Integrated Arts: workshop – dance and music.
Dance: This week was the final week in Dance, which meant it was time to record our video. We joined both sections together as there was a absence of people, and formed a new dance to perform as a group. We used aspects from both section’s dances which worked well together. To start, we split into groups and created either a game, a cool down or stretches to warm up our bodies for dancing. We played games such as ‘Santa says..’, christmas tig and the number game. We then stretched our full body and also completed a cool down as we hadn’t done that before. We then discussed the importance of completing these activities. We recorded our dance then watched it back to complete a personal and peer feedback sheet. This would be a good idea to use in a classroom as pupils can watch back and see what went well and what can be improved (3 stars and a wish). This was an important task as pupils need not only teacher feedback, but to look at their work themselves and decide what went well and what needs worked on.
**I can analyse technical aspects of dance, make informed judgements and express personal opinions on my own and others’ work.
EXA 4-11a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.64)

This is our class dance:
https://vimeo.com/244831329

Music: This weeks music lesson was a self taught lesson on the ukulele. On Moodle, there were YouTube videos to learn different songs from. The Ukulele would be a fun lesson for children to learn as it’s a different instrument rather than the instruments pupils traditionally learn such as the keyboard or recorder.
**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** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.67)

Reflection
Dance: This workshop showed that as a teacher, you always have to be prepared for the worst. Many people did not show up for the workshop, meaning we had to join two sections together and create a new dance. This was not an easy task, as both sections had completely different ideas. We had to teach each other our ideas, and make sure it was in time with the music. After recording the dance, we evaluated our own work. This is very important as a teacher, as giving feedback is helpful in learning. After a discussion with my peers, we all had similar ‘3 stars and a wish’ outcomes. You can use this form of evaluation with any subject, with both teachers and pupils taking part in it. This is also a good way for assessing dance as some teachers may find it difficult to find a way to do so. “Empowering children to create dances about what is personally meaningful presents them with the responsibility and commitment to bring their vision alive” (Cone, 2009). Teachers allowing children to create their own dance and reflect on it, gives them control and leadership of their work. Thus, keeping childrens’ creativity alive and allowing children to lead, is important in the Arts.

Music: Supplying children with resources to learn music from is very helpful for further learning. If pupils have an instrument at home, they can use online resources to get extra practise. Creativity is not about what is being taught, but how teachers teach it (Penny et al, 2003). Children do not necessarily need to be taught by someone physically being there, some children may engage more by watching an online tutorial. Although learning music notation can be fun and somewhat engaging, pupils tend to be more interested in learning through something that they can physically have and hold. When children get a few notes correct, or complete a song, they will have a sense of achievement, which is important in a young person’s educational experience. Sadly, not all pupils are able to have an instrument at home or even get the opportunity to learn an instrument, due to the lack of funding in schools. The government simply cannot afford to give every school large amounts of money to start music programmes, and some schools are not that interested in Music being a key subject for children to engage in. This is quite disappointing after learning about all the positive ways the Arts can help a child both socially and mentally. As a student teacher, I will most definitely be teaching the Arts in my classroom as I believe they are highly important for young people in modern day education.

Link
The link for these workshops would be to have confidence in yourself as a learner. In Dance, we completed a full dance, in one session and had the confidence to perform in small groups to each other. In Music, we had the confidence in our own ability to learn an instrument from watching an online video and working as a team.

