In today’s lecture we focused on the importance of creative partnerships. A creative partnership in a school setting is where professionals work together in order to benefit the children. According to Education Scotland (2015), children can develop skills, knowledge and experience through teachers working in creative partnerships with other professionals. This in effect can allow children to become more confident and skilled in their learning.

Examples of people that take part in creative partnerships are: staff, non-classroom based staff, parents and visiting specialists. These people are vital in aiding children in schools around Scotland. It is important for schools to seek help if they need to be aided in certain aspects of the creative curriculum. For example, a teacher may be focusing on the Egyptian topic. This teacher could contact the arts development officers in giving them dance ideas or even Egyptian clothes to wear. This enriches children’s learning by making their topic work active and enjoyable. This lecture has allowed me to link the important of creative partnerships to arts which has been very helpful to understand. I now know that there are professionals I can contact in the future who will be happy to aid my teachings and the children’s learning.

The dance workshops have been an interesting experience for me. As a previous teacher of dance in schools, I thought that I had to create a dance and teach this to the children. I now know that you do now have to be an expert in dance to create an effective and meaningful session on dance. Through the ten simple dance moves, children are able to create dances by themselves. This gives children a chance to improve teamwork skills through learning and teaching dances together. I have taken a lot from the dance topic and am looking forward to teaching dance in the future.

References:

Education Scotland. (2015) Developing the Young Workforce: School/Employer Partnerships. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/DYW_GuidanceforSchools0915.pdf [Accessed: 28 November 2017].

The importance of creative dance within Scottish schools’ curriculum is a subject that all teachers should consider. According to Cone (2009), creative dance leaves vision to the young people and reflects their own ideas.

Dance should be meaningful, fun, safe and child led. Teachers should allow children to take their creative ideas and turn it into a dance themselves. This is where the child will have the most powerful learning experience. The lecture has shown me that you do not have to be an expert in dance to teach it. Putting the children into the role of the teacher is an excellent way to get the children to improve self-confidence, physical and mental well-being.

Workshops allowed us to improve confidence in ourselves and strive for the pupils of our future classrooms to feel confidence too.

The dance workshop allowed us to compile our dance experience in to a final dance that we will video next week. As it is coming up to Christmas, we decided to use this theme as a stimulus to come up with our own dance moves. We were split into 5 groups where each had a task to teach a lesson about dance. My group had the priority of teaching the class Christmas dance moves using the 10-basic dance moves we learned previously. For example, we used the balance dance move to make out body into the shape of a Christmas tree. This was successful teaching because we used a variation of makes that were related to Christmas. We then compiled all of our ideas in to a full dance, using moves such as Mexican waves and turns. This workshop was a fun exercise that children can use to be creative and improve their confidence and self-esteem.

The drama workshop allowed to create a micro-teaching task with a story theme. My group chose the Gruffallo because it is a book that is very popular and many children and adults are familiar with. My group based this task on early level schooling. We focused on teaching the three drama conventions: Voice in the head, Mime and Hot seating and showed short video clips of the Gruffallo story so that the students understood the story. My particular task was to explain to the other students that they were to Hot seat the Gruffallo and the mouse. Overall, the micro-teaching tasks and we got good feedback, such as positive assertiveness and good use of video of the Gruffallo.

Reflecting on this week’s lectures and workshops, I have found that my confidence in teacher has soared since partaking in this module. I have had many opportunities to teach others regularly which has improved my relationship with others in the class. I have also found that it is essential to have positive teaching styles when teaching a class so that everyone is engaged and enjoying the lesson.

References:

Cone, T.P. (2009) Following their lead: Supporting children’s ideas for creating dances. Journal of Dance Education, Vol 9(3), pp.81-89.

