Diana Mastrobuono

11 May 2014
Live Lesson Reflection

1. Our objectives for this lesson were for Taralyn to discover the historical background
and stylistic aspects of each dance, to create a Venn diagram comparing and
contrasting disco and country music, explain the different aspects of each dance,
demonstrate her comprehension of both dances through live performance, and
discover information about how history and era influences dance. Overall, I believe
we were very successful in achieving these objectives. Through discussion and
completing the Venn diagram, we were able to see Taralyns comprehension of the
historical backgrounds, the similarities and differences, and specific aspects of each
dance. Taralyn successfully differentiated the similarities and differences between
country and disco. Through discussion she learned how the era influenced the
different types of dance and music. She learned how and why each began, and
speculated as to why disco has died out while country music is still very popular.
While we originally planned to have Taralyn create a short dance to demonstrate
the vocabulary words, we allowed her to explain to us different moves she would do
if she was to choreograph a dance. This altered activity still effectively showed us
her understanding of the vocabulary words.
2. I do believe that the vocabulary words we chose challenged Taralyn. Her familiarity
with dance allowed her to recognize one or two of the words, yet she was unsure
about specific definitions and when and how to apply the words. At the beginning,
she recognized allegro and choreography while contagion and peddle were
completely unknown to her. Throughout the various activities Taralyn was
eventually able to use each of these words to describe different dance steps.
3. The only complication we experienced was Taralyns hesitance to creating and
performing her own dance that integrated country and disco. Although this created
a change in our plan, it was not an issue. We quickly adjusted the activity and
allowed Taralyn to explain different steps she would do while incorporating the
vocabulary terms. I believe that this altered activity was still effective in showing
how well Taralyn understood the new vocabulary terms.
4. If teaching this lesson to an ELL student I would choose two dances that are native
to the student. For example, if my student was from Mexico I would choose two
Spanish dances to compare and contrast. I would still have the student create a venn
diagram and I would use the same vocabulary words. The only difference would be
the actual dances and music. This change is important to create some form of
familiarity for the ELL student.