25/10/16 Music

October 31, 2016 User deactivated Leave a comment

In our second music input we looked at alternatives to traditional notation on a stave. First of all we looked at a normal stave and discussed note length and time signatures. Using drum sticks we beat out a simple rhythms of minims, crotchets and quavers.

This then lead us on to talking about how shapes can be used represent notes, in our examples we used a circle to represent a 1 beat note and a square to represent a 2 beat note. I think this is a good way of starting children off with music as it allows them to gain a sense of rhythm, without having to read music off a stave right away, which can be tricky.

We then talked about a 5 note scale, and improvisation. We were all given a glockenspiel and using the five notes we were given and any rhythm we wanted, we all took turns improvising a short 8 bar piece in front of the class whilst the lecturer accompanied us on piano to ‘Hit the road jack’. I think this would be a good exercise to do with children because by it would increase their confidence in performing and it would introduce them to learning about scales (by sticking to the 5 notes). Improvisation has also been proven to increase children’s creativity:

“improvisation activities significantly supported the development of creative thinking as opposed to the didactic teaching. To enhance general creativity music lessons themselves need to be based on creative activities.” (Hallam, 2010)

References:

Hallam, S. (2010) The power of music: Its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people. International Journal of Music Education. [Online] Vol. 28(3), pp. 269–289 Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/715660/mod_resource/content/2/International%20Journal%20of%20Music%20Education-2010-Hallam-269-89.pdf [Accessed 28 December 2016]

25/10/16- Dance

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In our last session of dance we put all of our practices into one final performance which we recorded.

Click here to view the video of our performance

We then got into pairs and whilst we watched the video back, we evaluated each others performance.

I think it is important for children to evaluate their performance and self reflect as it helps them to improve and see what they could do better. However, it is important to make sure that when they are doing peer evaluation that it is constructive criticism. This is why we took the 2 stars and 1 wish approach, so that the person being evaluated can feel good that the achieved 2 things whilst thinking about 1 thing they could work on.

At the very end of the session we were asked to write down one word to describe how we would now feel about teaching dance, just like we did in the fist session. In the first session I wrote anxious, however, at the end of todays session my word was excited. I feel much more confident now that after completing the dance session and look forward for being able to share my new found enthusiasm for dance with a class in the future. Because we were given the freedom to create our own moves but still given the support from the lecturer with giving us stimuli for inspiration and helping us put all the moves together, this gave us a great balance of creative freedom and teacher guidance and definitely developed my own confidence in dance. Cone states that when pupils and teachers work together in this way “what can result is a hybrid dance that integrates teacher and student perspectives.” (Cone, 2011)

This has part of the module has given me many ideas that I would never have previously thought of, that I will now take with me into my teaching career.

References

Cone, T. (2011) Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances, Journal of Dance Education, [Online] Vol. 9:3, pp. 81-89 Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/846498/mod_resource/content/1/Purcell%20Cone%20%282011%29.pdf [Accessed 1 January 17]

18/10/16- Art

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This week in art the lesson was about a way to teach perspective. We painted the foreground, middle ground and background on separate pieces of paper and then stuck them together. When we did it we went through each stage at a time without knowing what the final product would look like until it was finished. I think it was better this way, without the teacher showing us a final product first, because this let us use our imagination and creativity rather than subconsciously trying to copy an example.

We learned a lot of techniques that I wouldn’t have thought of, like tearing up the background into strips to create a hill/mountain landscape or putting salt over the water colours to give the sky an interesting pattern.

After looking at everyones final product, they were all very different. They all had the same structure and subject matter, because we had followed the same instructions, but they all had our own unique twist. Some had used bright colours, other had more muted tones, some had made their wall very brick like, some had made it more pebble like. Again i think this was down to us not working from a picture, but instead following instructions and working from our imagination.

I throughly enjoyed this lesson and think it is a great way to teach perspective and depth.

This lesson meets the expressive arts outcome:

“I have the freedom to discover and choose ways to create images and objects using a variety of materials.” EXA 0-02a

18/10/16- Drama

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In this weeks session we finished off the story of the Lonely dragon. We left off with the dragon being upset, and instead of us reading on in the book to find out why, our lecturer introduced us to Hot seating. This is where the teacher or one of the children get into the role of a character and the rest of the class ask them questions, about how they feel, what they think etc. This allows children to connect with their character and really think about the story line in depth, thus engaging them in the fully in the story. It also allows them to develop their creativity, as it is a form of improvisation. Hot seating is also useful for developing question skills from the rest of the group (Farmer, 2016). This is a skill that is important for children to develop not only in the arts, but in all curricular areas.

We then changed to a different story to learn about improving a scene. The stimulus we were given was just a few sentences about how a man named Frankie Miller was returning to the town and everyone was concerned. It was up to us to come up with what he had done and why everyone was so afraid of him. Our group improvised a Flashback scene where Frankie and his friends were committing a crime and when they got caught they all turned on Frankie, blaming him for it. He then ended up going to jail and is now coming back for revenge. Flashbacks like this can bring ” bring depth to activities involving still image or improvised drama and helps to flesh out a dramatic moment or create the beginnings of a story” (Farmer, 2016). In our story, the flashback brought depth in that it gave you the context of the characters backgrounds and the dramatic start to a new story about the consequences of their actions.

