Integrated Arts: workshop – drama and dance.
Drama: This weeks Drama class was engaging and involved quite a bit of teamwork. This weeks lesson was all about using a stimuli to create different types of drama. This also showed me how I could use any type of story to create a drama stimulus. This weeks lesson showed me that Drama could be a fun lesson to teach and it was all up to the childs’ imagination with help from a teacher. Our stimuli for this session was a story called “The Tunnel” which was about a relationship between a brother and sister. After being read a few pages of the book, we worked in groups and used the drama technique of ‘role on the wall’ to decide not only how we seen the characters of the story, but how the characters see themselves. After this, we created a quick improvisation of what we thought was going to happen next in the story, and then each group gave a monologue from both sides (brother and sister). This lead us on to the discussion that any pupils can play any gender of characters which was perfectly acceptable. After this, we improvised a full group, what we think should happen now in the story. This was quite a daunting task as we had to stand up in front of everyone and create an ending to the story. Every group ended up with different ideas which was interesting as it showed me that a drama stimuli can end up creating so many different stories. I personally studied drama in high school so I knew a lot of the techniques being taught, however, it was a good lesson as a refresh as I had forgotten quite a bit. I definitely feel more confident in teaching a primary class drama as I have realised the freedom I have with this. I could easily connect my English lesson to drama by having pupils act out different parts of a story to keep the learning exciting and different. There is many ways drama can be incorporated across the curriculum and I think it’s an important subject as drama lets all pupils be creative and express themselves.
**I have developed confidence and skills in creating and presenting drama which explores real and imaginary situations, using improvisation and script.
EXA 1-14a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.66)

Dance: This weeks dance input was highly engaging and fun for all. We began by warming up our bodies by stretching. I thought this was very helpful as it gave me ideas on how I could teach my pupils to warm up. When we do this, we also discuss what we are stretching and how this helps us. This helps us as student teachers as we can pass the information on to our pupils. This week we rehearsed our group dance routine that we created using the 10 main elements to dance: turn, balance, twist, reach, roll, slide, gesture, hop, jump and kick. We then came together as a class and created 10 (0-9) more dance moves, but this time they were halloween themed. After we decided our class moves, we went back into our groups and completed a maths worksheet which the answers gave us a sequence of numbers from 0 to 9. This was a good lesson idea as it incorporated maths into our lesson, which gave it an extra element. This also could make maths fun for pupils as at the end of their maths questions, they would have a dance to perform. It was like a sense of achievement. We were given a picture as a stimulus, and created a movement. As a class, we then added all our moves together to create a short sequence. This showed us that any dance moves could join to form a dance that could keep to a beat. Tshudy (n,d.) states that “Dance is a different learning experience for them. It’s physical, and it gives the students sort of a mental break.” I agree with this statement as children have the freedom of movement in dance. Pupils can be themselves in dance, rather than having to try and achieve the best grades and get the correct answers in other subjects. To complete our drama input, we worked as a full class to create a dance to ‘Thriller’. We incorporated every groups individual routines into the dance to showcase our ideas.
**I can explore and choose movements to create and present dance, developing my skills and techniques.
EXA 2-08a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.63)

Reflection
Drama: During the Drama workshops, my confidence is developing each week. Being allowed to get up and perform to peers improves self-confidence and gives a sense of pride to young people. I have developed my teamwork skills in drama as when working in groups, everyone needs to listen to each other and take onboard all ideas. Allowing all off the pupils ideas to be voiced is very important in Drama. Allowing other subjects to reinforce Drama, is a great idea in schools. Drama can be used in Topic work to visually show pupils, for example, a historic event. Using books can be helpful too as pupils can change the story to create their own. Teachers getting involved in Drama lessons will help engage pupils. Using techniques such as ‘vox-pop’ and ‘teacher in role’, teachers can ensure all pupils are engaging by asking questions to do with the drama created. Drama can be used to allow children to experience problem solving and it helps with a child’s information processing abilities. “Representation has a central role in cognitive development and it is through symbolic representation that children require the facility for abstract thought” (Duffy, 2006, p.10).

