Requirements and Certifications In our last article we looked at what exactly dance in the K-12 setting is and how you as studio owners and dance teachers within the private sector can understand the dance education being provided within your local public and private schools. We also discussed how you can use it as a guideline to not only build student technique, but also aim to create a balanced curriculum by incorporating the creative process and critical thinking skills within your studios. If you have ever thought about becoming a certified dance teacher within the public schools, you may not be aware of where to start.
There are a number of requirements prior to certification, starting with a graduate dance education program. (There are alternative ways to go about certification, but this approach proves most comprehensive within a sequential learning experience.) What is important to know is that you will take your professional, technical abilities both as performer and current teacher and immerse yourself within a course of study to enhance your pedagogical skills by looking at dance academically and analyzing the various kinds of learners you may encounter (both within the school and studio setting).
In New York State, there are only two programs which provide master degrees in dance education specifically with certification, New York University and SUNY-Brockport. Speaking as someone who is in her second year of the NYU program, the courses you will encounter will be rich in teaching philosophies, lesson planning, scaffolding of learning and how to implement and promote the creative process from kindergarten through high school.
I think it is important to mention that the MA degree received in a program like this is a scholarly degree with a focus on academics while an MFA is a performance geared masters degreetwo very different degrees. Furthermore, the MA programs in dance education (while possible to apply your focus of study to it as I did) are not geared toward learning how to train dancers, but rather how to teach the whole child and provide dance appreciation to every student. The NYU dance education program does not require technique classes (though you can take them as electives) as you are responsible for building and maintaining your own technique on your own. However, the technique classes that are required are taught from a pedagogical approach of how to teach at the various levels, which provides you with a completely different vantage point of how to approach teaching technique.
Amidst your course load, a dance educator candidate must also accumulate 100 field work hours of observation within varying areas of study determined by the Board of Education, i.e. 10 hours of dance for the special child, 15 hours of human development, 15 hours of creative movement, etc. These field work hours are in addition to the 162.5 cumulative hours of student teaching occurring for 25 days each semester at 6.5 hours per day. One semester is required in an elementary school dance program and one semester is required in middle or high school.
Keep in my mind that, if choosing to pursue this avenue, youll want to discuss with your advisor your preferences as to a school program, i.e. multicultural schools, performing arts schools, etc., in which to complete your student teaching hours. It is important to find a compatible student teaching site and work with a cooperating teacher who you feel comfortable with and who has a curriculum and teaching approach you can identify with. For me personally, as someone who is interested in teaching solely in the performing arts high school setting, I was paired up with cooperating teachers who share my vision on dance education and have students who intend on making dance a profession or have a natural propensity for the art. This made my experience most beneficial and applicable to my goals. There are also 3 required state tests to take prior to certification.
One is a liberal arts concentrated test, another is a situational teaching assessment test and the third is a dance content test. Information on the tests, registration, requirements and more can be researched at http://www.nystce.nesinc.com/. While the program and certification is intense and definitely makes a dancer think like a scholar and apply academic tools they may never have accessed before, it will enhance your knowledge as a dance educator and give you a deepened scope and alternative vantage point of the dance field that you can also apply to your studio students training and learning. For further information about the NYU dance education masters program you can go to http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/dance/programs/graduate/k12.
**Next months article within the Dance in K-12 series will focus on Dance Training vs. Dance Educating. Jessica Rizzo Jessica Rizzo is a native New Yorker and grad student in NYUs dance education masters program. She is also a cum laude graduate with her BFA in dance performance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst 5 College Dance Program. Since then, Jess, a Chancellors Talent Award Scholarship alumni has been fortunate to have graced stages all over the world and the US.
