I admit I secretly want to be Justin Timberlake. I mean he acts, sings, produces, but boy can he dance! I can’t dance even close to how he does but that doesn’t stop me. When I put on my headset at PE class in front of 120 students (grades K-5), I become JT, N’Sync, Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block all in one! If you could see my students jumping up and down and doing all the moves with me, you’d be amazed. How does this happen?
When students come into my class, they immediately go to a “dot’, a painted circle on the cement under the pavilion. I or one of my paras will tell the class to go to a certain color and sit or stand if it’s time to start. I want my class to start with high-energy! I use my Bluetooth Steambot Mini that plugs into my stereo system so my phone now controls the music. I like to mix things up, so I use one of options: Apple Music, Fit Radio, Garage Band, or Tempo Magic Pro.
The easiest and most used app we use is Apple Music sharing. For a monthly fee, I can access any song without owning it outright. We stream the music, choreograph the songs, or just make moves up as we go. Most of the time it’s Kidz Bop, but often I’ll play my favorites like TobyMac, Newsboys and even some 80’s hits I grew up with!
Fit Radio I use for the older students (3-5) when I want pure exercise and not a lot of dance. Some of the 5th graders especially would rather not dance so I’ll often give them a choice of dance or a lap or two around the track. With Fit Radio, continuous mixes are created for you using popular songs with high-energy beats. You can choose from different DJ’s, tempos and genres depending on the mood and the atmosphere you’d like to create.
Garage Band is for the mixes I make, which I call my “Music Montages”. These songs I have to own, which I put into Garage Band, take pieces of the best portions of the songs, and put it together with a buffer sound (usually a crashing-type sound called a “boomer”) in between. Check this out on my YouTube channel for an example- https://youtu.be/Rhrq8AQvskE
Tempo Magic Pro is awesome! I first learned about this app from Naomi Hartl. If you own a song, you can download it in the app and, using a sliding scale, can change the tempo of the song (fast or slow) without it sounding like “Alvin and the Chipmunks”! The younger students absolutely love it! We go slow-motion to warp-speed in a few seconds! Here’s a sample of our class using it- https://youtu.be/sMMN4xnWl5U
So what are you waiting for? Dance in PE class is a great way to get students active and to start off your class with high-energy movement. Check out my YouTube Channel for some dances and montages to follow along with https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-hqv5yOssqijQiJAIDY8yQ?view_as=subscriber. If you’d like my montages from my dropbox, please email me at dcarney1017@gmail.com. Happy dancing!
coachcarney99 