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September 16, 2009

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My best wishes, Susan!

Not early dance, but I watched Mad Hot Ballroom last night and that's certainly young dance!

Is that the documentary about the NYC students? I saw that and thought it was great, though too bad the teachers focused on competitive dance.

Yes, the fifth-graders in NYC. I'm not sure the kids would have learned as well if it wasn't competitive.

Possible. But is that the ONLY motivator for things? (Would more kids like to read if we did all reading instruction in the form of contests?)

In dance, in particular, the competitive stuff is really a warping of a social activity - it's like doing sex as a contest or conversation as a contest.

I'm not big on learning that's based on competition with people other than myself.

Schools and libraries DO have reading competitions, though, where kids try to read the most books/pages/words. There's also spelling bees, geography bees, and maybe math bees? I dunno. I was homeschooled so I missed all of that stuff.

People are competitive by nature. I have to admit that if the chance arose, I would enter a belly dance competition just for the chance to practice dancing in front of an audience and see how I ranked against others in my region. It's not something I'd make a habit of, but once or twice would be either fun or ego-crushing.

As AJ says, there's a lot of competition in getting kids to read. Many people, kids and adults, are more likely to try things if they're competitive.

AJ.... People are competitive by nature

As far as I can remember, yes, I'd find it great if I won. But I think the important thing was, like I said before, to be the best I could be.

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