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

Penny, S., Ford R., Price, L. & Young, S. (2003). Teaching Arts in Primary Schools. Exeter: Learning Matters Ltd

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 – drama and dance.
Drama: This week in drama was the final micro-teaching lessons, in which other students in the class taught us a Drama lesson. We were given free range of what we could teach, as long as it was based on a book. The main content of each of the lessons taught were different drama techniques such as role on the wall and thought tunnel. Role on the wall is when you write in and around a character outline, words that others see the character as and as the character sees themselves, with words such as brave, frightening and small. Thought tunnel is when one person acts as a character and walks past everyone in the class, whilst they say a word to describe that character. We discussed that when teaching a primary class drama, we need to remind the children that we are acting, and the person playing the role, is not necessarily like the character. For example, if somebody is playing the antagonist, pupils may need reminded that it is all an act. Reflecting on the first drama workshop, I would feel much more confident now teaching my primary class Drama as a subject. Over the past few weeks in our workshops, I have learned different drama techniques and ways that drama can be used across the curriculum. We can use drama to teach lessons such as Literacy and Maths and even subjects like Science.
**I use drama to explore real and imaginary situations, helping me to understand my world.
EXA 0-14a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.66)

Dance: In this weeks Dance workshop, we created a Christmas themed dance. Firstly, we split into groups and were given a task each. This task was either to create a warmup, 3 Christmas themed warm up games, visual moves or 10 moves to correspond with the 10 main dance moves which we learned on the first week, such as jump and slide. My group were given the task of creating the 10 main dance moves. We used Christmas themes to keep with the topic such as star jumps for jump and wrapping a present for roll. This task showed us how easy it would be to teach pupils Dance as they could come up with moves and connect them all together, then show the class. Next, we drew two christmas pictures for another group to create 2 moves. This showed everyones creative sides as we had to decide a dance move to go with pictures like a snowman or a cracker. We then went on to creating a routine which didn’t take too long as each group had already created 2 moves. We connected all the moves together for the main part of the dance. Afterwards, we split into our smaller groups to practise a routine we had created in a previous week, which would then be used in small sections of the new Christmas dance. Dance, at first, seemed like a difficult subject to teach a class, however, I feel more confident now as the 10 main dance moves are quite easy to adapt to go with any topic.
*I am becoming aware of different features of dance and can practise and perform steps, formations and short dance.
EXA 1-10a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.63)

Reflection
Drama: Teaching children Drama has positive implications, however, when teaching younger children, there are a few things that need to be discussed. Teachers should remind the children that everybody is just playing a character, and that the person playing the character, is not meaning to be nasty. Our lecturer informed us of this due to experience of having children falling out over drama activities. After the workshop and micro-teaching tasks, I have learned how to create a successful Drama lesson which will engage children and most importantly, allow them to share their own ideas and experiences. One issue with teaching Drama would be not knowing how to keep children fully engaged. We discovered ways to do this through the micro-teaching activities. Asking the pupils questions to get ideas is an important part of Drama. Using techniques such as ‘teacher in role’ will ensure the pupils stay included as it will be a new experience for them. As teachers, we just need to be confident and throw ourselves at the task, and hope for the best.

Dance: Splitting into groups to create activities to warm up, was another great way for team building to be involved in our Dance lesson. Throughout the Dance inputs, it has been highlighted that as teachers, we must ensure that children are warming up properly before taking part in not only Dance, but any form of movement. “When children create dances using their ideas, they are empowered to explore their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives” (Cone, 2009, p.81). Allowing children to create their own dance, rather than to copy a dance, creates a sense of pride. Performing their own dance to an audience, would be much more fulfilling than a copied dance. This is due to their own dance showcasing their own ideas and their own creativity.

Link
The link for these workshops would be acceptance. As a teacher, we need to accept the ideas of a child during the Arts, and allow these ideas, in this case, to shape a drama performance and a dance routine. In Drama, we discussed that children will want to create their own characters, and in Dance, we discussed that children need to create their own dance moves to keep them motivated.

