The workshop for music this week involved less practical activities than previous weeks as it was more theory based. We focused the session on reading a paper published in the International Journal of Music Education by Susan Hallam entitled “The Power of Music: its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people”. We were split into groups within the class and each group was given a section of the paper to look into in more depth and we were instructed to make a poster in the form of a mind map to demonstrate the main points within our section. My group looked at Physical Development within music and I was surprised to find that programmes involving rhythm can improve skills such as throwing, catching, jumping and leaping. I also discovered that singing has various benefits to Health and Wellbeing as it can improve breathing, posture and mood which, in turn can lead to the reduction of stress.
Taking part in this activity allowed me to make valid connections and helps me to expand my knowledge and understanding of the importance of integrating music into a child’s education. As student teachers, we were able to collaborate and share our findings for each of the topic areas. I found this activity to be effective to my learning as a future educator as it allowed me to recognise and understand each of the features of music that can benefit children.
As an avid dancer myself, I was thoroughly looking forward to beginning the Dance aspect of this module. I have been dancing for over 18 years and am currently on the Team Scotland dance team competing at the world championships next year therefore I feel confident in the prospect of teaching dance to children and young people. Due to my experience, I am very aware of the importance of dance to the development of a physical lifestyle for children through health and wellbeing alongside the providing opportunities for children to be creative within the arts.
Confidence is an extremely important factor when it comes to learning and teaching the art of dance. Therefore we began the input with various ice breaker activities to allow us to feel comfortable and confident with our peers. “Through dance, they bring their inner self to the surface where they can express their dreams, fears, needs and joys” (Cone, 2009, p.81). As future educators it is essential that we allow children to develop their confidence and express themselves through the arts and dance can allow people to communicate with one another to improve confidence and encourage creativity. There are various experiences and outcomes within the dance section of the Curriculum for Excellence framework that would be relevant such as “Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express my ideas, thoughts and feelings through creative work in dance. EXA 1-09a” (Scottish Government, 2017).
Having completed our ice breaker activities, we looked at the ten essential skills within dance which were:
- Balance
- Turn
- Kick
- Jump
- Twist
- Hop
- Gesture
- Slide
- Reach
- Roll
We were then split into groups and tasked with creating our own section of choreography using each of the ten essential skills. Due to my experience in coaching dance, I enjoyed this activity and was able to collaborate my ideas with the other members of my group to develop a dance routine that fit the criteria provided. Team work is an extremely important skill within dance and working alongside one another provides the opportunity for each member to add something different which can essentially create the most imaginative piece possible. I would feel confident providing this type of lesson to children of any age as it can allow them to enhance their skills in dance alongside providing them with the opportunities to be creative and work as a team.
I found the inputs this week very insightful as I have been able to take into consideration the influence and the power that music has within education alongside the importance of music to the development and achievements to a child’s learning experience. Likewise, I have been able to further develop my knowledge of the importance of dance within the curriculum in order to allow children to explore their creativity and work well alongside their peers.
References
Cone, T. (2009) Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances. Journal of Dance Education, 9(3), pp. 81-89
Scottish Government. (2017) Benchmarks: Expressive Arts. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/ExpressiveArtsBenchmarksPDF.pdf [Accessed 2nd December 2017].
