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Live, Learn, Dance – Biographies

July 3, 2020
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See also: Live, Learn, Dance – The Language Experience Approach and Live, Learn, Dance – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens

So often, we focus on the physical and mental lessons that dance is providing to our children.  Of course, there are countless takeaways from the experience of dance (strength, determination, interdependence, stamina, and perseverance, to name just a few).  But there are significant opportunities for children to engage and grow their cognitive and academic abilities by using dance as a basis on which to anchor their learning.  Summer usually provides additional free time (especially this year, with many states still in lockdown flux), so why not capitalize on the opportunity to explore some dance-related learning?

I am a reading interventionist by trade (believe it or not, I need something besides sarcasm to pay the bills), so I naturally gravitate towards literacy-based activities when I assign extra work for my kids (which they just LOVE, let me tell you).  After reading Taking Flight by Michaela DePrince to my girls, I’ve decided to have them spend more time reading biographies.

Word of warning: I read this aloud for my girls, and had to omit/edit some of the content because they are both fairly sensitive to death and violence. Michaela’s story is inspirational and uplifting, so it’s worth taking a look at. I’ll be writing a review of this book in the future for more information.

*This post contains a few affiliate links. If you purchase something using one of them, I may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

The Benefits of Biographies

Biographies are a genre of nonfiction text that offers a predictable structure, so it is embraced by all types of readers (struggling and/or reluctant, as well as proficient and/or engaged).  After all, we know we’re going to learn specific facts in a biography:  when the subject was born, information about his/her childhood, major life events (education, marriage, children, family tragedies, etc.), his/her accomplishments, obstacles that were overcome, and death (if applicable).  Important events before and after the person’s lifespan may also be included if they were relevant (posthumous awards like a Nobel Prize, for example).  The events are generally laid out in chronological order, so they are easier to follow than most fictional texts (which may include flashbacks and other time-shifting episodes).  Another benefit of reading biographies is that your child can choose a person that he/she looks to as a role model, increasing the motivation to read.  Biographies are available on all reading levels; if you’ve got a tiny dancer, you can always read the text aloud to them.

Where to Start

If your dancer has a person that he/she looks up to admires, you can start right there!  Check wherever you buy books for titles that feature your child’s role model; my go-to is Amazon for selection and convenience.  The Who Was?/Who Is? series of books is a great way to introduce your elementary or middle school child to biographies; they’re loaded with illustrations, are offered in a ton of subjects, and are very inexpensive to boot. 

The person your child chooses doesn’t need to be involved with dance, but it will be easier to draw parallels between the biography and your child’s dance experience if the subject is.  Consider it a case study of sorts; no doubt, the dancer has overcome many challenges to achieve his/her dreams, so that story can serve as inspiration to your child to tackle the obstacles he or she will certainly face in the future (or is already dealing with at the moment).  But if your son or daughter would really rather read about someone else, then I would suggest allowing him or her to do so (especially if you’re dealing with a reluctant or struggling reader).

Girls reading about Misty Copeland
Jocelyn reading Misty Copeland’s biography to Jayden.

For less experienced readers, you can begin by asking them what they already know about this person (either you or your child could jot these down on paper or electronically).  Then, prompt them to predict what they will learn as they read the biography (again, you could record these somewhere).  What’s important here is not necessarily that they get it “right,” but that they are engaging their higher-level thinking skills to align what they already know about the subject (background knowledge) with reasonable predictions about him or her.  Keeping a record of these thoughts will help during and after the reading of the text; they can compare their background knowledge and predictions with what they actually read in the book, which encourages them to actively make meaning (comprehend) as they read. Again, it’s not about getting it “right,” it’s about coming up with rational, reasonable ways that the information will fit together.

During Reading

An interactive bookmark can be as simple as this; just fold the paper in half. If you’d like something fancier, look up “reciprocal teaching bookmark” online.

Rather than reading a nonfiction book straight through, I encourage my students to engage in activities that will help them more thoughtfully process the information; this allows them to more deeply encode the new knowledge, making it more likely that they’ll remember it.  One no-fuss method of doing this is using a plain piece of paper as a bookmark for writing their reflections as they read. These musings can be personal reactions to events, predictions about what might happen going forward, things they were confused about, questions they have, interpretations of a quotation, etc.  If this is beyond your child’s current capabilities, they can use the sheet to write a very brief summary of what happened in each chapter.  The sheet can be folded in half and used as a very functional bookmark.  While your child may find this whole process tedious, he or she will comprehend the text more deeply if these interactions with the text take place.

Readers can use this graphic organizer to keep track of their thoughts as they read.

After Reading

So many children (especially reluctant/struggling readers) want to just forget about a book completely once it’s been read through.  But in order to distill the life lessons that the author was hoping to convey, the reader needs to take some time to reflect on its content.  Only then can the themes be processed more deeply, increasing the odds that the reader makes a personal connection to the story.  Personally, I’ve been fortunate to have read so many books that have resonated with me, and have impacted my perspective and worldview.  So it is well worth the time and effort to engage in some culminating activities after the reading has ended.

Summarizing is one of the most powerful, accessible, and useful comprehension strategies there are.  People are constantly asked to summarize something (“What’s that movie about?” or “What happened at the party?” are everyday examples), so strengthening that skill is a worthwhile investment of effort.  There is nothing wrong with completing a written summary, but don’t be afraid to let your child explore more artistic representations instead.  For example, a common activity is designing an alternative book cover for the biography; ideally, this should capture an important theme from the subject’s life story.  Another method of summarizing artistically is either drawing or using computer graphics to create a handful of scenes depicting important events from the biography.  If your child is technologically inclined, Google Slides or PowerPoint presentations can be created and narrated over to present the information in a more story-like way.  Your child can also design an Instagram page for the subject (on paper or electronically, not on the actual app) or a baseball card for that person (check online for templates).  There are limitless possibilities for creating an art form to symbolize the subject’s life; your child may have ideas of his/her own, so be willing to honor those as well.

If your child does not enjoy creating artistic renderings (the extent of my art skills can best be described as “stick figures with lopsided features”), then encouraging them to create a timeline of the subject’s important life events is a great alternative.  They can use their mathematical abilities to plan and measure out how long the timeline should be, as well as the space and duration of increments.  For example, if the subject lived sixty years, then a ten-year span could be represented by two inches for a total of 12 inches.  These can be decorated as well, and posthumous events (a scholarship being established in his/her name, for example) could be included.  

Cube Creator Read Write Think
For summarizing biographies, use the Bio Cube to generate the content online.

For a low-effort way to summarize a biography, www.readwritethink.org has an online Bio Cube creator that’s fairly easy to use.  After adding information about the subject in the planning sheet, the program will allow you to print it out.  This can then be folded and taped or glued into a six-sided cube.  My students have had fun with this, and it is age-appropriate for both younger and older readers.  The link for the Cube Creator (there are other genres aside from biographies) can be found here:  http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/cube_creator/

Of course, there are countless other methods for utilizing biographies to further a passion or interest while developing literacy skills.  Don’t hesitate to create your own, or allow your child to formulate an activity that allows a bit of free choice.  What’s important is that we take away nuggets of wisdom from those we admire, and knowing our role model’s life story helps us draw inspiration from it.

Happy reading!

Work hard, have fun! – Danielle

How are you weaving dance into your child’s learning this summer? Post your ideas below!

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Dance-coach-turned-dance-mom to identical twin competitive dancers!

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