Music

‘…pupils worked together with their older peers, sharing music, learning from one another and, through the universal language of music, they were able to make an instant and meaningful connection’ (Council, 2016).

Music this week was extremely rewarding. We got a visit from children and teachers from a primary school in Ayrshire. These children were involved in a programme called the ‘Strings Project’ which involved them all choosing and learning a string instrument as a class and creating a class orchestra. These children have been involved in incredible experiences through this project such as performing for royalty and along side well-known musicians. This kind of experiences will stick with children for the rest of their lives and hopefully encourage them to get involved in similar projects.

The part that we played in the session was to learn how to play a string instrument with the child being our teacher. This was very rewarding and was useful to learn a new skill alongside the children and from the capable hands of the children. I learned the viola and a girl helped me with the handling and the basic notes. We then, as a class, played the notes together which was a great experience.

In learning from the pupils’ point of view and listening to their class teachers, I can see the definite benefit in projects like the String Project. They appeared to be more calm in class, worked better together and had better concentration. The pupils were able to take pride in their progression and the fact that they have created an incredible project as a class.

 

Drama

‘Besides being “fun” learning experiences for children, drama and movement have proven to assist with developing decoding skills, fluency, vocabulary, syntactic knowledge, discourse knowledge and metacognitive thinking’ (Rieg and Paquette, 2009).

Today we looked at integrating drama into other subjects, and today we looked at literacy. We used the story ‘The Tunnel’ by Anthony Browne as a stimulus. This story has endless possibilities for drama with numerous themes and issues, but the theme that I felt was the main one in this story was the aspect of not making judgements of someone. The brother and sister, Jack and Rose, are extremely different and the strong characterisation in the book allows the siblings to be a perfect starting point to analyse  for a drama.

We used the story to create freeze-frames, thought tunnels and other drama techniques in order to reflect the chracters’ thoughts and feelings. We also drew out an outline of either Jack or Rose before writing words to describe their feelings on the inside of the person, and the way others perceive them on the outside of the drawing of the person. This allowed us to consider the way the character feels in contrast to the way others think that they feel and this could definitely be a strong theme in the classroom to prevent bullying and other issues. As we progressed through the story and got to know the main characters more, we were able to make our own opinions  which I also feel is important for a child to do.

“Peregoy and Boyle (2008) suggested that acting out stories and events is a highly motivating approach for students to process and to share information”  (Rieg and Paquette, 2009), therefore I feel that linking the drama elements into the literacy or vice versa enables the children to have a more engaging experience and better understanding. I would definitely use this method of learning in the future and feel the use of drama is very beneficial across the curriculum.

(Google images, no date)

 

Council, E.A. (2016) School’s musical visit strikes the right chords at Greenmill primary – east Ayrshire council news. Available at: https://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/News/article/schools-musical-visit-strikes-the-right-chords-at-greenmill-primary (Accessed: 10 November 2016).

Google images (no date) Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&ei=vHQtWKeUI4XlUqrqpfgC&ved=0EKouCBYoAQ (Accessed: 16 December 2016).

Rieg, S.A. and Paquette, K.R. (2009) – document – using drama and movement to enhance English language learners’ literacy development. Available at: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA204682056&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=fulltext&issn=00941956&p=AONE&sw=w&authCount=1&isAnonymousEntry=true (Accessed: 17 November 2016).

Dance

“Children are recognised for their individual perspectives, learning styles, and abilities to l earn and create dance movements”(Cone and Cone, 2004).

This week was our final session of dance. As a continuation and closure to the previous weeks, we carried on and finished our dance. Today, we put the whole routine together and made a 5 minute dance as a whole class. This involved adding our individual group dances together with the collective class one.  In doing this, it gave us a feeling of achievement as we had created this piece ourselves, which I feel children could take great pride in doing. The fact that it would be ‘child-centred ideas’ I feel would be much more effective in a dance session than simply using a routine that had been pre-planned by the teacher because it puts all focus on the child’s imagination and creativity (Fleming, 2012).

As the teacher, this is a flexible project that could be done under a time-constraint of only 3 or 4 sessions and could be linked with any topic that is studied in the classroom. The only work that is really done by the teacher in this situation is supervising and possibly dealing with technical issues like spacing, timing and performance. Then, above all, it is about a child’s cognitive development and to enjoy the learning process as they develop. “It is therefore important that all teachers and educators look for opportunities within their own teaching approaches for interdisciplinary learning and to foster partnerships with professional arts companies, creative adults and cultural organisations” as this experience can bring a whole new light to a child’s learning (Experiences and outcomes – how is the curriculum organised? – learning and teaching, no date). I feel that the dance sessions have really opened my eyes to the prospect of integrating it into the classroom and has made me more confident in leading it.

Music   

“Making music involves more than the voice or fingers playing an instrument; a child learning about music has to tap into multiple skill sets, often simultaneously” (jewjd, 2012).

Music this week was introducing instruments and some technical music concepts to do with rhythm. I don’t have much knowledge or experience with music notes, but I found this easy and fun to do.  We looked at various music notes including semi- quavers, rests, crotchets and minims . Once we knew how many beats each note was worth, we clapped out the rhythms that the notes made.  We then got out the glockenspiels and individually improvised to the song ‘Hit the Road Jack’ using only notes  C, D, E, G and A for 30 counts in front of the class. This activity was daunting to do in front of the class but because there was no wrong way to play, I feel that everyone was fairly comfortable which would be good for the classroom. It is definitely becoming more apparent to me since beginning this module that music in school is more than just tapping out a tune on the keyboard, it is developing a whole range of life and cross-curricular skills that you don’t always gain from other subjects.

Cone, T.P. and Cone, S.L. (2004) Teaching children dance. 2nd edn. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishers.

Experiences and outcomes – how is the curriculum organised? – learning and teaching (no date) Available at: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/thecurriculum/howisthecurriculumorganised/experiencesandoutcomes/ (Accessed: 29 October 2016

Fleming, M. (2012) The arts in education: An introduction to aesthetics, theory and pedagogy. London, United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.

jewjd (2012) The benefits of music education. Available at: http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/music-arts/the-benefits-of-music-education/ (Accessed: 5 November 2016).