Practitioner Exchanges create time and space for educators to connect, build a peer community, and explore issues of practice through informal conversations facilitated by Summer Institute alumni.
Get inspired with new ideas or perspectives, ask for help with your challenges, and share your own expertise. Each month centers on a different topic and a Practitioner Exchange is often paired with workshop offerings as an opportunity to integrate and revisit information throughout the year. Practitioner Exchanges are included in the cost of workshops as follow-up discussions. Take both Workshop and Practitioner Exchange for a full 4.5-7+ hour learning experience.
Practitioner Exchanges are held on the second Tuesday of the month, 4:30-6pm Pacific, unless otherwise noted. In ’21-22 they are held on Zoom.
Upcoming 2021-22 Exchanges
SEP
23rd
Re-launching In-person Teaching
How can I re-launch in-person teaching without just going back to the way things were? And how can I make it creative and sustainable for me? How can I incorporate and build on what we learned from distance learning, and what can I let go of? How can I make space to listen and be responsive and adaptive? Join dance teaching artists Shona Mitchell and Maura Whelehan and other dance ed colleagues as we ask these questions and collaborate to generate solutions. Bring your own questions and ideas to add to the mix! Note: this Exchange happens on a Thursday.
OCT
12th
Dance in Special Ed & Inclusion
Join dance teaching artist Heather Stockton, Special Ed/Inclusion teacher Jessica Kershner, and other dance ed peers to discuss ways to move beyond compliance and into inclusion. They’ll be exploring questions like How can we truly facilitate an equitable experience for all children’s needs in the dance classroom, when the needs of each child are unique? How are we applying UDL practices to our dance teaching? What new possibilities and opportunities did distance learning offer us to increase access for all learners? How can we incorporate those into our in-person teaching now? Bring your own questions to this rich and casual conversation with your teaching peers.
NOV
16th
Family Dance & Engaging Families
What new ideas can we experiment with to allow for connection, trust, and relationship-strengthening? How can creative movement support co-regulation and communication as families dance together? How can we balance structure and free dance while we teach? How can we continue involving families in dance, even when they can’t join us in the studio/classroom? How can relationship-based dance support the social-emotional learning and community building that is so important right now? Join family dance educators Julie Lebel & Rossana Alves as they ask these questions and more in this peer-to-peer conversation. Bring your questions too! Note: this Exchange runs 4-5:30pm Pacific.
DEC
7th
Dance & Music
Dance and music are inherently connected. As a dance educator, how can I authentically and consciously integrate music learning – especially if music is not my strength? How and when can I corporate music – live or recorded – or silence? How do I give my students musical choices? How do I use a drum while teaching? How can I bring in voice and song, especially while teaching dance in early childhood? Bring all your dance and music questions to this peer-to-peer conversation with dance and music teaching artists Kim Trudell, Kirah Caminos and Mara Beckerman. All welcome.
FEB
15th
Re-launching In-person Teaching 2.0
How am I re-launching in-person teaching without just going back to the way things were? And how can I make it creative and sustainable for me? How can I incorporate and build on what we learned from distance learning, and what can I let go of? How can I make space to listen and be responsive and adaptive? Join dance teaching artists Shona Mitchell and Maura Whelehan and other dance ed colleagues as we ask these questions and collaborate to generate solutions. Bring your own questions and ideas to add to the mix! A continuation of a conversation started in September – come even if you didn’t join the fall conversation!
APR
12th
Family Dance & Engaging Families 2.0
What new ideas can we experiment with to allow for connection, trust, and relationship-strengthening? How can creative movement support co-regulation and communication as families dance together? How can we balance structure and free dance while we teach? How can we continue involving families in dance, even when they can’t join us in the studio/classroom? How can relationship-based dance support the social-emotional learning and community building that is so important right now? Join family dance educators Julie Lebel & Rossana Alves as they ask these questions and more in this peer-to-peer conversation. Bring your questions too! Note: this Exchange runs 4-5:30pm Pacific.
APR
19th
Discussing Creativity
What kind of container cultivates creativity? Do my prompts allow my students to be creative, or are they controlling? What does creativity look like, feel like? What is the impact? As dance educators we say we are creative – what does that mean? Explore these questions and more in conversation with the Teacher as Creative Practitioner-Scholar – Creativity cohort. All welcome!! Note: this Exchange runs 4-5:30pm Pacific.
MAY
10th
Re-launching In-person Teaching 3.0
After a year of in-person teaching that presented new and surprising challenges, what’s on your mind now as a dance educator? How are you reflecting and processing all you’ve been experiencing? What dreams do you have for yourself and your students for next year? What do you remember about 2021-22? What do you want to forget? Come and share it all, and celebrate the end of the school year in community with other dance educators. Co-facilitated by dance teaching artists Maura Whelehan and Shona Mitchell.
More topics to be added! Check back regularly for updates.
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