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

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.
Music: This weeks music workshop was all about learning to keep a beat and read music. Everyone was given a pair of drumsticks to practise with. We discussed that when teaching children music, at first we use connotations. For example, we used ‘circle’ and ‘square’ to show the notes that were being played. A square was a one beat note (crochet) and a circle was a two beat note (quaver). This was due to syllables, circ-le having two, square having one. This made reading the music much easier for me as I used to find music reading difficult. We then practised different songs using the drum sticks to keep the beat. In the workshop, we managed to get through 3 terms of music work in an hour which was impressive. After a while of practising the music, we were given glockenspiels and xylophones to practise on. We worked in pairs to practise different songs, but this time, we learned to read music sheets. This was quite difficult and I still don’t think I would be able to teach pupils how to read music as I have not had much practise in doing so. This workshop was fun and gave me some ideas on how to teach pupils to count beats and to keep a rhythm.
**I enjoy singing and playing along to music of different styles and cultures.
EXA 0-16a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.67)

Art: This workshop was fully discussion based. At first, we discussed in our groups what arts we had seen whilst out on placement whether that was Drama, Music, Art or Dance. We then shared our experiences with the class. Most of the answers varied from seeing art used in topic work or for assembly, with very few people seeing a drama lesson occur. I personally have only seen Music lesson’s and one Art lesson occur. A specialist comes in and teaches the class recorder. However, the class do have other Integrated Arts lessons on other days when I am not in class. We then discussed how people from other countries may complete Art lessons. We used the example of pupils from Lapland. They use their snowy weather to an advantage. Pupils and teachers go outside and create sculptures from the snow. This would be a fun activity to complete with a class if you were fortunate enough to have that weather. However, you could use any types of weather as a stimuli for your art lesson. For example, you could use leaves from Autumn to create textured art. My confidence in Art has developed throughout this module, and I know have a better understanding of not focusing on a set art lesson, but rather to just let art happen.
**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** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.62)

Reflection
Music: Using drumsticks to teach children a Music lesson, shows that teachers don’t always need a large range of instruments for a Music lesson to be engaging. Teaching pupils to read music sheets is important as it’s giving children a basic background on music, rather than just learning from figure notes (which is extremely helpful for starting to learn). Teaching children music in stages, allows time for questions and one-on-one help, rather than rushing learning with the risk of the children not fully understanding which happens quite a lot in teaching Music in primary schools, from personal experience. Giving time for Music lessons can be a barrier in teaching, due to some schools believing the focus should be on Literacy and Numeracy.
The Arts are not as respected in Education as they should be. Schools need to focus and allow time for the Arts to occur.

Art: Reflecting on my own placement experience of the Arts, does show me that the Arts are barely ever experienced in schools compared to other subjects. The Arts provide creativity for children and allow children to express themselves in many ways. Creativity is important and applicable in all features of learning (Duffy, 2006). Using art across the curriculum allows for creativity in the classroom, which is an important part of Education. After a discussion, it was evident that not many people had witnessed the Arts fully, whilst being on placement. This was quite disappointing, as I have come to realise how important the Arts are after taking part in this module. Finally, we discussed, as teachers, the use of templates and how schools around the world use resources to create Art. For example, schools in Lapland, use their snowy weather to their advantage and make snow sculptures! I thought this was such a smart concept and I would have loved the chance to do this during my time in school!

Link
The link for the workshops would be the easiness of teaching an Integrated Arts lesson when you have the correct support and resources. In Music, we only needed sticks to keep the beat, and in Art, we discussed what Arts we had encountered on placement and the resources available.

References
Duffy, B. (2006) Supporting Creativity and Imagination in the Early Years. Maidenhead:Open University Press.

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 – drama and music.