Dance: This workshop was fully related to the theme of Halloween. Having a theme helps with different ideas and can help create new dance moves. Another task involved getting maths answers, to then get a number sequence. After getting the number sequence, we could use the 10 key movements created to create a dance sequence. Using dance across the curriculum can help engage pupils, as it would be an interactive way of learning. Dance can also help calm pupils down, as I have seen on placement. My class teacher uses a website called ‘Go Noodle’, which has different songs and dances on it relating to topics such as maths and human bones. Then, a calm down song plays and the pupils listen to that and join in. The energetic song lets the children have a fun, jump around and then the calming song lets pupils know that it’s time to get back to work. A barrier to both Drama and Dance would be finding a space large enough to complete activities. Usually the Gym hall is used in schools for this, however, when it’s not available, classrooms can still be used with less movement occurring.

Link
The link for the workshops would be that the Arts can be used throughout different subjects. Drama showed us this through the use of a story, and Dance showed this through the use of Maths questions to discover a sequence for a dance.

References
Duffy, B. (2006) Supporting Creativitity and Imagination in the Early Years. Open University Press. Chapter 1.

Tshudy, E. (n,d.) In: George, M. (n,d.) The importance of Dance Programs in schools [online] Available: http://www.danceinforma.com/2015/12/02/importance-dance-programs-schools/ [Accessed: 20 December 2017]

Scottish Government. (2004) Curriculum for Excellence [online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/all-experiences-and-outcomes.pdf [Accessed: 18 December 2017]

Integrated Arts: workshop – music and dance // creative.
Music: This weeks music workshop was theory based. We split into small groups and were given a different aspect from the International Journal of Music Education. My group were given the numeracy chapter to read and create a mind map from. We found out information on maths learning connected with music. What I found most interesting was that people who had many years of private lessons in music, or people that played a keyboard, scored higher in maths than people who didn’t learn an instrument or who played another instrument. Learning an instrument helps with memory and sequences, which is involved in maths. “Music involves creating patterns of sound. Mathematics can be described as the study of patterns.” (John, 2013). We then discussed as a class all the different subjects which could be connected to music. After this, we worked as a group to create a lesson plan that connected music with another subject. We decided to do ours on literacy and music. Our learning intention was to be able to translate ideas/emotions from a piece of music into written text in the form of a creative story. Our success criteria was : I can listen to a piece of music and form ideas, I can put my ideas together and create a story. We decided that we would do a question and answer as one form of assessment. We could also reflect on the experience as a class. The class lesson was that the pupils would listen to 3 pieces of music, and at the end, picked which piece they would want to write about. The pupils could then brainstorm their ideas and come up with their story. This would show that as a whole, everyone in the class would have different ideas and feelings towards a piece of music. To follow up, pupils could create a storyboard of their story, and then could act out their stories in groups. Although the class wasn’t practical this week, it was helpful to a student teacher as we were able to create our own lesson.
**I can respond to music by describing my thoughts and feelings about my own and others’ work.
EXA 0-19a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.68)

Dance: At first, I was worried about going to this class as I wasn’t sure what we would actually be doing. Even though I went to dance classes from the age of 3, I still was anxious as it was a new environment. We started off by writing down a word that described how we felt about teaching dance to our own class. I wrote ‘nervous’ as I wouldn’t know where to start in teaching a class to dance. However, after this workshop, I definitely gained confidence and would know how to do so now. Firstly, we began by doing warm up games. We stood in two lines and the people at the back had to pass along the dance move, like a game of chinese whispers. Next, we stood in a line and walked around the hall. Different genres of music would play and the person at the front of the line would do a movement that they would connect with the song. This made me nervous as everybody was watching you and waiting for you to do a movement. However, we all calmed when we realised we were all in the same situation. We then discussed how you could warm up all the muscles in your body and which activities we could use for a class. This was helpful as we were given ideas that we could use when on placement. We then went onto labelling parts of the body. We labelled bones, muscles and organs. We used one person from the group and drew around their body on big pieces of paper. This would be a fun and educational lesson for children as it’s active learning. Before doing this activity with a class, I would make sure to teach them about the different muscles, bones and organs in the body so they could correctly identify which place each part goes as we found this quite difficult as adults. Finally, we worked in a group and went round stations with different dance moves such as ‘twist’, ‘hop’ and ‘balance’. We connected 10 different moves and performed it to the class. It was interesting that even though everybody was given the same words, all the dance routines were different.
**I can explore and choose movements to create and present dance, developing my skills and techniques.
EXA 2-08a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.63)

