Today we performed a dance routine we which we have been working towards over the last few weeks.  We performed as a class and included small group dances throughout the main performance, which worked very well.  There were mixed levels of interest amongst the cohort which is to be expected, however everyone who was there on the day really enjoyed it.

After the performance we spoke of evaluation, appreciation, reflection and improvement regarding our performance.  We used a form of feed back called ‘three starts and a wish’.  This gave oppertunity for three forms of praise and one area for improvement.  I feel this method would be successful with children as it helps them to gain a sense of achievement and will build on their levels of resilience, as they will learn how to process critical feed back.

When I received my feedback it made me proud of what I had been part of and it also made me determined to try again when I saw the areas noted for improvement. Hallam (2010), found that activities such as this would see improvements in social skill and collaborative work as the creativity process sees emotions released, life long learning through memorable lessons, self esteem building and confidence gained.

Education Scotland (2013), suggest that there are four key skills that assist when evaluating, appreciating, reflecting and improving.  Skills here would be:

References:

Education Scotland, (2013) Creativity across learning 3-18. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/cre39-impact-report.pdf. [Accessed: 05 December 2018].

Hallam, S. (2010) International Journal of Music Education. [Online] Available: http://moodle1819.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/45685/mod_resource/content/2/International%20Journal%20of%20Music%20Education-2010-Hallam-269-89.pdf. [Accessed: 05 December 2018].

Humantific, (2018) 2022 Future Work Skills Outlook. [Online] Available: http://www.humantific.com/2022-future-work-skills-outlook/. [Accessed: 05 December 2018].

Dance was the expressive art that we looked at today and as I am not a dancer, I was interested to learn how I could teach a dance session to a class of young learners.  A good thing for me to remember is, dance is something that can be done alone or with others and what you create is your own creation that know one can change however you should be in practice of reflecting on your work and that of others in order to make improvements (Cone, 2009).

In class today our lecturer spoke of 10 basic dance skills, with a combination of such skills paired with music and props, this makes a well rounded expressive art performance.  I feel that this would be achievable for me in the future and I look forward to the oppertunity should it arise.

10 Basic Dance Skills

1. Balanance
2. Gesture
3. Hop
4. Jump
5. Kick
6. Reach
7. Roll
8. Slide
9. Turn
10. Twist

I do understand that this will not be all that I need to know, therefore I aim to intend CPD’s ignorer for me to expand my skills and knowledge around this curriculum area.  Why do I want to do this?  Dance is in the curriculum and I understand why, when a child has the oppertunity to be creative or express themselves than education should allow this.  Experiences in expressive art such dance will see pupils and teachers increase their confidence, build up self esteem and staying active for good health and wellbeing (Care Inspectorate, 2018).

Understandbly dance is not for everyone however I am confident that I could involve a whole class in a school performance as I would need an entire cast and crew covering cross curricular areas such as:

Science: Stage lighting, Electricity Circuit Boards.

Technology: Performance Recording, Setting up microphones.

Engineering: Stage assembly, Stage Design.

Art: Stage Appearance, Stage Props, Costumes.

Music: Dance Tracks, Singing, Sound Effects.

I believe with dance if you can learn 10 basic dance skills and attend regular CPD’s, reflect on your practice and the practice of other then there is no reason that dance should not be included in a child’s education. As we know dance includes health and well being indicators such as SHANARRI (Care Inspectorate, 2018).

Safe – The teacher will plan and ensure safety at all times.

Healthy – Pupils will do appropriate warm up and stretches.

Achieving – Pupils will be praised for their work.

Nurtured – No one will do anything they do not wish to do.

Active – Pupils will be active during dance performances.

Respected – Allow for creativity and believe in pupil validality.

Responsible – Pupils be responsible for something during and up to the performance.

Included – All pupils will have a part to play i the production.

Most importantly the class can imagine through creativity, pretend to be someone else if they wish to and also to remove themselves from any worries by immersing themselves in expressive arts.

References: 

Care Inspectorate, (2018) The Hub. [Online] Available: https://hub.careinspectorate.com/media/603624/our-creative-journey-aug-17-master-combined.pdf. [Accessed: 05 December 2018].

This week as a class we watched the Tim Ingold talk that Tim Ingold himself gave to staff and students at UWS several years ago.  I found what Tim spoke of very interested and definitely food for thought.

The first area that has made me think is two ways education can be seen as, here Tim talks about teaching our children what they need to know as we ourselves learned and generations before us in comparrison to allowing pupil and teacher to venture out and find what there is to discover. Ideas such as these are what we discuss in our workshops and by slightly removing formal instructions you are lowering the chance of similar work/outcomes created by a class of young learners as creativity has been allowed.

