25/10/16 |Week 6 | Music and Dance

October 25, 2016 User deactivated Leave a comment

In this weeks music lesson we focused on pulse and rhythm. For someone who knows very little about music and reading sheet music, these were two words that initially went straight over my head. However they were not that difficult concepts to grasp and by the end of the session I found that I could fully understand these and also implement them in a class piece.

These are the fears of many teachers, that they cannot play an instrument or they can’t read the notation, but this does not matter. According to Janet Mills (2009), teaching children who are so young how to read this notation can ‘damage their musical development’ (Mills, 2009, p.92) and actually have a negative affect on them if they choose to continue music throughout primary and into secondary. They often forget how to play without it and this can get in the way on any creative music they have to produce. This is interesting because in our input, our lecturer asked who played an instrument and if they felt comfortable with playing without sheet music, and almost all of them said no.

Pulse – the steady heartbeat that carries on through music and does not change throughout

Rhythm – Short and long sounds that can be changed within a piece of music

We began by looking at the note time values. Each note is held for a number of beats and there are many simple ways to teach this to children. For example, in this input we started by looking at quavers and crotchets which we simplified to circle and square. Cir-cle square. Circle relates to quaver as it has two syllables and so two beats per note and square to crotchet. Giving the children, in lines of four to represent bars, circles and squares on the board and encouraging them to tap along with drum sticks or beaters, all following the same pulse is a great and easy way to start their learning. This is what we done and I grasped it fairly quickly.

We then substituted the circles and squares for the notes and done the same thing. Once grasping this we began to make it harder and I was surprised to find that I coped with it and was able to keep up with few faults. Although this kind of progression would be over weeks or months with children, it was interesting to see how easy it actually was to teach very simple music having no musical background.

We then moved onto the instruments themselves. Using xylophones, and only using certain notes (CDEGA), we were asked to create a 32 beat piece. This kind of activity was set out as these notes tend to always sound good together no matter what order or pattern they are played in. This is a very handy thing to know for teaching primary music, as you are still allowing their creativity as they can choose the order of the notes, but you as the teacher are directing them to have a good outcome.

Then as a class we all played our 32 beats with the piano. This is a really good lesson idea for children once they have learned the concept of note value, as it is easy and allows them to be the creative ones. It also keeps music fun as they are creating it themselves.

For this session we done, I think it would be appropriate to do with any level in primary school and so would be appropriate in any of these outcomes

I have the freedom to use my voice, musical instruments and music technology to discover and enjoy playing with sound and rhythm. EXA 0-17a

I can use my voice, musical instruments and music technology to discover and enjoy playing with sound, rhythm, pitch and dynamics. EXA 1-17a

I can use my voice, musical instruments and music technology to experiment with sounds, pitch, melody, rhythm, timbre and dynamics. EXA 2-17a

I think that these music sessions we have are extremely valuable for me as someone who has not done music since second year of high school because not only is it refreshing my memory of what I learned, it is being taught to us in such a different way. A way in which when we teach back to the children, I hope that they have a better experience of music than I did.

Dance

This was our last dance session in the Integrated Arts module and it brought everything to an effective conclusion. We filmed our finished dance as a whole section and watched it back.

This was highly constructive for us, and would be for the children, as we were able to see what we looked like when we were dancing. Having that opportunity to watch back what you are doing is a great way to improve and make the dance moves look better. Giving them the opportunity to self assess and peer assess is a positive way for them to improve. The easiest way to achieve this was through three stars and a wish and by looking at a list of elements required while watching the dance.

Cone (2009) discusses the importance of letting the children lead the learning and allowing their thoughts and dance moves to be incorporated. This is the best way for children to learn as they will be proud of what they have achieved. During our dance sessions this is how we learned and because of that I feel like I have taken a lot away from it and will be a lot more confident in schools when it comes to teaching dance.

It gives them the opportunity to evaluate their, and their peers, dancing and get constructive criticism back from peers.

