Education, Language and Sociology Research ISSN 2690-3644 (Print) ISSN 2690-3652 (Online) Vol. 4, No. 4, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 116 Original Paper Child Psychology in the Dance Classroom Yuyan Wang1 1 Moscow State Pedagogical University, Russia Received: September 17, 2023 Accepted: October 5, 2023 Online Published: October 24, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n4p116 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n4p116 Abstract Child psychology is a discipline that studies the laws of children’s mental activities, and with the improvement of social standards, the application of psychology in children’s education is becoming more and more widespread. This paper takes children’s psychological development as a fulcrum to gain deep insight into children’s psychological characteristics in dance teaching. Taking children as the research object, it studies the specific application of psychology in the process of children’s dance teaching through its own teaching practice. Keywords child psychology, pre-class orientation, dance instruction 1. Introduction Children’s dance class is mainly to cultivate children’s interest in dance learning, to cultivate children’s good behavior on the basis of retaining children’s nature, and to develop children’s physical dance ability. Teachers should choose dance learning contents suitable for children, rationally arrange the time of teaching modules, and effectively consider children’s psychological activities in dance courses. Teachers should not apply the teaching mode of professional institutions to the teaching of children’s dance, and they should not focus only on “teaching” and neglect the communication and interaction with children. A complete class is usually divided into three stages, namely, pre-course instruction, unfolding of teaching content and post-course summarization. 2. Overview of Dance Classroom Introduction Types The introduction before class is the key to the whole classroom teaching, through the guidance before class into the teaching theme. It is good to arouse the learning interest of young children and instill the corresponding general knowledge of dance in young children, so that the teacher can play twice the effect with half the effort in the later courses. Taking 30 children and toddlers as survey subjects, it was found that 25% of the children and 53% of the toddlers like music introduction; 60% of the children and 30% www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr Education, Language and Sociology Research Vol. 4, No. 4, 2023 117 Published by SCHOLINK INC. of the toddlers like story introduction; 5% of the children and 7% of the toddlers like review introduction; 10% of the children and 10% of the toddlers like demonstration introduction. While most of the children could be attracted by the story scenario, children preferred the musical introduction and the music of interest created a strong desire to learn the content. 2.1 Dance Music Introduction Method The music in the classroom is an indispensable background for the dance, students hear the music and enter the state of dance learning, quickly attract the children’s attention, and observe the classroom state of the students through one to two minutes of music appreciation. In teaching practice, try to choose the lyrics more attractive to the children’s dance music, and then ask the children to listen to the music with me in a large circle, to exchange what lyrics heard or feel what the music expresses, the children speak freely. Teachers have to do is to encourage the students to speak, and then the children’s words to make appropriate additions, and then play the music again, encourage the children to try to dance on the body, cultivate students’ creative thinking, and help teachers to complete the over-guidance on the development of dance teaching content before the class. Take “Little Snail” from the first grade textbook of Chinese folk dance as an example: I said to the students after they listened to the music: “Teacher heard the little snail, what did you hear?” Some said, “Teacher, what do you hear? Some said: “Teacher, I hear a snail carrying a small house on its back”, some said: “I hear the snail patting its own little belly”, and some said: “I also hear the sound of thunder and rain”. After listening, encourage the children to listen more carefully than the teacher, and then ask the children to close their eyes and think about what it would be like if they were a little snail. Think about whether a snail is afraid of the sound of thunder. What should a snail do when it rains? Then with the thinking just now, please listen to the music again, self-expression, and finally into the teaching of the dance combination. 2.2 Dance Storyline Introduction Method The most effective way to get children to quiet down and quickly focus their attention on the teacher is to tell a story. The story introduction method can pave the way for students’ participation in teaching, but it must be related to the content of dance teaching. Teachers should pay attention to analyzing the content of the teaching materials, determining whether the materials are suitable for pre-class guidance by storytelling, and focusing on communication with students in the process of storytelling. The telling of dance content should not only create a reasonable situation, but also be entertaining. The same toddler dance course combination “ants fall into the river” as an example: “there is a lovely little ant in the lake to play alone, but accidentally fell into the river, the little ant and afraid, and sad, it is more eager to be safe to board the shore ah, when the children guess what the little ant saw? (triggered the children’s thinking, actively speaking) it saw a small leaf floating on the lake, the little ant hurriedly swam over to sit on the small leaf floating back to the shore.” Teachers should be patient with children’s questions and give them time to digest and understand the story. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr Education, Language and Sociology Research Vol. 4, No. 4, 2023 118 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 2.3 Dance Content Review Introduction Method The content of the dance course is linked section by section, teachers will assign corresponding dance homework after class, then teachers should check last week’s homework before the second class, which can make students and parents pay attention to the dance class, and do more practice in the classroom, and uninterrupted dance training can make the students have a greater improvement in physical fitness and dance skills, and can also make teachers put the dance class into the hands of students and parents. It also enables teachers to put dance lessons into the hands of students and parents. This will not only make the students and parents pay attention to the dance class and do more practice in class, but also make the teacher carry out the course content more smoothly. Before teaching a new lesson, the teacher should connect what the students have learned with the textbook content, so that they can learn from the past and make what they have learned more solid and lay a foundation for the new content. 2.4 Dance Movement Demonstration Introduction Method The demonstration introduction method is very direct and more suitable for children. In the classroom, the teacher can act as an audience in front of the students, directly conveying to the students the teaching objectives and content of the lesson, so that the students are clear about what needs to be mastered in this lesson, and then demonstrating for the students in the background of music. In the process of demonstration, the teacher’s performance should be full of children’s interest and resonate with the students. 3. Development of Dance Teaching Content The development of curriculum content is the core of the whole classroom teaching, which requires teachers to teach and students to learn, and finally complete the teaching goals together. Children’s dance courses include basic skills training, dance combination, game teaching and other contents. 3.1 Basic Skills Basic skills are the foundation of all dances, including flexibility and control. Children’s bones are highly plastic, and solving the most basic soft openness is one thing. Secondly, dance itself is transformed into beauty only through sweat and tears, so that children can feel the joy of “I insist, I gain”. Finally, children who practice the basic skills of suffering will be mentally strong later. However, the premise of all training is that the method should be scientific, correct and measured. Often children who are physically willing to suffer will be more willing to put into action than other children, and those who can be willing to persevere will be stronger inside than other children. Encouragement should be given as long as the student persists, and the student will give more because of his or her progress, and this will form a good cycle. When practicing the basic skills, it is best for the teacher to do the demonstration while explaining the preparatory movements, the course of the movements and the details of the final completion of the basic skills. It is also possible to let the children do the demonstration while the teacher explains in words and guides the children with his hands to pay attention to the movement status of each part of the body when doing a certain basic skill, emphasizes the correctness of the basic skill movements, and then walks www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr Education, Language and Sociology Research Vol. 4, No. 4, 2023 119 Published by SCHOLINK INC. to each of the children, instructs and reviews them one by one, and reminds them repeatedly. In addition, individual differences should be taken into account when practicing, and teaching should be tailored to the needs of the children. 3.2 Dance Ensembles The learning of dance combination is the main content of this course. Teachers should choose the music and dance combinations that young children are interested in for training, such as rhythm training, imitation training, performance training and so on. Young children’s attention is easily distracted. Teachers should use language to attract students’ attention during the teaching process, enter the group after explaining the demonstration movements, and instruct students one by one. Through the students’ “POSE” movements, let the students feel that the teacher cares about them, and form a kind of psychological and emotional communication. 3.3 Game Teaching Game teaching simply means playing with children, guiding them into a state of relaxation and playing a role in adjusting their state. Children in the game activities in the exercise of the body, in fact, is in the excavation of their various abilities, so the children’s dance classroom games can choose rhythmic games, imitation games, coordination games, double or multiple cooperation games, etc., in the process not only exercise the ability of the students to learn the basic skills of dance but also bring the teachers and students closer to each other’s emotional distance. 4. Dance Class Summary After class summary is the feedback of the whole class, it is the summary, review and reinforcement of the teacher’s teaching content, and it is the summary of classroom teaching. The objects of children’s dance classroom summarization are students, parents and teachers themselves. Students are the objects of dance teaching, teachers comb through what they have learned with children before class to deepen their impression and use the time of summarizing after class to communicate with children again in psychological language; parents are the supervisors and reflectors of dance teaching, parents can supervise the children’s dance practice under the classroom, and they can also communicate with the teachers in time; teachers are the executors of dance teaching, teachers can summarize the progress, content and reinforcement of the teaching through the after class. Teachers are the executors of dance teaching, and teachers can reflect on the progress, content and effect of teaching through summarizing after class, and moderately adjust the specific teaching program when necessary. 