I think that by giving us a short stimulus to work with rather than the whole story was a great idea as it aloud us to be as creative as we wished and it meant every group had a different twist on the story, which made it more interesting to watch.

References

Farmer, D. (2016) Hot seating. Drama Resource. [Online] Available: http://dramaresource.com/hot-seating/ [Accessed: 16 Dec 2016]

Farmer, D. (2016) Flashbacks and Flash Forwards. Drama Resource. [Online] Available: http://dramaresource.com/hot-seating/ [Accessed: 16 Dec 2016}

11/10/16 Dance

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In todays dance session we were to come up with a game that children could use as a warm up before dancing, and it had to have a theme. We chose to use cowboys and indians as our theme and created a game of tag as our warm up. The cowboys were the designated ‘Tiggers’ and if they caught you you had to stretch up into the shape of a wigwam. Tig is always a game that children love to play and running around the hall and creating different shapes with their bodies will warm up and stretch most of their muscles. This activity shows us how easy it was to come up with a themed warm up and this could easily be adapted to link to a topic they class are learning about in another curricular area.

Our lecturer then gave us the names of 6 new dance terms that we had never heard of before, and we had to come up with our own interpretation of what we thought they meant. Incorporated these into the routine.

The six terms were:

JACK HAMMER
SPONGEBOB
PRESSURE TURNS
HORTY GOERGE
WING
GRAND JETE

“Creative dance experiences are designed to be guided by the teacher who provides a sequence of exploratory tasks that promote problem solving and creative thinking.” (Cone, 2011)

By not telling us what they were, this task made use our problem solving skills as all we had to work with was our own creativity and the words as a stimulus. We then had to find a way of incorporating the new moves into our routine for the previous week. This was an interesting way of encouraging us to be independent learners and having to think for ourselves. It also meant that each group had very different final outcomes as all of our ideas were unique.

“Students are encouraged to discover multiple ways of moving, make movement selections for a dance, and create their own choreographic structure.” (Cone, 2011)

References

11/10/16 Art

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This week we explored painting in an unusual way. We painted a picture using an unconventional paintbrush, everyone had their own unique paintbrush. Some had balls of wool attached to a stick, some had bits of rubber or plastic. The picture we were painting was also being described to us, rather than a picture being put down in front of us to copy. This was to make us consider the importance of children creating their own unique works of art.

It is important that children are not restricted to using the same “usual” tools to create their art work, by them having their own unique tool to paint with it allows them to have their own unique style. By us not being able to actually see the picture we were painting, this made us really use our imagination and creativity, rather than copying exactly from the picture.

Rather than using a traditional paint pallet we simply used paper which meant the colours we used ran together. This gave us the opportunity to explore colour mixing and working with the shades we ended up with.

As shown in the two images below, although everyone in the class was working from the same stimuli, because we worked with different tools, different colours and our own creative

imagination, we all ended up with very different end results. I felt it was very refreshing to see everyones different interpretations of the description, as I had never had an art lesson like this one before. This made me realise the importance of encouraging different perspectives within the arts. Eisner states that “The expressive arts honor and encourage different perspectives, and one of the most important lessons that children can learn from the arts is that there are multiple ways to view our world” (Eisner, 2002).

fullsizerender

References

Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of the Mind. Yale University Press/ New Haven & London

4/10/16 Drama

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As I had not done drama since 2nd year of secondary school, drama was another subject that I felt I would be more nervous to teach. However after learning about various drama techniques in our first workshop, I now feel more confident about teaching a drama lesson.

Before this weeks input I had always just seen drama lessons where you simply read lines from a script and acted out scenes, but the techniques we learned about today were much more interesting. We focused on ‘teacher in role’ which allows a teacher to transform into a certain character for the class to ask them questions about their thought/feelings as the character. This can give children a deeper understanding of the story they are learning about and can be more engaging for them than just reading the lines.

“Teacher in Role does not require great acting skills. A role can be adopted quite simply to communicate the key attitudes and emotions of a particular character.” (Farmer, 2016)

We also discussed that it is a good idea to use a prop such as a scarf or hat, so that children can tell when you are stepping in and out of character.

One thing I realised that could be tricky when teaching this is that some children may laugh and not take it seriously if one of their friends is in role. However it is important that as teachers we emphasise the importance of staying in character, because if a child was to laugh at one of their classmates it could seriously knock their confidence and deter them from performing in the future.

“Working in role provides a possible distance and a safety net that enables participants to attach and detach themselves at will, to step in or out of role and disassociate themselves personally from what they said or did as a character.” (Baldwin, 2008)

References

Farmer, D. (2016) Teacher in role. Drama Resource. [online] Available: http://dramaresource.com/teacher-in-role/ [Accessed 15 December 2016]

Baldwin, P. (2008) The Practical Primary Drama Handbook. Sage publications LTD

4/10/16 Dance

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Our second dance input was all about learning how we could take the 10 basic skills we learned from the previous week and turn these into a routine.