Continue reading 21/11/17- Dance and Drama →

In today’s arts session we had an in-depth discussion on which arts we have experienced on our school placements. Overall, there is an impression from university students that the expressive arts have to be improved in the majority of schools we have been placed in. Some schools have fallen into the trap of being cliché and teaching non-meaningful lessons, for example, using black paper and chalk to create a bonfire picture. In the school that I have been placed in, there is a STEM and Art room that is currently being integrated into the school. This is an excellent way to make thinking visible (MTV, 2013), which is a main focus in Ayrshire schools. In the school staff room, it is nice to see some information on the wall about making thinking visible. Apart from this, the three days I have experienced little art within the school. I believe that the only art I will be experiencing on my placement will be Christmas themed, which can be seen as very cliché. I have not yet experienced any dance or drama. I can understand the frustration that my lecturer has regarding the arts in schools because it mainly consists of the same cliché experiences. There has always been a “crisis” in math and literacy, but why is this when schools spend the majority of the time doing these?

According to Ruppert (2006), 93% of Americans agree that the arts are vital in providing a well-rounded education for children. Although this is the case, it is very unlikely that they will participate in the arts every day like most schools do with math and literacy. Why is it that 54% rated the importance of arts education a “ten” on a scale of one to ten? Some may be under the impression that you do not “use your brain” in the arts, when in fact the arts can allow an emotional intelligence that most subjects cannot bring. Teachers need to realise that they cannot simply dismiss art because they are not confident in the subject. Teachers should be asking themselves: ‘How can I make the arts the most beneficial experience a child can have?’.

In the music session we focused on using instruments and music notation skills that can be transferred into the classroom. To start, we looked at different music notation, such as breve, minim and quaver. We also looked at notes on the tuned percussion and learned the saying Every Good Boy Deserves Football to remember the notes. We then looked at sheet music that got slowly more difficult as the lesson went in. I believe that this was a valuable experience in the sense that I was able to evaluate my knowledge of music and looked at learning music in the child’s perspective. I began by playing the easier songs on the tuned percussion well, but as it got more difficult I found that I kept forgetting the notes. To me, this showed that you do not have to be an expert in the arts to teach them. I believe that lessons like today are something that I could strive to teach in the future, even though I am not the most experienced in music.

In conclusion, I can say that I am very aware of the importance of the teacher in making a child’s education valuable and exciting. The arts should be implemented in education due to the countless benefits that music and art can bring to the classroom. For example, the arts can play an important role of developing creativity and critical thinking in a child (NACCCE, 1999). This in effect allows children to be more imaginative in their work and focus on individualism.

References:

Educational Institute of Scotland. (2013) Making Thinking Visible. [Online] Available: www.tapestrypartnership.com/wp-content/…/MakingThinkingVisible16.05.13.pdf [Accessed: 08 December 2017].

National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE). (1999) All our futures: Creativity culture and education. London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport/Department for Education and Employment.

Ruppert, S.S., (2006) Critical Evidence: How the Arts Benefit Student Achievement. National Assembly of State Arts Agencies: Washington.

In the lecture we discussed the importance of drama in the classroom. We were shown a video of a classroom that used drama to improve their writing by seeing and hearing about the story they were going to write about. They were active in studying characters by drawing around a person to get a sense that the character was a real person. These activities were a perfect example of a drama lesson in the classroom and I would like to use them in the future.

We also learned important tips in teaching drama. It should be mentioned here that ›“drama does not involve acting out what has already been decided” as stated by Winston (1998). It is also important to dispel the fear of drama and build confidence in the pupils and yourself as the teacher. Participation in drama is key if you want to gain anything from it, therefore teachers should experience learning drama in order to having a better understand as a learner. According to Neelands (1990), it is about a child experiencing drama and not so much about acting.

In music we were lucky to have a local primary school visit us to teach us how to play an instrument. The school is a part of a strings project that allowed the children to play a string instrument from p4-7. The children were lucky enough to perform in front of Prince Charles at Dumfries house. The children taught us a range of different games to play. For example, they taught us a finger exercise to warm-up before they played their instruments.

I was paired with a girl in primary 7 who taught me to play the Cello. I had never played the Cello so I was very interested in doing so. She showed me the 4 different strings and I learned these by remembering the saying ‘Auntie Daisy Goes Crazy’. I plucked the instrument to begin with and then used the bow. It was very difficult because I had never experienced playing a string instrument before. I was surprised at how hard you had to press down the bow for the instrument to make a noise. Having the children teach us how to play the instrument was very helpful and gave the children confidence in their teaching. It was also endearing to see the children enjoying the instruments so much.