4.1 Teachers Can Quickly Refine the Essence of Classroom Content and Deepen Students’ Learning Impression through Oral Explanation and Demonstration Teachers can comment on students’ classroom performance and learning accordingly, encouraging children with good expressions, those who do exercises after class, those with good classroom discipline, those who have made progress in basic skills, those who remember movements well, and those who are expressive in dance, and explaining the teacher’s expectations and giving certain rewards to other www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr Education, Language and Sociology Research Vol. 4, No. 4, 2023 120 Published by SCHOLINK INC. children who do not receive praise. Children like activities that are performative or competitive, so teachers can set aside about ten minutes in each lesson’s vignette to re-enforce new content learned in class. For example, divide the students into two groups, one group of students to perform, the other group of students as a small audience, after the performance, one by one says that the children in the performing group danced well and can dance better, and then the two groups swap. Or invite parents to come into the classroom to enjoy the children’s performance. When summarizing after class, it is recommended to use cell phones to record the performance combinations, I believe that the students will be more engaged in the performance, and the parents can also supervise the children’s practice in the classroom through the video. Want children’s dance ability to improve fast, Teachers need to both motivate and inspire students to learn, but also to raise the importance of parents, after-class summary is a good opportunity. 4.2 Assign Homework For the Chinese education model, homework is the most direct means to consolidate the classroom. The content of homework includes two parts: one is the dance part of the homework, requiring a fixed time every day to practice the basic skills and review the dance combinations; the other is the aspects of life: such as washing their own cups of water, organizing their own schoolbags and so on. Cultivating a sense of responsibility in children from an early age is first of all a sense of responsibility for oneself, followed by a sense of responsibility for those around them. Dance educators should nurture people before teaching dance. 4.3 Creative Content At the end of each class, I tell the children a little knowledge of etiquette, the most common being greeting etiquette and table manners. Dance is an elegant art. While educators and students learn and improve their professional knowledge, they also need to improve their own quality and promote the overall development of human beings. Teachers should believe in their students and respect them. The experiments of the American psychologist Rosenthal show that if teachers have love and patience for their students, then the students will also study hard and be active according to the teachers’ wishes. The ideal teacher-student relationship is not a simple teaching-learning relationship, but a peaceful coexistence relationship that is human- centered and promotes the development of both personalities. Teachers can only become children’s teachers if they treat themselves as children as well. 5. Conclusion The popularity of children’s dance makes the teaching of children’s dance more and more demanding. More and more children are learning dance, and there are numerous dance-related training centers, and there is no shortage of professional dance teachers. Under such fierce competition, parents and training organizations have higher and higher requirements for teachers. Teachers’ comprehensive ability is not only shown in the professional theory, but also in their own quality. Only when the teachers’ teaching ability is improved, the quality of the dance classroom can be improved. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr Education, Language and Sociology Research Vol. 4, No. 4, 2023 121 Published by SCHOLINK INC. In ordinary teaching, teachers just let students unilaterally accept the classroom content. Using child psychology in the dance classroom, firstly, we should improve the relationship between teachers and students, and then “teach by example”, which can make teachers get a better learning experience in “teaching” and “learning”. This can make the teacher’s “teaching” and “learning” to get better learning benefits, improve the emotional exchange between teachers and students, can make the children have more interest in dance and curiosity, and the dance classroom will progress very smoothly, and its greatest value is to improve the efficiency of dance teaching, so that the effect of teaching and learning is more significant. The use of psychology in children’s dance teaching can implement differentiated education in a collective learning environment, targeting, cultivating children’s personal self-control and patience, letting them understand that life is a persistent process just like learning dance, and cultivating children’s spirit of hard work and perseverance from childhood. At the same time, it can also cultivate children’s good behavior, perseverance and fortitude. Child psychology education is an important way to cultivate children’s good behavior, perseverance, desire to explore new things and collective learning ability. Therefore, child psychology not only plays a great role in the effectiveness of dance teaching, but also allows children to develop their abilities in various aspects through dance learning. References Fan, J. Z., & Gao, H. X. (2010). Microgram Teaching Tutorial. Beijing Normal University Press. Liu, H. L. (2008). Science and Education Wenhui. Talking about interest cultivation in children’s dance teaching. Lv, Y. S. (2000, April). Dance Pedagogy. Shanghai Music Press. Wang, X. L. (2012). An Introduction to the Influence of Dance on Children’s Thinking. Academy.