Mila Parrish Ph.D

Advising in Dance Education

 

As the Director of Dance Education and the Director of the MA in Arts in Dance Education - Distance Education (MA DE) my advisement responsibilities are detailed below.

 

Listed Advising Duties

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• Advisement for all students enrolled in MA DE as well as for students enrolled in the MA theories and practice and MFA students seeking initial K-12 teacher licensure.

• Advise BA/BFA K-12 Licensure students transfer students - as necessary. 

• Prepare each students Plans of Study, provide instruction and guidance on course selection, gather campus signatures and review non-UNCG online course requests before they go to the Graduate School for all MADE students as well as for students enrolled in the MA theories and practice and MFA students seeking initial K-12 teacher licensure.

• Track student progress and use data to make recommendations to School of Dance Director regarding course offerings and programmatic needs.

• I serve as the only Graduate Thesis advisor for all students enrolled in MA DE program.   I mentor, review and approve of all MADE student thesis and Advanced Dance Teacher Licensure work (detailed below).

• I review all of the MA DE prospective program applications and oversee the selection of incoming students.

• Lead all UNCG MADE Recruitment efforts, including online and in print. Attend state and national conferences, advertise program in magazines and list serves and respond to calls,   e-mails and campus visits.

• In collaboration with the Graduate Dance Director, I review all the MA Dance Theories and Practice and MFA applications in dance program applications for students seeking initial K-12 teacher licensure.

• I solicit, review and guide the hiring and instruction of all non-UNCG Faculty who teach within the MADE program.

• Attend to all state (NCDPI) and national (NCATE) requirements for licensure as they are interpreted by UNCG, and make sure they are implemented in the program.

• Review relevant sections of Departmental Graduate and Undergraduate Handbook relating to student advisement and revise as needed.  Communicate relevant changes to all dance education students. 

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Masters of Arts Dance Education - Distance Education MA DE

I am the graduate thesis advisor for all students enrolled in MA DE program. I mentor, review and approve of all MADE student thesis projects and advanced dance teacher licensure work. 

In the statement below, I detail the responsibilities.  

 

The Director of Dance Education supervises student successful completion of advanced dance teacher licensure and graduate thesis projects. UNCG is the only program where graduate students can earn advanced teacher licensure in NC.  In my 7 years at UNCG leading the MA DE program I have worked closely with the School of Education and the Graduate School to update thesis projects by implementing modifications to the project requirements to create pedagogical research that illustrates culturally responsive, activist and inclusive teaching practice and is technology infused. Examples of this work include: Lisa Wilder’s “Emerging Artist,” community performance program, illuminating the creative work of dance legacy, Lester Horton and Erica Locke’s, “Dance and Social Justice,” a community program investigating dance making as an agent of social change.

 

Two key projects make up the evaluation: The Teacher Leadership Project (TLP) and Pedagogy Research Project (PRP) for measuring a candidate’s proficiency in meeting the advanced standards for dance education. These evidences focus on impacting student learning, meet all five North Carolina Teacher Standards and focus on 21st century skills including creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, and collaboration and communication. See the description of the procedures below.

 

MADE students complete a TLP that requires them to be active collaborative leaders in their classrooms, schools, and/or professional organizations.  MA DE students prepare a TLP proposal that includes the following: The significance of the problem, a literature review, a plan for data collection and analysis, a research timeline, plan for implementation, and the required permission forms for the project. TLP projects are substantial investigations implemented in the candidate’s community. Within these supportive and respectful communities, teaching candidates teach and later mentor fellow teachers about a need in their classroom or school. Both in the TLP proposal and TLP implementation hours it is expected that teachers engage in reflective practice on their own and with their colleagues to improve students learning. TLP is mentored and evaluated by the Director of Dance Education

 

In addition, teacher candidates conduct a Pedagogy Research Project (PRP) that investigates ways to improve student learning.  Teacher candidates develop original project, collect data, such as student work samples, researcher field notes, student assessment scores, and or audio/video tapes of interactions. One goal of any PRP is to investigate and improve student learning and/or school policies and practices. To plan an PRP, teacher candidates must critically analyze data to determine needs and plan instruction that is rigorous, coherent, and substantiated within a theoretical and philosophical base. PRP is evaluated at numerous stages by the Director of Dance Education

