Month: November 2018

Integrated Arts Week 11

This was the last week in Integrated arts, so the lecture slot was focused on the feedback for the module. We discussed what we had completed throughout the module then we were given the feedback sheets to fill anonymously.

The first workshop my section completed was the dance one. This was where we did the same activities as last week to warm up but this time our group was given half the stretches to complete. I feel this was a good task because we now have played eight games that we could use with children to get them warmed up and for fun. Also, we have now completed a full two sets of stretches which has given us a bigger variety of stretches to do for different body parts. We then went back into our groups to practice the dance we made last week ready to get it filmed. We then got it filmed and watched it back on the whiteboard where we were to fill out a sheet with three stars and a wish for ourselves. I think this was a good way to end the sessions of dance because it let us see how everything came together from the start making up the ten moves to making a whole class dance we could perform. I think this would be a good series of lessons to do with a class as at the end they have something they can be proud of and if it is possible perform in front of another class for instance. “Through dance, they bring their inner self to the surface where they can express their dreams, fears, needs, and joys.” (Cone, 2009) I think this quote explains really nicely what children get out of making their own dances and being able to lead their own lessons to the level of difficulty that they want to. The self-evaluation sheets are helpful as you could film it once with a class then do the sheets before they perform it in front of people and they will be able to think back to what their wish was and try to improve it. “I can respond to the experience of dance by discussing my thoughts and feelings. I can give and accept constructive comment on my own and others’ work. EXA 0-11a / EXA 1-11a / EXA 2-11a / EXA 3-11a.” This experience and outcome could be connected to the dancing but also to the self-evaluation that we completed about our performance.

 

The second workshop my section completed was music. In this section we focussed on learning how to play simple songs on the ukulele. We had a look on the Charanga website and at their resources for this instrument. I found this input very useful as I can’t play any instruments, I thought that playing the ukulele would be very difficult but once I had learnt how to play the different keys I then realised that it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I think that if the resources are available to me in a primary school that I would feel quite comfortable teaching young children how to play the ukulele even if I am learning alongside them. We managed to play a Christmas song on the ukulele and this could be related to Christmas performance from the whole school in a nativity of some sort or even just making the learning relevant in the class and getting the children engaged. “I can use my voice, musical instruments and music technology to discover and enjoy playing with sound, rhythm, pitch and dynamics. EXA 1-17a.” This experience and outcome could be connected to learning how to play any musical instrument doesn’t have to be particularly the ukulele.

Overall, I feel that todays sessions were helpful as they showed how a series of lessons that could last a whole term are finished and give the children a final outcome they can be proud of and perform it in some way. I think that if I am to teach my class dance I will most definitely use the structure that we have been working through in this module then try and get the children somewhere they can perform it in front of some sort of audience without putting too much pressure on them. I also think that if I was supplied with a class resource of ukuleles I would feel so much more comfortable trying to teach the children it than what as I was before because I have no music background what so ever except from that I use the rhythm and pitch to do my dancing and dance teaching to outside of university. There is such an importance for music to be taught in school not only for the benefits of creativity and the children getting to express themselves and vary their learning in school but also Fleming, M. 2012 said that the teaching of music in schools can improve children’s performance in other areas of learning such as maths due to the cognitive aspect of learning how to play an instrument and count music. “I have experienced the energy and excitement of presenting/performing for audiences and being part of an audience for other people’s presentations/ performances. EXA 0-01a / EXA 1-01a / EXA 2-01a.” I feel that this experience and outcome could be connected to either of today’s lessons whether it’s the class performing their dance for another class or if it’s the music for a show etc. Overall I feel today’s sessions have been very insightful and useful towards me becoming a teacher.

 

Module Conclusion

 

References

• Cone (2011) Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating DancesFile. Publisher: Routledge
• Education Scotland (2004) – Curriculum for Excellence; Experiences and Outcomes [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/Experiences%20and%20outcomes [Accessed: 20th November 2018]
• Fleming, M. (2012) The arts in education: an introduction to aesthetics, theory and pedagogy. London : Routledge.

