A FUN Movement lesson about the 3 Branches of Government: Legislative, Judicial and Executive

A few years ago Kelly Bruce, now Weber State BTSArts Program Coordinator, shared a fun lesson with me (Ashley Boyack, U of U Dance PDP) on the 3 branches of government. As I read through her lesson I could see how fun it would be to explore and dance: making laws, the voting of laws, and implementation of laws. I also thought it was an excellent way to create and build a community in my classrooms.

In this fun lesson, we come together to decide, how to change, amend, vote, second the motion, and check and balance what movements we will use in our class.

We make a list of 4 movement choices. Together we make decisions on how we will use them and invent sequences of movement to show that we understand the laws.

My favorite part of this lesson is when it is my turn to be the supreme court judge. I often invite a principal or another teacher to join me. We allow the students to show us how they are interpreting the movement laws by creating a 16-24 count group pattern. As the supreme court, we get to decide if the “movement laws” were followed or if they will be fined because they did not interpret the law correctly. After watching their dances I get to decide if they are guilty or not guilty. We make it fun. If they are found guilty we sentence them to pretend silly verdicts like only eating bananas for a week!

For a look at the complete lesson plan please see the link below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DX3N5Nn2EY0GeTmdhLbiHUnu1AM5EbiogfDRLywA_xM/edit?usp=sharing

This blog post was written by Ashley Boyack, Dance PDP for the University of Utah Region. Ashley is also a dance specialist and the director of professional development at Tanner Dance.