Motivating boys through music and dance

What were the outcomes?

As a result of the project, the boys developed a good knowledge of the basics of music and dance and gained a new enthusiasm for the arts. They became far more confident in their whole-class dance sessions, could use the correct vocabulary to describe what they were doing, and were prepared to take part in evaluation sessions at the end of lessons for the first time. Three of the boys openly took leaflets promoting local dance workshops, which would have been unthinkable before the project. One of the pupils said he wanted to join a choir outside school and another was keen to learn the bass guitar. Both groups of pupils requested tapes of their music so they could practise at home and one asked if parents could come to see their performance.

Most of the boys also became more involved in lessons right across the curriculum and were more likely to complete academic work. One of them began to do homework for the first time. Having completed a task on disk, he discovered typing mistakes and took the disk home again to correct the errors. Another boy sat down and produced a sustained piece of poetry.

In general, the boys' confidence clearly grew as a result of the project. Two of them led the rest of the school in some dance moves at the end-of-term school disco, which they would never have considered doing in the past.

The boys' social skills also improved -- they became better at making eye contact and were more willing to converse with adults.

What people said

• 'It was really fun and I really like the dance. I think we are doing really well. I feel like a pop king.' (pupil)
• 'I got to have a turn on the computer. It is very good and I am proud of myself.' (pupil)
• 'Everyone else is so jealous that we are doing this. I'm glad we were chosen.' (pupil)
• 'If you think that what we have done is fantastic, well, think of all the words even better than that. That's what I think of what we've composed.' (pupil)
• 'The best thing I've ever done. Great.' (pupil)
• 'He changed from not acknowledging the opinions of other people well, and shouting out above others in the class, to becoming more controlled when waiting for others to finish and express opinions. He is becoming more sociable and is more accepted; he has become more of a team player.' (class teacher)