Care Inspectorate (2018), found that children who where allowed to engage with creativity with little formal instruction were more likely to be strong, confident individuals. This is because the chid has had opportunity to think for themselves, overcome problems and receive praise on work they know they carried out with no formal instruction

Tim Ingold goes on to discus handwriting which he feels is at risk and soon to be forgotten about during in an ever changing digital age.  I can particularly relate to the part he speaks about the of individuality in handwriting as I have noticed this while out on school placement.  I really enjoy reading hand written work from my class as they all write in their own individual way which is something that no one can take away from you, unless you are a keyboard and this is where the children are at risk of loosing their handwriting.

As my class are only in primary 5 I feel that it is highly likely that when they are young adults entering the working world that they will very rarely write as all their work will be on a computer.  Personally I feel pressure to use a keyboard most days however I fight the urge and I take lecture notes with pen and paper, this helps me to think for myself in regards to spelling and punctuation as the keyboard will do this for me otherwise and I will eventually loose these skills for myself.

Below are some on my handwritten notes from lectures as you can see they are most defiantly not typed on a keyboard and I think that it is highly unlikely that my keyboard and I could do this as well as I can myself.

Tim Ingold suggests looking at your writing and the shapes that are made, enlarging your handwriting to see shapes and fine detail, this is something that is it risk in education and as a student teacher I will ensure that any class I teach, will always have oppertunity to write by hand.

References:

• Care Inspectorate, (2018) The Hub. [Online] Available: https://hub.careinspectorate.com/media/603624/our-creative-journey-aug-17-master-combined.pdf. [Accessed: 05 December 2018].

This week in class we delved a little deeper into our understanding of STEAM, the music class and drama class today demonstrated STEAM in action.

Previous to starting this module I thought anyone that said STEAM was mispronouncing STEM, which was a term I was more familiar with.  Looking back now it makes sense why my school placement last year always said STEAM and not STEM.  Who was I to correct them and I am very thankful that I didn’t as I know and understand what STEAM is and why they said it.

In music today I was in the mac lab, here we had the oppertunity to use the apple application ‘Garage Band’, this gave me the oppertunity to make music, I do not know how to play any musical instruments so by using this application I was able to make a potential backing track to a song.

Today I was working alone however the application shows many ways in which collaborative and autonomous creations can be made. Gaskins, 2016 states that ‘technical skills are gained through casual use of technologies and through networks of informal apprenticeships where peers demonstrate their techniques to each other’.

What I have taken from this is that while it is good to work alone and find your creative flow, collaborating with peers for support, mentoring, ideas and development can also bring together new life to a project.

By integrating this type of technology with art, it allowed me to experience the joy and satisfaction that a musician may experience when writing music and playing an instrument or two thus giving me confidence, self esteem and a sense of achievement (Marshall, 2014).

The drama class also used technology, this time in the form of imagery and sounds.  The theme chosen was a haunted house therefor our class lecturer played spooky music to play with out emotions and senses, there was also a spooky haunted house image on the smart board for us to reference to should we need it for inspiration.

Adding to the effects the lights were turned off and I really got a feel for the spooky setting needed for our short performance and all without being live on stage in an audience packed theatre.

I found the information posted below to be very interesting and proves to me while I read about STEAM that integrating arts in education is something that must happen. As I find myself out on placement and seeing STEM everywhere, I will do my up most to discuss STEAM wherever I go.

What Do Students Think of STEAM Lab?

Of the students surveyed about their STEAM lab activities:

• 75% learned and used new skills to achieve an outcome.
• Over 90% said that learning to use previously unfamiliar equipment was a good way to explore a class subject.
• 60% indicated that they would like to deepen their investigation of a STEAM subject and explore its utility.
• 70% reported increased attention, defined as “curiosity and interest.”
• 68% reported an increased sense of relevance, defined as “linking learner needs, interests, and motives.”
• 67% felt increased levels of confidence, defined as “developing positive expectations for success.”

(Gaskins, 2016)

References

Education Scotland. (2004) Curriculum for Excellence; Experiences and Outcomes. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers [Accessed: 20 October 2018].

Gaskins, N. (2016) The New Face of STEAM. [Online] Available: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/the-new-face-of-steam-nettrice-gaskins [Accessed: 5 November 2018].

Marshall, J. (2014) Transforming education through art-centred integrated learning. [Online] Available: http://moodle1819.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/45649/mod_resource/content/1/Transforming%20education%20through%20art-centred%20integrated%20learning.pdf [Accessed: 5 November 2018].

Pixabay, (N.D) [Online] Available: https://pixabay.com/en/villa-house-gloomy-dark-old-villa-3237114/ [Accessed: 05 November 2018].

Youtube, (2018) Spooky Music – Shadow Acrobats. [Online] Available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfzHJ6ofNLY  [Accessed: 5 November 2018].