Introducing the Teacher Spotlight, where we highlight how educators in a wide range of environments use NBS’ resources to facilitate active and engaged learning experiences through dance.
Liêm McNeil Bùi teaches grade 4 at Church Street Junior Public School in Toronto. Located nearby NBS’ campus, Church Street Junior has participated in NBS’ Community Dance initiatives—including workshops, online resources, and NBS Sharing Dance Day celebrations—for many years. When COVID-19 disrupted in-classroom learning, teachers like Liêm found that the same resources could be used to bring dance to students when they needed it most.
“We used the Dance on Demand videos in class and during remote learning . . . During Covid, being active has been a barrier for most of us. Particularly during remote learning, it has been beneficial to have quality online resources that can get the students moving, even if it’s in the confines of their bedroom,” Liêm says.
He also notes that resources like Dance on Demand—which offers expert-led instruction through a complete dance activity—provide fun challenges for students. His class enjoyed learning hip hop, and advancing to try classes that were geared for older students.
From seeing NBS initiatives at Church Street Junior, Liêm felt confident that NBS’ resources for teachers aligned with his goals of providing high quality, inclusive experiences for his students.
“I trust the expertise of the NBS instructors and I know the content has been made to be as inclusive as possible, with a strong equity lens. I know this from observing the growth of Sharing Dance and the diversity of the choreographers, music and dance styles.”
For educators will no previous dance experience, Liêm assures that NBS’ resources offer many ways for teachers and students to engage with the content.
“You can learn the dances with them, start and stop the videos when needed, focus on specific sections of the videos, rewatch videos for review, and preview the videos before sharing them with the students. It’s an opportunity for co-learning with the students.”
Thank you to all educators for helping make dance accessible to your students. We appreciate the extraordinary time and effort you put in during this unpredictable school year.
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