their feet were crossed at one point. What else could we notice? Feet?  Their left. Well, my right. 

So right now we’ve been talking about feet? What other CATEGORY could we notice while they’re moving?  

Step? They stepped backward? Yeah, but which category is that? Movement?

So let’s look at their movements...impromptu chorus of kid voices: Step, cross…


Well , what category does cross belong to?  Feet.


While we’re looking at the pattern let’s find words that describe what it is we’re seeing? They start with feet together.  Where are they?  Center center.

So if we’re looking at movements let’s see if we can figure that out. Step, step, jump, jump/cross…

We don’t say cross because we’re only looking at one category at a time. But this is challenging, I know that. So let’s say those movement words again. Step step jump jump.


Now let’s look at directions. They start in center and let’s do the first beat and stop. The first beat is where? Back left corner.


Where’s the second beat? Back right corner.


And where’s the third beat? Center.


And where’s the last beat? Front corners…


Me trying to talk over them: front, front…just front. Front corners.


Well, if they’re in both corners we’ll just say they’re at the front.  And what would be the foot position word that would describe the fact that their feet are in both corners?  Split.


So can you see how all three of those would…(to dancers) show us what your feet would look like if they were together in front.  So we would call that a together front. Now show us a split back…and a together back.  Do you see how that works? You need more than one piece of information to describe any one beat.

29 comments:

  1. This is very good lesson for new comers. In fact , everyone can take benefit of this well-structured written article.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This article offer everyone very good lesson and this more beneficial for writing different topics. Kindly, sharing this type of article more than once.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Math is so much more interesting if we try to learn and really understand the whys being questions! Very good post and the questions!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Are you searching for academic writing service? then, hire BookMyEssay professionals to get this online writing service at best price. We also provide 24/7 live chat support service for those students who need the answer of their queries related to their assignments.

    ReplyDelete
  5. May I just say what a relief to discover an individual who genuinely knows what they are discussing online. You actually understand how to bring an issue to light and make it important. A lot more people really need to check this out and understand this side of your story. do my assignment for me It's surprising you're not more popular since you definitely possess the gift

    ReplyDelete
  6. It was a very good post indeed. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it in my lunch time. Will surely come and visit this blog more often. Thanks for sharing. There are so many fun and exciting things to do and help with assignment experiences around the world that I thought I ‘d put together a list of favorite things to do for all travelers.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That is one of the main reasons that I am very much interested in knowing the history of the things. As most of the time their names are greatly related with their history. Also sometimes you can realize the importance of the thing just by knowing its name like this one here expert dissertation writer shows its importance by its name that is “cure all”.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very informative! I have visited your several blogs and I found all of them are very useful and informative. I also want to share them with others so that everyone would able to collect this information. I wish can visit your other blogs right now. But, I have to find a writing service that can provide me the best essay writing service for my essay.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for such wonderful blog that looks pretty different, I would suggest you please make a proper plan for your blog and start professional blogging as a assignment writing help career, One day you would be smart enough to earn some money, wishing you a best of luck my friend, Thanks a lot for your nice support and love.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I clearly stumbled upon your weblog and favored to mention that I’ve truely loved reading your blog posts. anyhow I’ll be subscribing in your feed and that i wish you submit once more quickly. get essay done Please keeps it top posting! thanks you a lot, I recognize your work.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This Blog is very informative for us. Thanks for writing about it. In this article, some examples help me in applying in daily life. amazing You have explained each and everything very well in detail. I hope you will write more pieces which help us in our daily routines.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Very enlightening article. I would like to share with you a new article which is about the spacebar counter as another fun element to give yourself the hit-the-spacebar challenge in the spacebar game. Visit here and learn more.

    ReplyDelete
  13. statistics assignment help provides valuable assistance to students struggling with complex statistical concepts and assignments. Their experts offer comprehensive support, ensuring clarity and accuracy in statistical analyses. A reliable resource for students seeking to improve their understanding of statistics and achieve academic success.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The nursing assignment help offered here is a lifeline for students. It's not just about completing assignments; it's about gaining a deeper understanding of nursing concepts. Invaluable support!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I am glad that you shared this useful information with us. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  16. Please keep us up to data like this. Thanks for sharing and Keep on writing

    ReplyDelete
  17. Everyone loves it Great website, continue the good work! Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'll come back to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I am not sure where you are getting your info, but good topic. Just continue updating

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hello, after reading this amazing post i am too glad to share my experience here with mates.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I’m going to bookmark your site and keep checking for new details about once per week.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Wonderful web site. Plenty of useful info here. I am sending it to several pals ans additionally sharing.

    ReplyDelete

  23. It’s awesome in favor of me to have a web page,

    ReplyDelete
  24. The feedback provided by Nursing Assignment Help is constructive and helps me understand my mistakes. It's evident that their team is not just focused on completing assignments but also on student learning.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I subscribed to your blog and shared this on my Facebook.
    Thanks again for a great article!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Great blog, thank you so much for sharing with us.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I am always looking forward on your work and I think that you're always doing an excellent job!!

    ReplyDelete
  28. You could certainly see your enthusiasm in the article you write.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I spend a lot of time on this blog to learn a lot of good information.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments!