May 2 ~ Lesson 3

Today I had my third lesson with period 2 and my second lesson with period 4.

I was running late this morning and arrived 5 minutes late to class but things weren't that bad because the room was locked and the kids were waiting for the dance room to be open. My first class seems to take a little more time to intricate the movements into their bodies. A lot of them are still having a hard time with the basic few steps that were taught to them. Because the original song I chose is a little too fast I am planning to changing to a more slower version. They already have a couple of 8 counts choreographed and have been practicing to that. In my first class it gets hard to incorporate the history and other such materials to the class because I spend a lot more time in making sure that each students is understanding the movement. Today we just reviewed the old steps that were taught to them and we did these steps with partners. They were given the follow up question of : What is Salsa and what does salsa mean to you?

It was one of the students birthday and I thought it was so sweet and thoughtfull that he saved me a piece of cake. They all seem extremely excited to have me come every Wednesday and they always say hi to me now if they may see me in the hallways. This makes me feel good and I am glad that they are all so enthusiatic about learning how to Salsa.

During my wait for period 4 to begin I decided to go into Mrs. Rahamim's room for lunch as she opens her room for those kids who just want to hang out , or come and practice. The kids were very excited to see me there and they asked me questions and asked me if I knew how to dance other types of music. One of the kids asked me if he could bring some Salsa music next class because his dad is a DJ and he has tons of salsa music. The boys in my first class seem to be really intrigued to learn, but they give me the impression that they might think I am good looking instructer and that is why they are so focused :-] I find this a little humorous but if it's getting them to focus and pay attention why not?

The fourth period class actually retains and picks up a lot quicker than my second period class. They learned a few more counts to the choreography and also got introduced to the concept of partner choosing/ friend choosing. They too were given the follow up question. It has become that I stay a little longer into period five. I end up leaving maybe around 1:30PM instead of when period 4 ends. The girls are highly motivated in this class and they all have made talk with me of their previous experiences in dance classes.

Last week, I forgot to mention that we asked Mr. Miranda to come in to one of the sessions and play the huanhuaco for the kids.

This week my lesson plan did not go as planned at all, I didn't even get to give them the lyrics of the day, it has become hard now since we do have to change up the music. I am glad Mrs. Rahamim is willing to work with me though and she keeps the kids on check and on task.

I am unsure if I will be able to attend next week due to midterms, but I really want to try to make it. So far I'm having a good experience although I feel overwhelmed with everything else that I have to take care of in my life and all my other responsibilities. The kids really do appreciate me coming and I can see that I am impacting their lives as some have volunteered to bring music, and others have asked if they could borrow dvd's or such so that they could practice at home. Some have even asked about the music so that they could have a copy themselves. The kids are also extremely helpful always asking me if I need help carrying items ect.

At the end of class I burned my CD onto one of the computer's in Mrs. Rahamim's class and she said that she would try to take care of making copies for the kids.

Also we have talked about how the kids will have to perform in order to be able to perform because some are just not picking it up and also because there is not way we could possibly have 50 students on stage.