MICRO-TEACHING

MUSIC

This week’s music input was very interesting and fun. We had a fantastic opportunity on learning to play a string instrument which was taught to us by a group of primary 6&7 pupils from a school in Ayrshire. This school has a programme that allows all pupils from primary 4 to 7, to learn how to play a string instrument and is also the only school in Scotland that currently has this programme.

The workshop was led by the pupil’s teacher; however it was mainly down to the pupils to individually show us how to play the specific instrument. I chose the violin. The pupils showed us methods to correctly hold the instrument & the notes of the instrument. We also played a game to help us get to grips with the holding of the bow and practice before using it with our instruments. We were taught different fun ways about beats. By making the lessons fun by using props it engages all participants, as both pupils and students were enjoying taking part.

 

Overall, this input was so much fun and a great learning experience.  It was so interesting and enjoyable having pupils in to teach us and to be so positive to others who have had none or limited experience with musical instruments. It was an excellent opportunity to be able to be taught the basics of learning how to play the violin and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think the string project should be introduced into many more schools around Scotland, as it’s a brilliant initiative that many children would benefit from as they are able learn and develop a range of skills for them to flourish into young individuals. This project allows children to develop a whole range of skills which links into the Curriculum for Excellence standards, in aiding children to become a successful learner, confident individual, responsible citizen and an effective contributor (Curriculum for Excellence, 2004).

DRAMA

This week’s drama input was also based on micro-teaching as we had to take responsibility for our fellow peers’ learning. We were to create a lesson to give to our peers about ways we could use drama in the classroom we were to focus on a story that involved the drama conventions we had been learning and then teach this to the class. Our group decided to create our own story as this would allow for more discussion and would therefore result in many different outcomes when the other groups create their drama pieces. From creating the lesson I developed a range of skills such as: time management, team working, organisational skills, creativity and research skills.

I was quite nervous for when it came to teaching the lesson and found the thought of it a bit scary, as when I present to my peers I usually get quite worried. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t come across as demeaning as they weren’t a primary class, they were a class of young adults. Whilst presenting I had a lot of fun, watching everyone’s different takes on the story and how they made it their own. We got some great feedback, one point that came up a few time our own story instead of taking an original storybook.  We were all very happy with this feedback as this was something that we were originally worried about as we were uncertain as to how people would take to a made up story, although, in the end, it was very effective and it meant that each group had their own idea of where the story could go and how it could end.

We also got the chance to take part in other groups micro teaching tasks. I am now becoming more confident in participating in drama and also by taking the lead of it, however I can still find it quite daunting but I am trying to overcome this fear as I want to be able to implement enjoyable lessons like this into the classroom and for the pupils to have fun in their lessons.

From doing a task like this, I have developed a range of skills and learnt a lot from the people around me.  This can be an important lesson for children as they can learn a lot from working with other children and can develop a variety of skills that might not always develop as greatly as they would if in a “normal” learning environment.