Drama – BA2 Education

Week 11: Micro-Teaching & Ukelele

Drama

The workshop was focused on micro-teaching again where we watched how other groups had incorporated drama into teaching about a book. The group chose Harry Potter which I thought was absolutely fantastic as it is a book that the vast majority of young people and adults know and love. Using a medium like this shows how effective drama can be with enhancing teaching as, although we were all 18+ there was a buzz of excitement around taking part and imagining we were in Harry Potter ourselves. Every group was engaged when it came to the activities set and the creativity from the mini performances we did were acknowledged, appreciated and enjoyed by all. I thought it was a brilliant input and it perfectly showcased how using drama can increase learning and enjoyment in learning.

Music

Today we had the opportunity to learn to play ukulele. It was a fun hands on workshop which highlighted how there are some instruments that you can pick up with absolutely no prior experience and learn the basics in a short space of time. Ukuleles are being introduced into more and more school replacing the recorder as it was found that the recorder took a little more effort to provide a produce something impressive. Ukuleles however, after learning the basic chords, can be used to play a large range of songs which will keep the learner engaged and encourage them to learn more and more songs. They are great for the younger pupils as well as they are easy to hold because of their size and the fret boards are small which an accommodate for smaller hands.

Week 8: Microteaching

Music

Learning how to use the basics of GarageBand is really effective to enhancing the child’s experience. It opens up opportunities for children to still make music even if they cannot play an instrument as the software comes loaded an audio library that the user can manipulate and put together. This is especially relevant when a lot of mainstream music includes DJs and producers. Although it does make it more accessible to some children there are restrictions to the software however, as it is only available on Apple Mac products which are incredibly costly for schools and children’s parents.

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Drama

Today’s drama lesson was about micro-teaching where we put what we had learned into practice. I really like these lessons as we are able to take inspiration from our peers and shows how these techniques compliment and enhance learning. Using well-known media such as Harry Potter and The Gruffalo shows that it does demonstrate the knowledge of the media and can be really engaging and fun.

Week 7: Strings Initiative Programme

“Working together, supporting each other and mastering new techniques and ideas, teaches young people to embrace teamwork and understand that we all respond to challenges differently and it’s more powerful in a peer to peer setting.” Councillor Stephanie Primrose, East Ayrshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Skills and Learning (2016)

Today’s music session was brilliant. Greenmill Primary School came into the university and told us about the Strings Project and taught us how to play an instrument. This allowed us to see the benefits these children have gained from learning a musical instrument and being part of a school orchestra; as well as this we were able to experience being taught by a child which shows how much knowledge and understanding they have gained from the experience. Studying music increases multiple skills that extend to other academic areas which will lead to overall academic success (Arts Education Partnership, 2011).

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It was extremely inspiring to hear from the pupils’ points of view and how being involved in music has benefited them academically and personally – helping concentration and social relationships within the class. It emphasised the need to teach music and involve it in a child’s education.

Drama

We practiced making drama cross-curricular today putting the techniques we had learned into practice. Using Anthony Browne’s The Tunnel as a stimulus we adapted each technique to the book to show how they can all be utilized. One of the techniques I really liked and felt would be incredibly beneficial to the children was drawing around one of us and writing how the character would have felt on the inside and how others would have perceived them from the outside. This would get the children thinking about not judging people before getting to know them. This activity can be done privately as an individual or as a group which can spur discussion as a class.

Week 5: Integrated Arts in the Curriculum

Art

Today was really insightful into the delivery of an arts lesson. Although we had become aware of the importance of adapting lessons to allow creativity to flow and not to put up barriers to nurturing their skills we had not really touched on the execution of this. Having a guest speaker from the council gave an insight into how to put it into practice in the classroom. Being shown methods of how to introduce learners to new materials and techniques at different ages and stages allowed me to see how the arts can be integrated into the curriculum in a number of different ways.

The workshop was a wonderful way to demonstrate how a number of different techniques and skills can be incorporated to make a diverse final piece. Putting all the smaller pieces together perfectly showed how to introduce a number of techniques (line drawing, motor skills, water colour, material manipulation, collage) shows how the learners can practice without the inputs dragging on too long and the children getting bored. Providing the children with inspiration from a variety of colours, home life ensures that every piece is unique and cannot be directly compared to each others’. It is an activity that would definitely keep children engaged as they are not being told how their work should be done, how it should look or where it should be done which makes it far more enjoyable for the child (Mason, 2004).

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Drama

Today’s session focused on the methods that can be used to teach and incorporate drama into lessons.

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A lot of these methods were really new to me as I have not had much drama experience before. I really liked thought tracking with still image as it allows the whole class to get involved and provides opportunity to put themselves in the character’s position which can enhance and energize descriptive writing (Education not Limited, 2013). Through acting out and exploring scenes I think that children will be able to express a range of emotions and feelings that they may not have the chance to in every day life which will help them understand themselves and the world around them.

Week 3: Interdisciplinary learning

Drama

I have never really had much drama input during my school career apart from one or two school shows in primary school. My secondary school did not offer the subject to study and the only school show we had was a student organised leavers’ show. I do not recall much from the school shows apart from being where to go at what time to the music and learning accompanying songs. Because of this I am quite apprehensive towards drama and acting as it is not something I am familiar with and feels rather alien to my body. However, after meeting students who study Performance at UWS I was able to get a bit more of an insight into the benefits of doing drama, it allows children to express themselves in ways they may not be able to in everyday life so I was really intrigued in learning more myself in this module and how to incorporate it into teaching. Like in dance it is incredibly important for the lead position to lean towards the child, being open minded and embracing their ideas. Exploring and imagining scenes through drama can help children understand the world around them. A teaching method we were introduced to was “teacher in role” which can be incredibly effective. Assuming the two roles and treating the in role character as a completely different person allows for the teacher to ask questions such as “what did they tell you?” so that the children can reiterate what they have learned. Not only this, it keeps them engaged and focused on the lesson making the lesson more memorable.

Dance

The mini dance moves that were learned in the previous session were developed into group routines. This demonstrated how the basic moves can be built up and put together to choreograph a routine. It was also a teaching point about time management, with younger ones it may take a little longer to organise the class into groups and for them to put everything together. To accommodate this it is important to not rush them and give them time to practice and work together.