On Tuesday morning, we had our second dance input. After we had warmed up and stretched, as a group we came up with a dance move for each number from 0-9 and in our dance groups came up with a dance routine to someone in the groups phone number. This is something that could be adapted for the classroom and linked to other curricular such as maths, for example – the pupils are provided with a list of sums and using the dance moves from the numbers 0-9 create a dance routine. This is a great way to encourage children to participate in maths through another subject. We then added this routine to the one we had created the week before. For the second part of the input, we had to create an intro for our dance – as a whole class – related to Halloween. We split into four larger groups and were given a card with a picture related to Halloween. Each group created a move that represented that picture and by adding each move together we constructed a routine. This is a lesson that could be taught in school that children could enjoy and is suitable for all abilities.

Although dance is not one of my strong suits, I am enjoying these inputs and continue to feel more at ease teaching the subject. In my opinion dance should be taught in primary schools. Upon further research I discovered that according to an evaluation by the Dance in Schools Initiative in 2006 that 14% of the pupils surveyed said that they had never tried dancing (3% of girls and 24% of boys).  This suggests either limited opportunities for boys or a lack of motivation to try forms of dancing in comparison with girls. Dance is an important part of the curriculum and these inputs can relate well to a few of the experiences and outcomes such as:

I enjoy creating short dance sequences, using travel, turn, jump, gesture, pause and fall, within safe practice. EXA 1-08a 

I can explore and choose movements to create and present dance, developing my skills and techniques. EXA 2-08a  

Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express my ideas, thoughts and feelings through creative work in dance. EXA 0-09a / EXA 1-09a / EXA 2-09a

 

For the second input we were focusing on drama. We were looking at the book “The Tunnel” by Anthony Browne. The story revolves around a brother and sister who do not get on and are asked to play together by their mother. While out they come across a tunnel which the brother enters but the sister, being too scared, decides to wait for him outside the tunnel. After he does not return she decides to follow him into the tunnel and winds up in a dark forest. The sister finally finds her brother who has mysteriously turned to stone. She hugs him and as she does he slowly returns back to normal.

Throughout the telling of the story, we looked at drama conventions firstly ‘Role on the Wall’. We drew an outline of both the brother and the sister and on the outside wrote what we thought of each character but after finishing the story we wrote how we now felt about the characters and discussed how and what had made our opinions change. This is a good way to get children involved with drama without having to act or perform. This can also be demonstrated with different characters such as a bully and their victim.

 

We then, in groups acted out a scene where the brother and his friends try to convince the sister to come out to play. Using ‘Thought Tracking’ both characters stood outside the frozen scene and said how they felt about the other. In our groups, we were to mime the trees and sounds the forest would make, another drama convention. These conventions can be used in the class with children as it does not require all children to act or perform but they can still be involved as much as they want.

References

Blanche, R. (2007) Delivering Dance in the Curriculum for Excellence. [Online] Available: http://www.vitodancetheatre.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Delivering-Dance-in-the-Curriculum-For-Excellence.pdf [Accessed: 11 December 2017]

Education Scotland (2009) Curriculum for Excellence: experiences and outcomes. [Online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf [Accessed: 11 December 2017]