Monthly Archives: September 2016

27/09/16 | Week 2 | Dance and Art

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DANCE

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During our first dance session we were introduced to many different things that should be incorporated into a dance session with children. Warm up games, stretches and the ten key skills to dancing were what we focused on, each having significant importance to the session.

The warm up

Drawing around a peer
Drawing around a peer
Labelled diagram
Labelled diagram

We then moved on to look at teaching children the dancing. Before walking into this session I felt okay about teaching dance. I have been dancing since I was young, however I was unsure how I would bring this to the classroom and what to do with the children. We focused on ten key skills, all of which by themselves are extremely simple, and is all you need to create a dance with children.

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In this session, we had to make up one move for each skill and were given a sequence of numbers to follow, which turned it into a routine. By doing this, you are giving the children the opportunity to be creative and create a routine that has come from them. ‘Through dance they bring their inner self to the surface where they can express their dreams, fears, needs and joys’ (Cone, 2009), giving them the opportunity be who they are and hopefully gain some confidence from the experience.

ART

In today’s art input we looked further into how the integrated arts are becoming relevant in children’s education and methods on how to go about teaching it, which I find very helpful. Arts education is so important as it ‘is an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form’ (Silverstein and Layne, 2010, p.1). It not only allows them to fully understand what they are learning and go beyond the basic understanding, but it gives children the opportunity to become creative and express themselves as they do it (Silverstein and Layne, 2010).

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The point of this exercise was to encourage us, and in turn the children, to slow down and really look at what we have in front of us before we move on and create something new. It encourages us to appreciate our work and feel proud of it, but most importantly to have a tolerance for ambiguity.

References

Cone, T.P. (2009) ‘Following Their Lead Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances’, Journal of Dance Education, 9(3).

Eisner, E. (2002) What the Arts Teach. Ch 4. The Arts and the Creation of Mind, London: Yale University Press.

Silverstein, L. and Layne, S. (2010) Defining Arts Integration.

20/09/16 | Week 1 | Art and Music

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ART

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In our first Arts input we were introduced to the benefits of art in the classroom and how children actually begin their development in writing with a form of art. Children do not have the experience to be able to form letters when they are young, therefore, the begin with scribbles and drawings. This is described by Lowenfield and Brittain as the scribbling stage, the pre-schematic stage, the schematic stage and finally the gang stage (McAuliffe, 2007).

This was interesting as I have never been enthusiastic towards art during my school career, but I now understand how important it is for children in beginning to form letters. It is also important that children get the opportunity to express themselves through art during their time in primary school as it has been shown to have positive effect on other areas of the curriculum for them (Smith, 2009).

During this input we had the opportunity to look at artwork from children at all stages of the primary. Seeing this was helpful in many ways as we not only got to experience the progression from early level up to second level, but we had the chance to consider the resources provided for each piece. Resources are a huge part in the making of artwork and this is entirely down to the teacher.

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What I have taken from this input is that no art is too messy when it lets the children be creative. There is always a way around mess and resources. Allowing children the opportunity to create something with appropriate resources allows children to really open up and have a tolerance for ambiguity.

 

A picture from the oldest age group

Music

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‘Music has a power of forming the character and should therefore be introduced into the education of the young’ – Aristotle 


In this session we got an introduction into music within education. We discussed how music can have an effect on our moods and also how it is a fun way to remember facts, for example the alphabet. Learning music can really benefit children and has shown to have links with performance in other curricular areas.

We looked into how certain types of music can convey different moods and make you feel different things. There was a particular piece of music we listened to which was a piano piece by disney, and from listening to this we were to create our own story that fit with the music.

Doing this kind of activity with children would really allow them to us their imagination and be creative. Not only do they get the opportunity to engage with the music, they can go about it in a way that is their own. I feel that this is beneficial way to begin teaching young children music, especially in early and first level, as they can really connect with the music and imagine in their heads what kinds of different moods different music can have.

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Not only is music itself a subject that children will be taught and have the opportunity to engage with, but using music cross curricular can be a really effective way of learning.

I feel that throughout these music sessions I will become more confident in teaching music to children, as for me, music was not one of my favourite subjects in school I hope that I can become more knowledgeable on the subject and hopefully one day make it a fun experience for children in schools.

 

References

McAuliffe, D(2007) Foundation and Primary Settings. In Teaching Art and Design 3-11. (Edited by Sue Cox, Robert Watts, Judy Grahame, Steve Herne and Diarmuid McAuliffe) London: Continuum

 

Smith, F. (2009) Why arts education is crucial, and who’s doing it best [Online]. Arts Integration. Available: https://www.edutopia.org/arts-music-curriculum-child-development [Accessed 30 Dec 2016].