Drama: This week, we were given the opportunity to teach a drama lesson, in groups, to the class. My group based their lesson on ‘The Gruffalo’. We decided this as it’s a well known children’s book which we could use across the curriculum. We worked as a group to create a plan of what we could teach our class, then individually/in pairs, made up a quick interactive activity to learn the drama convention being taught. We used role in the wall, flashback, mime, flashforward, teacher in role and vox-pop. I was given the responsibility to teach ‘role in the wall’. I explained the task and gave out worksheets with the figure of the Gruffalo and the Mouse on it so all the groups had a mix, rather than all picking the Gruffalo. After explaining the task, I gave the class 2 minutes to complete the worksheet, then give feedback. This task didn’t make me as nervous as I thought it would, but I think this was down to working as a team. As our class may not have known the story of the Gruffalo, we had one person in the group as the reader which helped when doing the activities. I felt this workshop was very helpful and gave us a test trial on how we could teach a class drama. I learned that in teaching drama, you need to give the pupils freedom to create their own stories, and adapt their ideas. If I was to do this lesson differently, I would take one of the ideas from the pupils and go with that, rather than basing it fully on the book.
**Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and
feelings through drama.
EXA 0-13a / EXA 1-13a / EXA 2-13a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.65)

Music: This music workshop was interesting and engaging. Primary school pupils came in to teach us how to play their string instrument. We learned the different notes/strings, and spoke out loud different rhythms we could practise. We were given one primary pupil per 2 university students. Our pupil taught us how to hold the cello and the proper way to play it. He then taught us how to hold the bow which was actually quite a challenge. We played a short song as a class which was actually fun but hard to keep in time. During the workshop, we watched a video which explained the music program that the pupils were on, which sounded like it was very helpful and gave the pupil confidence. This workshop was fun and I enjoyed learning the cello, however, I wasn’t very good at it. The pupils played a little song for us which sounded great compared to my attempt. I think that pupils learning instruments is a great way to learn teamwork as the pupils were called ‘an orchestra’. There are also many other reasons such as “enhancing coordination” (Matthews, 2011) and “bettering your maths ability” (Matthews, 2011).
**I can use my voice, musical instruments and music technology to experiment with sounds, pitch, melody, rhythm, timbre and dynamics.
EXA 2-17a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.67)

Reflection
Drama: Working in groups to teach a micro-lesson has been an important task in our Drama experience. This gave us the chance to try and teach a Drama lesson. Trying to decide on activities that would keep a class entertained during a lesson was actually quite a difficult task. As we worked in groups to create the lesson, we all had an opportunity to share ideas and give each other feedback. This showed to me the importance of collaborative working in Education. Teachers can work together to create lessons which they both can use, or they can even join classes together for a full stage lesson on subjects, such as the Arts. However, some pupils may only be confident in performing to their class. Teachers need to remember that they cannot force a child to perform if they do not want to, this will let the child’s confidence drop drastically. Allowing children to teach each other, like I completed in the workshop, is a fun and exciting way for children to learn. Learning from peers is a fun way to learn as it allows both the teacher and the learner to engage in a lesson.

Music: Learning an instrument from the pupils from a local school, was an exciting lesson and a great experience for a student teacher. This primary school has an amazing music programme which allows pupils to learn a string instrument and gives the opportunity for the pupils to perform in some amazing places around Scotland . I learned the cello which I had never thought of learning before! It was such an amazing experience to learn from a pupil and you could tell that the children were all very motivated and that the music programme has helped their confidence greatly. After a discussion with the pupil who helped me, he told me that he really enjoys learning music and that it was his favourite subject. The children seemed very grateful for the opportunity they had been given. Allowing children to teach others, again, gives a sense of pride and boosts self-esteem in the child.

Link
The link for these workshops would be learning from others. In Drama, we learned from our peers and in Music, we learned from pupils from a local primary school. These workshops showed the different environments which learning can occur, with both younger people and people of a similar age group.

