I would like to thank the fine animators at Google for creating a fantastic doodle this week in honor of Martha Graham.
It just so happens that we were finishing up a unit this week on Aaron Copland and Martha Graham’s collaboration of Appalachian Spring. We started with a lovely book called Ballet for Martha and then proceeded to discuss how Aaron Copland use the Shaker Hymn, Simple Gifts, to build his ideas. Thanks to the grace of YouTube, we were able to watch a production from 1959 with Ms. Graham playing the Wife.
The students didn’t fall madly in love with modern dance, but I really appreciated their thoughtful comments and connections they demonstrated in discussion. To top it off, the day after we finished, nearly every one of them saw the Google Doodle and knew instantly who it was; yippee!
Teach2Connect 