This week we continued in dance and music. Both workshops this week were practical and involved us playing the pupil role. I found this beneficial as, similar to last week, it allowed us to see what sorts of activities we found effective before implementing them to a class.
Continuing on from last week, we returned back to looking at putting the 10 skills we learnt into creating a dance routine. This involved us collaborating as a group and using our presentation skills in order to preform our routine to the class. We also looked at different warm up routines to do with pupils, tying in with the Scottish theme we looked at last week. Everyone in the class seemed to enjoy this task, so considering Brookfields model of reflection, this makes me think that pupils will get just as much out of it as we did.
During the input we looked at ways we can connect dance other curricular areas, such as maths. As a class we went through numbers 0-9 and created a dance move for each number. After rehearsing these moves as a whole class, we then split off into groups and were given a maths sum sheet to complete. Instead of writing out the answers we had to use the dance moves to show what number was the answer. I believe that this is a good way to join together different learning areas, especially for pupils that struggle with maths in the classroom as this activity was a lot more active and hands on. I think that this task in particular is one that I would use with a class as I can see the benefits it could have.
Another task that I would like to teach to a class involved us looking at and analysing images, in this case continuing on with the Scottish theme, and creating a dance move that could be represented by that picture. This was done in groups and then presented to the whole class where all our moves were created into a short routine. By doing this task I worked on my creative and responsive skills as we had to respond to what we saw within the image with a dance move.
At the end of the lesson, it was explained to us how little physical contribution teachers need to do. To break it down, all we really need to know are the 10 skills, and then allow the pupils to do the rest. However, the role of the teacher must involve promoting opportunities for pupils to be creative, allowing them to express themselves. They also must motivate and praise them for doing so (Tan, 2007). I believe that by demonstrating, supporting and encouraging pupils then this can lead to their confidence and participation to increase.
Music this week involved us being practical with instruments. In pairs we got to play the glockenspiel by using figure note notation. Figure notes is an online resource that provides support for individuals, who possibly have an additional support need or who struggle to grasp the idea of music, in teaching them to play instruments. Figurenotes notation provides different colour stickers to represent the notes that are stuck on the keys, making it more clear for them to match note to sound. We practised using figurenotes by reading music, such as Super Trooper and Jingle Bells, and playing it on the glockenspiel. After practising in our pairs for around 45 minutes, we came together as a whole class and played together. Similar to dance, the involvement of the teacher here was limited due to the support of figurenotes. This task allowed me to improve my practical music skills as I have not played a glockenspiel since I was in school.
From these lessons I think that an integrated arts lesson could be created, using dance, music, drama and art. This could be done by focusing on, for example, the topic of Scotland. Similar to the music lesson, Scottish songs, such as Highland Cathedral or Flower of Scotland, could be provided with figure notes notation in order to aid learning, allowing pupils access to playing instruments. This could then be tied into an art lesson, where pupils do a similar activity to the one we did in week 3. This involved receiving a list of instructions and painting what we imagined- in that case it was Scottish mountains. For example, pupils could paint their own tartan or Sottish landmarks. The paintings could then be used as visual aids in dance where pupils have to create dance moves around the images, similar to what we did this week. Drama could also be linked into this by focusing on a Scottish image or event and using drama conventions to convey emotions and feelings. Tasks like these allow pupils to develop their performance, creative, collaborative and observation skills (Goldberg, 2016). By using all 4 art forms within the curriculum, this idea can be promoted as according to Education Scotland, the arts can play an important role in allowing your people to explore and work on their creativity and enhance their art ability.
References-
Education Scotland. (2019) Expressive Arts. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/education-scotland/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5/curriculum-areas/expressive-arts [Accessed: 13 November 2019].
Goldber, M. (2016) Arts Integration: Teaching Subject Matter through the Arts in Multicultural Setting. 5th ed. Oxon: Routledge.
Tan, A. (2007) Creativity A handbook for teachers.Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co.
