Why Am I Doing All the Work? 5 Ways to Flip the Classroom and Empower Your Students
Contributed by Victoria Reid, Dance Representative
These five ways to flip your classroom toward a more student-centred approach can be adapted to fit your own teaching context. As the Dance Representative, these ideas lend themselves best to Division 3 and 4 performing arts classrooms, specifically dance, drama, and musical theatre. However, I'm curious how reading this article might spark ideas for your own grade level and discipline!
Flipping the classroom, student-centred learning, student agency... none of these are new concepts. But I think we sometimes forget how important it is to give our students autonomy, choice, and ownership over their learning.
The research supporting student-centred classrooms is extensive, and the outcomes for students are overwhelmingly positive: deeper learning, stronger collaboration skills, increased engagement, and greater independence, just to name a few. But beyond being good for kids, it's also good for us as teachers.
As fine arts teachers, burnout, overwork, and stress can run high. I get it. It can feel like everything rests on your shoulders. That's why I love this approach. It puts some of the learning back into the hands of students.
Here are five ways I flip my classroom to create a more student-centred environment. These strategies give me a little more time to settle in, sip my coffee, organize my thoughts, be more present, learn from the students, and maybe even put my feet up (not literally, but you know what I mean!).
Yes, these approaches still require work on my part. Sometimes it's creating an assignment with clear guidelines. Sometimes it's providing examples. Sometimes it's building a schedule. There is definitely some upfront work, but once that foundation is in place, everything flows much more naturally, and I love that.
Like I mentioned earlier, these examples come from my dance classroom, but I'm hopeful they'll spark ideas that work in your own fine arts context as well.
1. Warm-Ups
Why do we, as dance teachers, feel like we need to lead every warm-up every single day?
That's an old-school, authoritarian teaching mindset that simply isn't necessary anymore.
Get students to plan warm-ups, either individually or in groups. Make a schedule. Decide who is leading each day. Have them create a warm-up plan and give them a set time limit.
Or better yet, have students warm themselves up in small groups. Why does this always need to fall on you? Assign one group stretching. Assign another cardio. Let them take ownership.
The lessons learned through planning, leading, and teaching a warm-up are endless.
Many of my former students have gone on to teach dance, dance in university programs, and work professionally in the industry. Knowing how to build and lead an effective warm-up for both themselves and others is an essential skill if they want to continue in dancing in any capacity beyond high school.
2. Pop Culture Dance Moments (AKA Current Events!)
Maybe social studies teachers were onto something with Current Events.
This is my version of that.
Every day on Instagram, I come across incredible dance videos, music videos, commercials, and unforgettable Dancing with the Stars performances.
What if every Friday, a student shared something amazing they'd discovered online?
Have them submit it to you beforehand for approval, show it in class, and then facilitate a discussion about it. How cool is that?
Let's engage with what's happening in the dance world around us. Let's immerse ourselves in the art form and share what we're seeing.
Of course, I'd provide guidelines regarding appropriate content. Personally, I also prefer not to watch competition routines in class. That's just my own preference. I'd rather students bring examples from professional contexts: commercial work, professional companies, music videos, television, theatre productions, and so on.
The discussions that come from these shared viewings are often just as valuable as the videos themselves. Students start talking about found space, costuming, choreographic style, musicality, storytelling, and all the artistic choices that make a piece work. Those conversations are where some of the real learning happens.
Here are a few I’ve come across the last couple weeks, that stopped the scroll and inspired me!
- Leon Bridges – Talk It Over Music Video Choregraphed by Luciano Hiwat
- @zaraman @zara | autumn/fall campaign Choreographed by Shay Latukolan
- Jungle - Move Like You Do Music Video, Choregraphed by Will West
- Ezra Frech’s Premiere Night Tango | Dancing with the Stars Choregraphed by Daniella Karagach
- Excerpt from Dead Inside Choregraphed by Chase Hudson
- Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games – Lighting Ceremony Choregraphed by Artemis Ignatiou
3. History
I cover a lot of dance history in my classes, and traditionally that has meant me standing at the front of the room lecturing through slides while students take notes.
But does it have to be that way?
Honestly, I don't think so.
At the same time, I find that assigning a full research project can eat up days and days of class time. To be honest, sometimes that's too much valuable studio time.
So what if each small group gets five minutes to research everything they can about a specific topic?
Give them a piece of chart paper, have them gather as much information as possible, and then share their findings with the class.
Fast and furious research.
For example, when studying ballet history, assign each group a different era. Give them five minutes to learn everything they can and then have each student share one thing they discovered.
The entire activity might take 30 to 40 minutes, but that's still far more engaging than a full lecture and much more efficient than spending three (or more!) classes building research presentations.
4. Across the Floor
Once again, this is an area of dance class that has traditionally been very teacher-driven.
I'll usually introduce a few across-the-floor exercises within the style we're studying. If it's jazz, maybe we start with jazz walks, kicks, turns, or jumps.
Then I flip it.
I ask students to begin creating their own across-the-floor combinations using the steps we just did.
They can simply do them across the floor, or even better, they can teach their combinations to the rest of the class and have everyone try them.
It's secretly choreography.
They just don't realize they're doing it.
5. Choreography
And finally, choreography itself.
I am working hard to get rid of the notion that I always need to be the one creating and leading choreography.
How can we create opportunities for students to use their own creativity, imagination, and decision-making skills instead of simply copying what I do?
Can you design choreography tasks?
Can you build projects centered around collaborative creation?
Can students create work independently, with partners, or in groups?
The more opportunities we provide for students to create, the more invested they become in the artistic process and the more they become thinking dancers.
I hope this encourages you to look at the ways you're teaching and leading your classroom and find opportunities to hand some of that learning, creating, and sharing over to your students.
I promise you'll be amazed by what they come up with.
And honestly? You might find yourself feeling a little more relaxed, too.
If this all feels a bit intimidating, start small. Maybe students choose the question of the day instead of you. Maybe drama students direct a short section of a scene. Maybe visual arts students lead a critique discussion or share an artist they're inspired by.
Small steps can lead to big shifts.
If you're already doing all of this and more, good on ya! I'd love to hear what other ways your students are leading and shaping learning in your classroom.
As always, I'd love to hear what's happening in your dance space. Send along your ideas, successes, and suggestions!
Keep Shining!
Victoria, victoria.reid@fineartsata.ca
