This week was our final week of the integrated arts module. We had a dance workshop with Zara in which we performed our final christmas performance. We used the advantage of technology through learning how to cut music using audacity, this was very useful as it allowed us to create pauses, repeat verses of music in order to fit our dance, and allowed us to adjust the speed of the song in order for the dance to flow. Personally, I found this website very useful as I teach in my own dance school and the app I would usually use was much more difficult to navigate, so I will now use audacity for future. We also explored the use of technology through tools on zoom. For example, we set our backgrounds to stars when we were not on camera to create a christmas aesthetic and we also had set times to turn our cameras on and off depending on what part of the routine you were performing. At the start of these dance workshop, I personally did not think the zoom performance would work as I immediately think of the impact and atmosphere of a live performance, however I did really enjoy participating on the online performance. It really highlighted how many ways in which you can use technology in order to create a successful performance.

I also believe that the performance was really successful through Zaras passion for dance throughout this whole module. As a student, and a dancer myself, I could really feel her energy even through the screen and this really encouraged me to be enthusiastic about learning and the module as a whole. Zara had clear and consolidated instructions for our online performance which enhanced our confidence that made us believe the performance would work. ‘The outstanding feature of effective teaching is the ability to communicate effectively. Put another way, a great teacher is a good talker – one who exemplifies enthusiasm for his/her work’ (Tauber and Mester, 2007, p.5).

Later, we had a workshop about Scottish Art with Diarmuid. We looked into a project called ‘Room 13’ which is a pedagogical development from a primary school in the Highlands. Room 13 is a creative studio in which students of all ages can work with professional adult artists in order to develop inspirations, skills and ideas. ‘The result is an ongoing collaboration between adults and young people and a thriving culture of philosophical enquiry driven by a motivation to think and to learn’ (Gibb, 2012). However this freedom of arts is challenged by the curriculum, and many creative arts critics say that the curriculum is becoming increasingly based on strategy and formula approach which is constraining creative values when teaching arts (Gibb, 2012). Room 13 encourages children to discover their potential in their own unique way, and highlights that as a society, we need to escape the idea that knowledge does not lie within the passing of an exam, and that It should be mainly pupil focus in order for students to achieve. ‘Through Room 13 we get to see the whole personality of the child, not just the bit that performs academically’ (Crace, 2002).

I believe Room 13 is a massive step in the right direction for creative arts in the curriculum. As a child and right now as a teacher in training, my strengths lie within the creative arts area rather than academic skill. Growing up, I did not feel as ‘smart’ or as achieveing as other students due to this, however the arts felt like an escape to this. I felt a sense of freedom to structure as each piece of work I produced in art, drama or dance was always individual and unique. I feel Room 13 should be a national project in all schools as it provides training that motivates individuals and develops their creativity in a way that often outstrips anything that school, or even art college, can currently offer.

References

Crace, J., 2002. Guardian Education Suppliment. The Guardian.

Gibb, C., 2012. Room 13: The Movement And International Network. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Tauber, R. and Mester, C., 2007. Acting Lessons For Teachers : Using Performance Skills In The Classroom [Electronic Book]. 2nd ed. Westport: Praeger.