Integrated Arts Week 10

This week in integrated arts we had a lecture based on dance and then a dance and drama workshop. The lecture was based on the importance and meaning of creative dance and it being taught. We talked about what your role is as a dance facilitator in a school class room and the main way to do so is to teach the ten basic dance skills that we learnt in the first week of dance, balance, turn, twist etc. Also as a dance teacher you have to facilitate a safe space for dance to take place, this means doing it in a large area with no trip or slip hazards. Also, to assist when required but to try and leave the children to use their own creativity to create a dance or series of moves that they can be proud of and know that they made themselves with only the base been laid down for them. I am currently training to become a qualified dance teacher outside of university as I already assist my dance teacher for four classes a week and take over the class if circumstances are made that I need to. Due to this I feel that teaching dance is one of my more confident areas of integrating the arts into education. Creative dance should be left up to the children to make their own vision of what it should look like. Dance should be made fun, meaningful, safe for the children to lead the learning (Cone, 2009).  In the curriculum for excellence it is stated that children should have the opportunity to create, present, appreciate and evaluate dance (CFE, 2009). I hope to be able to do this in classes in the future.

This week’s drama workshop was where we presented our microteaching presentations. Our presentation focused on using “we’re going on a bear hunt” as a stimulus for the lesson. We focussed on using the role on the wall convention of looking at the thoughts of the family around the bear and then the bears feelings on the inside. I feel that our presentation went okay, we were planning on reading out the book to the class the same way you would with children but the member of our group who had the book forgot to bring it, so we had to improvise and find a YouTube video of the book being read. I also felt that we should have maybe done more than one drama convention in our lesson, but we decided to focus in depth on just one. We also got to watch and take part in all the other groups presentations/ lessons. I felt this was really good as it showed different ways you could relate different drama conventions to different story books and lesson plans.

This week’s dance input was mainly focused on us coming up with our warm ups that could be used with a class. Then we worked on remembering and putting together our dance, so it can be recorded next week. First of all, each group was given part of the warm up to make up, so our group came up with Christmas tig, which is similar to toilet tig but instead of a toilet you are a Christmas tree and instead of flushing the toilet you run around the tree putting the tinsel up. I think this was a good activity because we got to see lots of different warm up games and stretches to do. Then we went over our dances from the last dance input and changed the whole class dance from a Halloween one to a Christmas themed one and then put everyone’s bits together to make a whole class dance. This helped with thinking about a series of dance lessons come together to have a final product that a class can be proud of. I have attached a video of our groups dance bellow.

 

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Overall, this week’s learning was based on learning how to teach these sections of the arts but at the same time furthering out development in the two sections. In both of the workshops we furthered our skills in presenting and dance. We also were learning how to teach these to children in a primary class. I think I will definitely use the method of teaching dance that we have been working through in the last weeks in my own class in the future. And I also think I would feel more confident in teaching a drama lesson now than what I was before we completed this module.

 

REFERENCES

• Cone (2011)  Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating DancesFile. Publisher: Routledge
• Education Scotland (2004) – Curriculum for Excellence; Experiences and Outcomes [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/Experiences%20and%20outcomes [Accessed: 19th November 2018]

Integrated Arts Week 9

This week we did not have a lecture and instead the second part of the day was a drop-in session for the assignment if people wanted to ask questions etc.

For my weekly blog this week I wanted to present my learning and connections in a more creative way to show that there are more ways other than just text to present information. This is the same for children in school, children learn differently and present their learning different. I have attached a mind map bellow of my connections I made in the music workshop.