 

Teacher candidates also engage in critical reading, thinking, and writing about evidence-based practices, and include knowledge of child and adolescent development, cognitive development, content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge to plan and carry out their PRP. Technology is integrated into the PRP at many points, including the research process, instructional design, instructional delivery, and evaluation methods. Self-reflection and self-assessment are integral parts of any PRP. When collection and analysis is complete, candidates write up their finding and complete a manuscript worthy of submission to an educational journal or national dance conference presentation. PRP is supervised and evaluated at numerous stages by the Director of Dance Education.

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Thesis Advisor

MADE Program Student Thesis

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MADE 2018-2021

Committee Chair

• Erin Lally

• Morgan Wilson

• Janai Fennell

• Tori Montgoners

• Amanada Carrick

• Lisette Benefield

• Georgia Haygood

• Mary LaBianca

• Ashley Cartledge

• Pilar Wilder

• Brittni Dell

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MADE 2016-2019 

Master's Thesis Committee Chair

• Emily Godwin "Movement and Dance Applications Toolbox for Beginning Actors."

• Katrina Brown "Dance Education in the New York City Charter Sector." 

• Caroline Keyes "A new model for dance competitions and conventions: a plan to support dance students and educators mentally, physically and emotionally." 

• Amy Bramlette "Poetry, Reflective Practice and Social Justice Issues as Inspiration for Student Choreography in the High School Classroom." 

• Amy Lang Crow  "Assessment and Internal Reflection Protocols for Improving Mastery of Dance Technical Skills." 

• Jennifer Florey "Developing positive social relationships among level I high school dance students." 

• Lisa Wilder: Horton Goes High Tech

• Rylee Sammons. "Discerning a Personal Choreographic Process Designed for High School Dance Educators and Dancers: A Phenomenological Approach."

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MADE 2014-2017

• Kylie Williamson. "Coaching a High School Dance Team:  A method for training, leading, and inspiring."

• Mary Mattman. "On the margins: Empowering student voice through non-normative dance history."

• Tamara Irving. "The effects of Google Classroom  As a blended learning platform in the dance class."

• Amelia Brame. "Using folk dance as a means to teach music and movement in the elementary education  classroom."

• Sophia McKain. "Hybrid Model Considerations and Applications within the Movement Theory and Analysis I Course at the Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts."

• Alisa Jacobs. "Fourth-Grade All-Inclusive Dance Curriculum."

• Shurrell Wieble. "Methods Behind the Madness, Research into Dance Education and Training."

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MADE 2012- 2015

• Cynthia D. Jones. "Creative Performance Collaboration: Methodologies for Working Successfully Together."

• Ilana F. Burger. "Social Media and the Choreographic Process."

• Leslie Parrin. "Initiating, Implementing, and Sustaining a Dance Curriculum."

• Miranda C. Wickett. "Benefits and connections of podcasting as professional development of dance educators."

• Stacey Enyart. "Advocacy through Dance."

• Jessica Cadby. "From Canvas to Stage: Moving Art."

• Jennifer Cheek. "A spoonful of assessment makes the curricula go down: Bringing assessment down to size teaching students multiple modes for assessment."

• Erica Locke Seninsky. "Modern Dance Past and Present: Style, Influence, and Innovation: Curriculum Plan and Analysis."

• Krista DiLello. "Bring your phone to dance!"  Using Handheld Devices to Enhance and Transform Instruction and Learning in the High School Dance Curriculum."

• Jeneen Cleare. "Water Cycle to Water Crisis."

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MADE 2010-2014

• Erin E. Jaffe. "Development of an Integrated Online Curriculum Guide for Teaching Dance Technique and Related Content in a Public High School."

• Ashlie Kirby. "Working Title: Reflective Journaling as Formative Assessment in Middle School."

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