As this module is growing to a close, I can identify the confidence growing within and feeling more creative when it comes to thinking of new ideas within each art form. With that, it is also empowering me as a teacher with techniques and approaches to use in my own classroom environment in the future.

The second week of dance was an enjoyable experience in which we could collaboratively build on the previous weeks start. Working together and putting order to the ten basic skills we had learnt the previous week, as we put together our combinations, we used different skills to do so together.

Firstly, we went through the process of a warm-up, as this is a vital part when we are teaching physical movement. Even if at first as a teacher you do not feel confident in doing a warm-up, a resource such as this video can assist you in the classroom.

 

The main part of the input was the choreography being put together, which was our first involvement in thinking collaborative and questioning the flow of our moves as a collection. This enquiry-based process as a team built confidence within and taking leads in counting the beats of the moves. The final piece of this was to perform to the audience of our peers, which feels nervous at first but as a group, this can ease this process. Once I did it I realised the enjoyment and joy that could be felt from performance-based arts and knowledge that it was all our own production.

The next stage of this input we explored a cross-curricular activity called the phone number game, focusing on any dance style and creating a movement for numbers 0 to 9. This was everyone in the section, but I felt confident after the first half to contribute a move, which I wouldn’t have done at the start of the dance inputs. These moves were put in order and then we worked out maths equations, to give us numbers 0-9, then 2 of these were allocated to you to add on to your dance routine, for your group.

Students working with academic skills and social skills through dance and the use of  collaboration can be effective in increasing self-esteem, retention, achievement, and attitudes toward school as a whole (Bennett, Rollheiser and strevahn, 1991)

 

These inputs seem individual in part but in fact are all sections of a mass dance, which will be created by the learners. For this, we needed a beginning, to which in our groups we were given two pictures of famous Scottish landmarks, from Edinburgh Castle to the kelpies. This part involved a creative side to choosing a move, but also to learn about Scottish landmarks in a lesson could be part of it.

The children used all their collaborative skills to design and create, with little teacher input. This emphasises how to dance. Can be incorporated into functioning themes in the classroom with not a lot of extra teaching required. Tina Bruce (2004) stated this as cultivating creativity, as the role of teachers was supporting rather than imposing on their learning and allows for creativity to emerge.

In music this week the focus was on the figure notes resources, which is a website resource to create a notation system for children to engage with. The musical notes are represented by coloured symbols, meaning if you are able to match the colour symbols on the instruments to the piece, you can play. This method makes it a very accessible resource for all learners as well as being a good resource for building confidence in our learners within a musical education environment. The biggest barrier within music is normally the part of reading music, and especially with autistic children, as they struggle as they are more visual learners. Figure notes can be very intuitive to them as learners can read music and play it the same as people who read music in its’ notation form.

I can sing and play music from other styles and cultures, showing growing confidence and skill while learning about musical notation and performance directions. (Scottish Government, 2017)

For my experience with this, I can relate to the way it built confidence within myself, after not being a very strong musical individual. We used xylophones to create our music and interact with the symbols, which was enjoyable and working in pairs meant, problem-solving could be done collaboratively.

Figurenotes is an “intuitive way of reading music helps you to play almost instantly, increasing confidence and motivation.” (Figurenotes, n.d)

With this comes practicing individually and then putting together as a whole with your other peers. These processes assist in giving children time to get their heads around the process and the matching, plus learning the rhythms and beats of the songs.

I felt this can be an engaging experience for the learner through collaborative working but also being able to adapt and learn in a simpler fashion. Which can open up children to have positive engagements with music to build on.

In this weeks’ inputs I link the two art forms in the way children can learn about expressive arts they may describe as being difficult to learn from or to partake with at first, however through simplified methods, learners can engage with them positively. For example, with the 10 basic skills for dancing and having relatable coloured shapes, to read and play music on an instrument. Learning these simplified methods in these forms can build skills in a child as they are overcome with new confidence from their succession. They can then feel more comfortable and they begin to build upon these skills in future dance or music inputs. Now the pressures off they work collaboratively and input ideas together and create a final production, that they may or not expected at the first mention of dance or music. Each individual gets, to play their part in a whole production, which can make them develop as a learner in the academic world.

References

Figurenotes(n.d) Figurenotes [online] available: https://www.figurenotes.org/what-is-figurenotes/[accessed: 15/11/2019]

Scottish Government (n.d.) Curriculum for excellence: expressive arts. Experiences and Outcomes[Online] available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf [accessed: 15/11/2019]

Bruce, T. (2004) Cultivating Creativity in Babies, Toddlers and Young Children. London: Hodder and Stoughton Educational.