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.

Mills, J. (2009) Music in the Primary School. 3rd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

18/10/16 | Week 5 | Art and Drama

October 18, 2016 User deactivated Leave a comment

Art

Today’s art session began with a lecture with a guest speaker from South Lanarkshire Council looking at teaching the primary art and design curriculum in schools at all levels. We had a look at some examples of primary children’s artwork and some of the different techniques that can be used. For example, oil paintings, line drawings and water colour paintings. This was extremely helpful, as I was never confident in art, and it has given me some good ideas and opened my mind to all the different possibilities and paths art can take you. Looking into how to make art inter-disciplinary by linking the class topic into many different art lessons was interesting and is a good way to keep the children engaged in what they are doing.

Children, as they move up through the primary, begin to feel like they are under some kind of pressure to make their pieces of art ‘perfect’ and become self conscious as their work is getting judged by their peers looking over (McAuliffe, 2007). In this circumstance, as well as a time saver, giving the children a pen as their only option to draw is very beneficial. It not only gives the children more confidence as they do not get the opportunity to rub out and be perfectionists, it also saves time as a child with a rubber will spend all day rubbing and get now where with the drawing.

The input that followed this was interesting as we were looking into many different techniques to use. We started off with a line drawing of a washing line. The idea of this was to draw the whole picture without lifting up the pen from the paper. This posed as quite a challenge but nonetheless I was intrigued as to whether or not I could do this. Although it was difficult (and the pen may have been lifted a few times), it was a fun and different way of drawing.

For children, this would be a great challenge and one they would dive straight into. It again, steers away from the drawing being ‘perfect’, as sometimes to get to the next part you need to draw back over lines which can make it a bit messy.

‘Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through activities within art and design.

EXA 0-05a / EXA 1-05a / EXA 2-05a’

(LTS, 2009)

This is an example of an experience and outcome within CfE which would relate to this lesson, however towards the upper primary rather than the lower primary.

Drama

In this Drama session we looked at the different drama conventions that we can apply in lessons to enhance the learners experience.

Previous to this module, my knowledge of drama was very minimal as I never took the subject past second year of High School. As I was a quiet person in school, drama was never my thing and I worried about teaching it to children. However, going over all of these conventions in the previous session and in this one has really began to put my mind at ease.

We discussed each of the conventions above and were given an example of what we could do for each and gave us the opportunity to try them out with each other. This was extremely helpful as sometimes it is difficult to imagine what you have to do without doing it and gives us a student teachers an idea of what we will be asking of the children.

The thought tunnel I felt was particularly effective as it had us talking about what we were feeling as certain characters and is a good way to link drama to other issues.

References

LTS (2009) Expressive arts: Experiences and outcomes. Available at: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/expressive_arts_experiences_outcomes_tcm4-539863.pdf (Accessed: 18 October 2016).

McAuliffe, D (2007) Foundation and primary settings: In Teaching Art and Design3-11. ed. Sure cox, Robert Watts, Judy Grahame, Steve Herne and Diarmuid McAuliffe. London: Continuum

11/10/16 | Week 4 | Art and Dance

October 11, 2016 User deactivated Leave a comment

ART

In today’s art session we took a non traditional approach to painting. This was very interesting and encouraged us to move away from making our work perfect and precise, to making it our own.

By creating paintbrushes out of many different materials, what is created can give great effects when painting with on paper. It takes you beyond an average paintbrush and allows for so much more creativity. Before we began using these brushes, I was a bit apprehensive in that I didn’t want my painting to turn out looking bad, which I expected it would given the brush I was using. However while using it I felt like what I was creating was so much better, and the finished product I was very surprised with.

This has opened my eyes to trying this with children. Not only would it make the lesson more interesting and a bit different, it takes some pressure off of children to make their art look like what it should and make it look how they want.

Also by limiting their paint to primary colours and white encourages them to make their own colours and create colours and shades of colours.

