The Power of Lending

Today's blog post is a sharing of thoughts for dance teaching artists. 

While it is always great to suggest at your school sites book titles, the simple power of a lending a book can go a long way.

Recently, I taught a special class at my school for kindergarteners and my regular 8th grade students. We explored the theme of water/rain. As the Ks left the room, I passed on two books to the kindergarten teacher – optional reading to "extend" our lesson. (I passed on All the Water in the World and Water Dance.) I saw the teacher in passing a week later, and she mentioned that they are trying to make a dance about one of the books, to show me. That is the borrow of directly handing a book to a teacher – making it easy for him/her to further explore with a classroom.

At my son's preschool (age 4), I recently lent them a stack of dance books. What a pleasure to find out how many they have read as a class already, including The Giant Carrot, a fun version of The Giant Turnip that involves a little girl dancing in a garden to make the giant carrot grow. 

For years, I happily created book lists for schools, classroom teachers, and librarians. The lists are appreciated, but if you have the time to lend a book or get it out of the library, all the better. Life is busy,and helping with the first step can be a big help for busy classroom teachers.