Reflection
Music: Having a theory based Music lesson was a change, however, a positive change. Learning that Music helps children across the curriculum and with their own lives, was something I had never taken into consideration fully. Children who struggle with home or school life, can turn to music for an escape or to fully express themselves. Music not only helps with confidence but it also impacts other areas in Education such as Numeracy, Literacy, pupils concentration, self-confidence and general attainment (Hallam, 2010). During the workshop, we split into groups and looked at different sections of the Hallam paper, which was effective as I learned a lot from my peers, rather than having to read a full reading. Personally, I don’t think that young pupils need to learn the academic side of Music yet. However, as a student teacher, the academic reading was important as it taught me that Music allows all pupils a chance to prove themselves.

Dance: Creative dance is something that I never really learned in my time in school. I was quite nervous at the thought of teaching Dance, however, after the workshop, I have learned a lot. I learned the 10 key movements which everybody needs to dance. This gave me a starting point for lessons I could teach my pupils in the future. Teaching children these dance moves are important because without them, pupils could not adapt their dancing ability. When teaching Dance, teachers need to remember that the main ideas need to come from children. “The vision for the dance belongs to the children” (Cone, 2009). Teachers also need to ensure that children have warmed up properly, so that there are no injuries. Warm-ups can be done by completing games such as themed tig, or simon says games. Children tend to fully engage in these games which would make sure they have warmed up and are ready to dance. Children can be split into groups to create dance moves in relation to the 10 key movements. This would encourage teamwork and allow children to share their ideas. A main barrier to dance, is the teachers confidence in teaching it. Some teachers do not know where to start when teaching Dance which will make them very nervous and stressed. If teachers are given good support or the right training, the Arts could be much easier for teachers to teach.

Link
The link for the workshops is the positive impact the Arts have. The academic reading from Music showed that Music can positively impact a child’s life and can be used across the curriculum. Dance showed that the Arts can boost self-confidence and has health benefits also.

References
Cone, Purcell, T. (2009). Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances. London: Routledge.

Hallam, S. (2010) International Journal of Music Education. [Module Resource] Available: Integrated Arts in Education module on Moodle. [Accessed: 13 December 2017].

Scottish Government. (2004) Curriculum for Excellence [online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/all-experiences-and-outcomes.pdf [Accessed: 18 December 2017]

Integrated Arts: workshop – music and art // printing.
Music: This week we used an app called ‘Garage Band’ on the computers. This was easy to access and actually quite a fun activity. Firstly, we began by navigating our way around the app and checking out what we had to use . You could use instruments such as the guitar, piano and drums to create your own beat and song. There were also many sound effects which could be used to make a short film within the app, which we eventually did. We were then told to create our own 8 bar song by using the programmed clips. You would think this was easy but it was actually quite difficult trying to find different audio clips that sounded good together. As a class, there were many different sounds and genres played as a whole, which was interesting to me. Lastly, we were given a video clip with no audio. We were then told to add sound effects to the video which I found quite fun but frustrating to get the timing right. I would use this in my classroom but have the pupils work in pairs to help each other as it was quite confusing at first. It can be used to create a rhythm which you could then use to create your own song about anything. You could make a song to remember the 7 times tables! You could also let your pupils film a short clip of their own and add their own sound effects. The downfall of this app is that it’s only available on apple products, which might be difficult to access in certain schools as not all have iPads etc.
**I can use my voice, musical instruments and music technology to discover and enjoy playing with sound, rhythm, pitch and dynamics.
EXA 1-17a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.67)