We were read a description of a painting by somebody looking at a picture, however we could not see this picture. This was a great way to let us be creative and paint what we could see in our heads instead of copying a picture and everybody’s looking the same.

‘I have the freedom to discover and choose ways to create images and objects using a variety of materials.

EXA 0-02a’

(Education Scotland, 2009)

I feel this activity would be appropriate for this outcome given that the children made their own brushes from whatever materials they could find.

DANCE

In this dance session we really progressed with our dances. All of the groups performed their own, which we brought together, added a beginning dance and end dance with the whole class and each group done their own bit in the middle. This was extremely effective and gave us a finished piece.

This kind of progression of activities would be ideal for doing with children as although in the end it becomes a class piece where everyone is involved, each one of the groups own ideas and moves come through when they get to do their group dance (Cone, 2009). I think it’s so important for children’s creativity to be recognised and it not be completely choreographed by the class teacher as it takes the element of fun and of the children feeling proud away from it. It also gives the teacher less work!

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.

Education Scotland (2009) Expressive arts: Experiences and outcomes. Available at: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/expressive_arts_experiences_outcomes_tcm4-539863.pdf (Accessed: 18 October 2016).

4/10/16 | Week 3 | Dance and Drama

October 5, 2016 User deactivated Leave a comment

DANCE

This was our second dance input and was a continuation of the previous week.

We began as usual with a warm up, starting with cardio. Doing this with children it is best to start with a game that gets them running around, which we done a few of. This is important as it will raise the body temperature and the heart rate before starting any activities. Next we moved onto the stretches which different people led with their own ideas for stretches.

Building on our dance from the previous week, we added some new steps and also a beginning and an end. This has only taken us two weeks to develop, however when doing it with children it would take more sessions due to lack of time in the school day. We also looked into ways to make our dance inter-disciplinary, and maths was the one that we focused on. By giving each dance move a number and providing a sheet of maths equations each with answers relating to the number of dance moves, we created a new sequence.

‘I enjoy creating short dance sequences, using travel, turn, jump, gesture, pause and fall, within safe practice.’

EXA 1-08a

This outcome from first level in the CfE fits with this lesson perfectly as it is a dance sequence made up of simple skills that the children have created themselves.

This kind of progression and all of the ideas within the dance should come from the child. Although we are giving them a framework by giving them the ten skills, they themselves are making up the ten moves and ordering them in their own ways. Also by adding on a beginning pose and an end pose, the dances will all become unique with each groups ideas coming through. By doing this, we get an insight into the children and we begin to see how they learn and what they are feeling through their expression of dance. By actively listening to them trough their dances we get a better understanding of what works for them and what does not (Cone, 2009).

DRAMA

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In our first session of drama session we spoke generally about drama within the classroom and how important it is to incorporate it into a child’s education.

We were asked to do a lot of reflection on our past drama experiences within school. I found this helpful to think about as I cannot remember drama at all from primary School, so I hope when I am out teaching, I can make drama a memorable experience for children as it is supposed to be a release and a bit of fun.

I was apprehensive when we began the Integrated Arts module in general, but in particular I was nervous about drama. I hope that continuing through the module and learning about the different techniques will give me confidence as I would like to incorporate drama into my school week when teaching.

We were given a story about a dragon who had no friends because everyone was scared of him. With this we were introduce to our first drama techniques but we were also realising that this kind of story within a drama context is a really good way to bring in bigger issues.

Bullying, leaving people out, not giving people a chance

These are all problems happening out in playgrounds today and can be addressed and hopefully eradicated through a drama like this.

drama can provide a process for learning by living through or experiencing an event

(Smith and Herring, 1993)

References

Smith, J. L. and Herring, J. D. (1993) Using Drama in the Classeoom. Reading Horizons. Vol.33 (5), pp.418–426

Theresa Purcell Cone (2009) Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances, Journal of Dance Education, 9:3, 81-89.

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