| Volume 16 Number 22 | December 5, 2015 |
Dancing on Thin Ice: The Journey of Two Male Teacher Candidates Emerging as Professionals within a Teacher Education Dance Program
Brenda Kalyn
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Eric Campbell
Sunningdale Elementary School, Canada
Alekcei McAvoy
Hague High School, Canada
Michelle Weimer
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Citation: Kalyn, B., Campbell, E., McAvoy, A., Weimer, M. (2015). Dancing on thin ice: The journey of two male teacher candidates emerging as professionals within a teacher education dance program. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 16(22). Retrieved from http://www.ijea.org/v16n22/.
Abstract
Teacher candidates entering the world of curricula face the realities of teaching a variety of subjects, some more conceptually foreign than others. One challenging area for teacher candidates, particularly males, is in dance education (Gard, 2008; Kiley, 2010). A teacher’s former dance experience, beliefs about who dances and why, personal identity, and the value placed on dance can shape one’s attitude towards teaching dance. This paper shares the narrative account of two male teacher candidates who faced the challenge of teaching dance in schools. These two elite hockey players experienced a shift in knowledge, attitude, skills, and perceptions towards dance by stepping outside of their comfort zone as they embarked on a professional learning journey through Project Move, an educational based dance opportunity, offered prior to their 16-week internship. They were awakened to their pedagogical responsibility, faced their biases, and responded to the call with great success. This is their story.
Visual Abstract
