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OPDI-M38: Social and Emotional Learning in Dance Practice
September 07, 2026 - October 18, 2026
All dance educators should know how to incorporate Social Emotional Learning (SEL) principles into their teaching practice. This 6 week mini-course is designed to equip you with the tools and strategies to integrate SEL into your teaching practice effectively. We will explore methods to cultivate emotional intelligence, self-awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making among your dance students. By focusing on these key areas, you will be able to create supportive, inclusive, and nurturing dance spaces where emotional growth can thrive alongside artistic development. Throughout the course, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with fellow dance educators enrolled in the course, brainstorm ideas, and develop SEL-focused dance lessons and activities. You will leave this course with the ability to weave SEL principles into your daily dance classes, crafting lessons that help students grow their artistic, social and emotional capacities.
Book required: None
Agenda
Speakers
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Gina D'Antonio-Spears
<p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#212121ff;">Gina D'Antonio-Spears has been teaching dance in Chicago Public Schools since 1998. During her career, she has taught all grade levels of dance, PreK through 12th grade, teaching elementary school dance for the majority of her career. Her specialties include unit and lesson planning, assessment, arts integration, differentiation, and questioning and discussion techniques. She especially enjoys integrating dance history into her lessons at every grade level. Ms. Spears provides her students with a rich dance curriculum that is standards-based and well-rounded.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#212121ff;">Ms. Spears believes that all students <strong>can</strong> dance and <i>should</i> be provided with a dance education. Her mission is to expose students to the joy of movement, helping her students become creative thinkers, problem solvers, and the future audiences for dance. She hopes that one day <strong>all</strong> Chicago Public Schools will have a certified dance teacher and program.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#212121ff;">Ms. Spears is a teacher leader in a variety of capacities. She has been a Framework Specialist, developing resources and leading professional development connected to the Danielson Framework for Teaching. She was an Arts Instruction Specialist, leading dance professional development and co-facilitating the dance Community of Practice group. She mentored two dance resident teachers in the first Dance Teacher Residency program. She mentors first-year arts teachers in the New Teacher Cohort and has been a mentor for the National Dance Education Organization for all nine cohorts. Ms. Spears has a vision that through leading dance educators, she can help make the current dance programs in CPS stronger and help the district to invest in more programs throughout the district.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#212121ff;">When not teaching, leading professional development, or mentoring, Ms. Spears enjoys exploring Chicago with her children, attending live performances, and taking long walks through Portage Park, the neighborhood where she works and lives. </span></p>
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Chicago Public Schools |
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