In drama we were taught by students in the class in a micro-teaching task. It was interesting to listen to the different stories. One group created a story about trolls and elves which was very fun. We participated in a number of conventions, such as freeze frame, voice in the head and role on the wall. I particularly enjoyed role on the wall because it allowed me to study the characteristics of the person in the stories that we listened to.

We also spoke about what drama activities are appropriate to teach in the classroom. We looked at the poem Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen. The majority of the class believed that the poem was too gory for primary children. In my opinion, I believe that the poem can be taught to primary 6 and 7 because it portrays the atrocities of war without being graphic. This would give the children a deeper understanding of the war which could be transferred into a drama lesson.

To conclude, I am able to understand that you do not have to be an expert to teach/learn drama. The most important factor is participation in the arts. Full participation allows you to have a meaningful learning experience which is what music and drama set out to do.

References:

(Neelands, J. (1990) Making Sense of Classroom Drama: A guide to classroom practice. Heinemann Educational Books

[Accessed: 07 November 2017]

Winston, J. (1998) Drama, Narrative and Moral Education. London: Falmer Press

In music we focused on the importance of the voice in the classroom. We discussed that the voice is the main way of communication within the classroom, therefore it is crucial that we use our voice. It is important to warm your voice up before raising it. We were advised that you should warm your voice up in the morning by speaking to family members or animals before heading to work. We looked at some websites such as the British Voice Association (BVA) for hints and tips to manage our voice appropriately. This was very interesting because it used techniques that I was unaware of, for example quieting your voice so children have to concentrate more on your voice. This is not only effective in getting the class to listen, but is also beneficial for your maintaining your larynx!

We looked at Choon Baboon to give us ideas of to consider in the classroom. The videoclips are specifically helpful for those who are uncomfortable with teaching music in the classroom. We warmed up our voice and learned a song about dogs which was very amusing. Looking at this lesson in a child’s perspective, I can appreciate that this would be a fun and interactive lesson that children would thoroughly enjoy. The lecturer taught us some songs to sing with children, such as ‘Doctor Knickerbocker’ and ‘Have you ever seen a penguin come to tea’. These songs were difficult because they also incorporated actions. These songs were also fun and very interactive.

To finish the workshop, we created a song with different musical instruments. We worked in groups to make our own tune. My particular group’s song theme focused on a haunted house. We used 2 drums as footsteps and a knock on the door, a tambourine as chains, maracas as the weather and tuned percussion as chimes and a build-up. Overall our song worked out very well. It sounded very eerie which we set out to do.

Drama was based on the theme of Halloween. We focused on 4 conventions: flashback, fast forward, slow motion and narrator. We also focused of the work from Augusto Boal who was the founder of ‘Theatre of the oppressed’.  His work meant that the audience become active in the play and could change the scene that was happening.

The lecturer went into ‘teacher in role’ and explained that he was an estate agent and was selling Dalquharn castle. There had been rumours of incidents that have happened in the castle and the price of the castle had depreciated because of this. In order for the price of the sale to increase, he is willing to offer people money to stay in the castle overnight to disprove the rumours.

We had to use the four conventions to make different scenarios of what happened when we arrived at Dalquharn castle, such as what happened previous to the incident and after the incident occurred. These four conventions are another example that I could teach within the classroom.

I believe that the drama inputs so far have really increased my confidence in teaching drama. Before, I was unsure how to teach children drama but now I have several ideas to take away that I can look at for the future. From reflecting on these inputs, I can see that both can improve confidence in children and also educators. I believe that I have become closer to people in workshops because drama and music have allowed me to work with others who I usually would not interact with. Music and drama have also improved my confidence and has allowed me to not be afraid of trying new things.

References:

The British Voice Association [Online] Available: http://www.britishvoiceassociation.org.uk/ [Accessed: 03 November 2017]

[Accessed: 31 October 2017]