As a class we decided on a specific move for each skill, we then numbered each move from 1 to 10. Then we split up into smaller groups and wrote down one persons phone number form the group and performed the moves with the corresponding number. This meant that all groups had the same moves, but each group had a different combination.

We then got given maths questions to work out the answers to, and each answer corresponded to the number of a move, which created a different route for us. I found this to be a very interesting way of integrating maths into a dance lesson. This turned mental maths into an enjoyable, energetic task which would engage children in the sums.

We then discussed how we could use a theme to inspire a routine. Our theme to work with was halloween and everyone got given a picture of something halloween related to create a move for. Our picture was of a web. Once everyone had come up with their move, we put all of the pictures on the wall in the order of the routine. I found having the pictures in front of me was great memory aid and would be a good way of getting children to remember the routine. Our lecturer then helped us piece all of our moves together into one routine. Thus, allowing us to do the creative work but still supporting us in a way to bring it all together.

“Educators must be able to offer support without undue interference. The vision for the dance belongs to the children” (Cone, 2011). This is something teachers need to remember as they can often take away from the children’s creative process by interfering too much, it is important to get the correct balance of support and independent learning.

I thought using pictures as a stimulus to help children create their own moves was a great idea, as it allows them to be completely creative but still gives them a starting point to work from. We also looked at how music can inspire children, for example with our halloween theme, our music in the session was Thriller and the Ghostbusters theme.

References

27/9/16 Dance

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“Through dance, children bring their inner self to the surface where they can express their dreams, fears, needs, and joys” (Cone, 2011 p.1)

In our first dance input, one if the first things we did was write down one word to describe how we would feel about teaching dance. I chose the word ‘anxious’ because although I attended dance lessons when I was younger and very much enjoyed dancing, the thought of having to choreograph a routine and teach it to young children seemed extremely daunting to me.

Then we went on to learn about different warm ups we could do with children. One way was to play games such as ‘follow the leader’, where we all went around the room following each other and had to copy whatever dance move the person at the front was doing. At first I think everyone in the class felt a bit awkward to dance with everyone watching them but I felt that doing these dancing games as a warm up made us all more relaxed and less self conscious about dancing in front of each other.

We then learned about the 10 principles of dance, which are:

jump
kick
twist
hop
slide
turn
roll
reach
balance
gesture

After learning these 10 basic moves that are needed to create a dance, I realised that putting a routine together is not as scary or as difficult as it first might seem if you break it down.

“When children create dances using their ideas, they are empowered to explore their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives.” (Cone, 2011) This quote from Cone shows that dance can encourage children to express themselves in a new way and if their ideas are supported by the teacher, they can gain confidence.

We then went on to learn about the importance of warming up all parts of our body. To do this, we drew around our bodies and labelled the different muscles, organs and bones in our body, testing our biology knowledge. This made me more aware of how important it is to warm up thoroughly and be safe when dancing. I think this would be a fun and engaging task for children and it is an interesting way of integrating science and dance into one lesson.

References

27/9/16 Art

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In todays art input we discussed how many people think that they cannot draw or think that they cannot do art. When in actual fact, making a simple mark on paper is an art from.

We read part of a story called “The Dot”, which tells the tale of a young girl who thinks she cannot draw until she realises she can make amazing pictures out of simple dots on the paper. It was her teacher who encouraged her to start with one single dot, which then inspired her to create more art work using dots, which then became her own individual style. Here is a video of the story:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5mGeR4AQdM

I think this story made me realise the importance of inspiring children to be adventurous with art and help them to realise that art can be created out of any kind of mark made on paper. It is important to encourage them and make them realise that anyone can be an artist.

We then went on to experimenting with mark making ourselves.We started off by using different toys such as lego dipped in ink to see what kind of prints we could make.

We then went on to dipping parts of our hand in ink and randomly printing them on the paper. We then had to study the marks we had made and turn them into pictures that we saw within the mark. for example, the first mark I made using two fingers and part of my palm and after looking at for a while the shape reminded me of bunny ears, so I turned the image into a habit.

The purpose of this exercise was to show us how an important part of children’s creative process is imagination. According to Eisner “In the Arts, imagination is given license to fly.” Eisner (2002, p.198)

References

Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind. London: Yale University Press.

Reynolds, P. (2010) The Dot. [Online] Available: https://youtu.be/t5mGeR4AQdM [Accessed 8 January 2017]

kirsty wilson integrated arts blog

Monthly Archives: October 2016

25/10/16 Music

25/10/16- Dance

18/10/16- Art

18/10/16- Drama

11/10/16 Dance

11/10/16 Art

4/10/16 Drama

4/10/16 Dance

27/9/16 Dance

27/9/16 Art

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