Today was our final session of Integrated Arts! In our music workshop today we became a little bit festive by playing Last Christmas on the Ukulele. A Ukulele was introduced from Hawaii and has only got four strings which are G C E and A(Austin, 2019). The two strings at the top are stringed higher and the two at the bottom are stringed lower.
Within the music workshop we had a look at the different chords to play on the Ukulele and these were the chords of C, F, C7, Dm, Am and G. We also had a look at the different strumming patterns such as the shuffle strum where you just strummed down and up and also the country strum which is down down up down down up.
Once we had gained the knowledge of the Ukuleleand what chords where required to learn, we were then able to play along to Last Christmas. This would be a fun activity to use with children as you are keeping their learning fun and engaging therefore they will be willing to take part in more of the lessons ( Van’t Hault, 2012). I personally enjoyed this activity as it was fun to take part in and gain knowledge of another musical instrument I could use in the class for the future.
As it was our last week of dance, we pulled together all the groups routines and created a final dance with everyone. Here is a link to our final routine as a whole class!
Once we had watched the video, we individually evaluate our input to the dance in the video. We evaluated how well we performed, did we smile or could we have put more effort in for example. This gave us an opportunity to see what we could work better on if we were to do this task again.
When doing a task like this, it is important to allow pupils to evaluate their own work by using the 2 stars and a wish programme for example. This allows pupils to critic 2 things they thought they done well and 1 thing they thought they could improve on. Evaluation like this can build motivation between learners as they can gain motivation into working harder and to also be able to give their peers some ideas and next steps they could use if they teacher decides to encourage teamwork evaluation (Iversen et al, 2015).
Overall, I have really enjoyed partcipating in the Integreated Arts Module. I have gained so many new techniques and skills required to teach the arts in Primary Education. As a student teacher, I will continue to develop the skills required to be successful in teaching the arts and I look forward to doing so in the future in my own classroom!
REFERENCES
Austin(2019) Ukulele Explained: All you Need to Know. [Online] Available: https://consordini.com/ukulele-explained-all-you-need-to-know/ [Accessed: 26th November 2019].
Iversen, A.M. Pederson, A.S. Krogh, L and Jensen, A.A. (2015) Learning, Leading and Letting go of Control: Learner-Led Approaches in Education. Journal of Sage Open. [Abstract, Online] Vol.5(4), pg. 1-11. Available: https://journals.sagepub.com/dor/pdf/10.1177/2158244015608423 [Accessed: 26th November 2019].
Van’t Hault, J. (2012) Kids Drawing- How to Encourage Creativity, Skills and Confidence [Online] Available: https://artfulparent.com/how-to-encourage-drawing-skills-confidence-creativity-in-young-children/ [Accessed: 26th November 2019]
