DREAM’s English Language Arts (ELA) Program recognizes ELA as a foundational skill that serves as a bedrock for interdisciplinary learning. The ability to express and articulate one’s self is a skill that promotes college and career readiness, as well as general mental and emotional wellness. Through this program, dancers in grades 3 through 8 are exposed to opportunities for increased reading comprehension and fluency, vocabulary expansion and critical text analysis. As we work within our virtual spaces, elementary students are experiencing opportunities to bolster and enrich reading skills through analyzing short reading passages and engaging in meaningful discussions, while making text-to-self and text-to-world connections.
Additionally, middle school students are partaking in a novel study with the goal of increasing cross-cultural knowledge and cultivating reading enjoyment and desirability. Students are currently reading Taking Flight by Elaine and Michaela DePrince, a memoir about Michaela’s journey to stardom in ballet. This novel study has paved the way for great discussions centered on conflicts in underdeveloped nations, immigration, race in America and ballet, conceptualizing culture, health disparities and diseases and much more. It’s been an amazing journey thus far, and we are looking forward to exploring more. Join us by picking up a copy of the novel for yourself!