The second task in the music workshop was we were to make a banjo out of a paper plate and elastic bands and then make a harmonica out of lollipop sticks, straws and elastic bands. I have attached bellow pictures of my creations. An experience and outcome that could be associated with doing this task with a class to do with the music side of it would be “Inspired by a range of stimuli, and working on my own and/or with others, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through musical activities. EXA 0-18a / EXA 1-18a / EXA 2-18a,” Another to do with the art side of the activity would be “I have the opportunity to choose and explore a range of media and technologies to create images and objects, discovering their effects and suitability for specific tasks. EXA 1-02a.” I think I would definitely use these activities with a class in the future.

For the art workshop we focused on watching a video all to do with the importance of using STEAM in schools rather than STEM showing the importance of incorporating art into school activities. The video was Tim Ingold’s conference at UWS. I feel like from watching this video it has helped confirm with me that their is a high importance for using art in all ways in school classrooms.

Overall the link between the two workshops in my eyes was confirming the importance of integrating art into the curriculum in primary schools and in my mind they have done so. I am sure that when i have a class of my own I am going to try my hardest to do this as much as i can for every subject.

References

• Education Scotland (2004) – Curriculum for Excellence; Experiences and Outcomes [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/Experiences%20and%20outcomes [Accessed: 6th November 2018]
• Tim Ingold Walking and Talking (2013) – Prof Tim Ingold’s keynote at the Thinking Dangerously in Teacher Education Conference at UWS, [Online] Available: https://vimeo.com/77119799 [Accessed: 6th November 2018]

 

Integrated Arts Week 8

This week the two inputs we completed were drama and music. The first being drama where we looked at another five drama conventions. One of the conventions we acted out was mime. This was where we created a piece of drama without using any words just movement and sounds. The next one we looked at was voices in the head, we did this one by reading a story called tunnel, which included a brother and sister so voices in the head is made up of different characters in a drama speaking their thoughts in turn normally about the other person or of a joined situation, they speak in turn but the two characters don’t hear what the other is saying. The next we looked at was monologue which is similar to voices in the head as the character is speaking their mind but in the case it is only one person speaking. I feel that these conventions would be good to look at with children as they are a bit more challenging than the ones we have looked at weeks previous so could be done as a progression as the children go up the school.

During the music workshop we looked at garage band on the macs. We explored the app, and were told to try and create an eight-bar song using the different tools on the app. My song wasn’t very good but for the first time using the app it wasn’t too bad. We then went onto adding a short video that has no sound and tried to add different songs and sound effects that would go with and match the video to make a short clip. I think that these activities would be really effective to do with children probably in the upper school. It brings together the subjects of technology and music. Allows the children to explore the app and experiment with different combinations and different timings of the video. Allowing the children to figure out for themselves what sounds good together and what sounds they think can be put to the video to make it flow well. One experience and outcome that could be associated with using garage band in schools is “I can use my voice, musical instruments and music technology to discover and enjoy playing with sound, rhythm, pitch and dynamics. EXA 1-17a”

Overall, the key themes of the children exploring things for themselves and creativity in their learning runs through both the topics and the workshops we completed today. In both workshops the activities we completed could be put into a series of lessons for an upper primary school class. In both lessons the children could direct their leaning themselves there was an area of choice in the music lessons on garage band and in the drama workshop the children can direct what themes their drama goes towards. Also, in both lessons, as it has in every week in integrated arts, the theme of creativity runs through as the children get to express themselves through the arts in ways they may not be able to do in other subjects. “when headteachers and teachers were asked to tick five most important reasons for teaching arts in their school, the most highly endorsed category was ‘to develop creativity.” (Fleming 2012, p13). I feel that the survey done for this book and the results back up my opinion that creativity is one of the most important aspects of teaching the arts.

References

• Education Scotland (2004) – Curriculum for Excellence; Experiences and Outcomes [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/Experiences%20and%20outcomes [Accessed: 4th November 2018]
• Fleming, M. (2012) The arts in education: an introduction to aesthetics, theory and pedagogy. London : Routledge.