References
Matthews, M. (2011). 18 Benefits of playing a musical intstrument [online] Available: http://www.effectivemusicteaching.com/articles/directors/18-benefits-of-playing-a-musical-instrument/ [Accessed: 7 November 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 – drama and music.
Drama: This weeks drama class was halloween based. We began with the technique of ‘teacher in role’. The lecturer acted as a reporter type character. He began by telling us about house that we had the chance to visit. However, this house was haunted, and there were many stories about how this happened. The lecturer walked around the class asking us if we had heard about the house, and what we think happened. To get us all involved, there were many questions being asked. This was a good task as the pupils would have the opportunity to contribute to the story by deciding what actually happened to make it haunted. We then went in to groups and discussed ‘flashback’ and ‘flashforward’. A flashback is taking your drama back to a time in the past. A flashforward is taking your drama to a future time. In our flashback, we decided to tell the story of how the house was before it became ‘haunted’. When letting pupils decide what to perform, we, as teachers, should ensure that it is appropriate to show the drama to the class as some ideas that children could have could be too extreme. We discussed the technique of forum-theatre. This is the idea that a member of the audience can contribute an idea to change or enhance the performance. Members of the audience can also take over another actors part by tapping the actor on the shoulder to take their place.
**I can create, develop and sustain a realistic or stylised character through the use of voice, movement and language.
EXA 3-12a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.65)

Music: This week in music, we started by discussing ways we could get pupils involved in music as not everyone wants to join in. We started by discussing a music company called ‘Choon-Baboon’. This was a very useful resource and I will definitely be using this in my class. This resource is videos which teach your pupils music for you. This may seem like a lazy way to teach, but it was highly engaging and thoroughly entertaining. We as a class learned a song about street dancing pirates which I have linked below. There were many songs for different topics such as dogs, the titanic and the eighties. We then practised our singing to ‘Dr Knickerbocker’. As not everybody was getting involved, we then had to sing the penguin song. This was getting us to sing and dance along. I found this quite fun and have linked both songs below. I will be using these videos in my classroom as I have found that the pupils in my placement class enjoy dancing and singing. To complete this workshop, we worked as a class then in groups and used instruments to count out beats. Firstly, I used bells to contribute to the class activity. We used the topic of fireworks to create sounds like bang and crackle. As a group, we decided to use the topic of animals with the likes of snakes, lions and ducks.  I would use this with an older age group as it can be quite confusing with the timing as nobody is conducting the task.
**I can use my voice, musical instruments or music technology to improvise or compose with melody, rhythm, harmony, timbre and structure.
EXA 3-17a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.67)

Reflection
Drama: The ongoing learning of drama techniques ensures that the learning in Drama is continuous. Allowing everybody to have the chance to perform, is important in the teaching of Drama. I have become much more confident due to the Drama workshops as we get to share our ideas each session. When teaching Drama to young people, we need to be aware of the topics that may occur. We, as teachers, need to be sensitive to what ideas are being discussed as some ideas may be too extreme for pupils. In topic work, some wars or other harsh realities, should not be acted out, however, some teachers may see it effective as it might help pupils to understand the scenarios more. Drama isn’t always acting out a story, using a script. It is about discovering the unknown, creating new ideas and discovering new concepts (Winston, 1998, cited in Grainger, 2003, p.45). Allowing children to adapt stories and create their own dramas, will allow for creativity in the classroom, a key motivation for teaching the Arts in schools.

Music: Allowing Music to be taught in different ways can engage children, rather than allowing them to continue playing an instrument week after week. Teaching children to care for their voice whilst singing, is an important thing to discuss. On placement, my class have been singing, however, they don’t warm up their voices. As a teacher, that may not be the first thing that would come to mind, however, it is very important. Teachers can use online videos to allow pupils to warm up before beginning to sing. Using an online source, such as Choon-Baboon, allows the teacher to have a ‘new teacher’, which can be exciting for the pupils. However, if the teacher would prefer to teach the class, websites such as Charanga Scotland, supplies teachers with lesson plans and videos to teach the class with.

Link
This link for these workshops would be involvement. Both workshops ensured that everyone was involved with Drama allowing everybody the opportunity to perform and Music with the encouragement.

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

Winston, J. (1998) Drama, Narrative and Moral Education. In: Grainger, T. (2003) Creative teachers and the language arts: Possibilities and potential, Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education. 31:1, 43-47, DOI: 10.1080/03004270385200071