Art: As I missed last weeks Art class, I got to complete the printing activity this week. We were given a picture of a large house with many windows which was called ‘Windows in the West’ by Avril Paton. We were told to draw either the full picture or a certain part. However, we only had a pen and an a5 piece of polystyrene. We had to engrave our picture into it. This was quite a difficult task as you couldn’t lean too heavy or you would create holes and you couldn’t lean too light or the engravings wouldn’t show up. Once this part was done, we were given 4 coloured pieces of paper and very thick ink. We then used a roller and the ink, painted over our polystyrene and pressed it onto the paper. Once all four pieces of paper were done, we took our polystyrene and carved holes out of certain parts of it. I decided to cut out most windows from mine. We then went back and used a different colour of ink and pressed onto our paper again. This was interesting as we then had pictures which looked like it had shadows and dimension. Although my pictures didn’t turn out perfect, I enjoyed this task as it was messy and you had the freedom to do whatever you wanted! I would use this activity in my class in an art class to create cards for occasions such as Christmas or Easter.
**I can create and present work using the visual elements of line, shape, form, colour, tone, pattern and texture.
EXA 1-03a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.61)

Reflection
Music: Using an online source to create music shows that, again, Music can be used in a variety of ways. Giving children a computer, always starts excitement, as it isn’t just sitting down and writing. Children would engage in Garage Band, like I did. However, I think that before allowing children to use an online app, they may need taught how to work it, because Garage Band was quite difficult to use at first. Allowing children to create their own songs causing excitement and involvement, which is great for a child’s learning and self-esteem. Children would feel a sense of pride as it’s their own song they have created which is an amazing concept. Pupils could create their own videos and add sound effects and music, which would then incorporate Drama and Literacy into a Music lesson, by writing scripts and acting. Teachers need to have faith in their pupils and allow them to be imaginative and lead their own learning (Cone, 2009). Allowing children to express themselves, is mainly what the Arts is about. Giving children the confidence and freedom allows a fun and engaging school experience. The barrier to using online apps is the lack of resources in schools. Not all schools have enough or any laptops/iPads for children to use. GarageBand is an app which can only be used on Apple products, which is a major downfall.

Art: As I was absent the previous week, I was allowed to complete the printing activity this week. Although I was copying a picture, it was given the freedom of any part of the picture and whichever paper and ink I preferred also. This still allowed creativity, even though I was given a starting point. Being allowed to complete the task from last week, showed to me that, as a teacher, we need to allow all children to complete work and be involved with previous lessons. Learning about Room 13 was interesting. Room 13, is a “global uprising of creative and entrepreneurial children who are responsible for a growing international network of student- organised art studios” (Gibb, 2012, p.237). A school in Fort William, allows children to attend Room 13, and develop their Art skills. This is amazing as young people are allowed to actively take part in Art, and create anything that comes to mind. I think that all schools should have a similar idea! Allowing children to have a doodle book for drawing in, could be an alternative for schools that cannot afford a lot of Art supplies. Also, continuing with previous Art lessons and eventually displaying them, would give children a sense of purpose and pride in their work.

Link
The link for the workshops would be discovering. Discovering different ways in which Music can be taught, whether that is with instruments present, or using an online source. Also, discovering different materials and resources to use in Art, such as ink and polystyrene, or even leaves, twigs and wood etc. Many resources can be used creatively.

References
Cone, Purcell, T. (2009). Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances. London: Routledge.

Gibb, C. (2012) Room 13: The Movement and International Network. Blackwell Publishing LTD.

Scottish Government. (2004) Curriculum for Excellence [online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/all-experiences-and-outcomes.pdf [Accessed: 18 December 2017]