For the Sustainable Development serial day tasks, we were given the following instructions:
Mapping of school grounds/area.
Evidence of existing engagement with sustainable education within the school
Consideration of actual play space for children and its suitability.
Discussion with children on these aspects of sustainable education.
To achieve these objectives, I discussed with the class teacher, the possibility of getting the children involved in an activity that would incorporate all of the above. The class teacher was very keen for me to plan and lead this activity, as it would fit in with their knowledge and skills developed through their recent topic of vandalism, and also link into their current minibeasts topic. I explained my idea of taking the children outside to explore the school grounds, and she was encouraging and supportive of this. She helped me to consider how to presen
t the activity to the class, and we discussed which resources would be needed. To prepare for this activity, I used Digimaps for schools to produce an aerial photograph of the school and grounds. I printed enough copies to allow one between two children, so the children could work in pairs. I gathered clipboards for each map.
I introduced the activity by gathering the children on the carpet area, and asking questions to recall their prior learning of sustainability and environment from their vandalism topic. I explained that we were going to go outside and look for certain items related to s
ustainability, and record these on the aerial map. I made sure the children could find their classroom on the map, and asked them to point out certain landmarks to allow them to get their bearings on the map. I then explained what things they were looking for, giving them three categories: recycling bins, play areas/equipment, and wildlife areas. I asked them to use simple symbols as a legend, using an X to record recycling bins, a circle for play space and a triangle for wildlife areas. I also asked the children to see if they could see any litter in the school grounds whilst we were outside. I gave the children the opportunity to ask any questions before putting coats on and going o
utside. The children engaged excitedly with the task, as they showed me around the school grounds and pointed out the various elements of sustainable practice in the school. I have included a copy of the annotated map at the end of this post.
Upon returning inside, I again gathered the children on the carpet and we discussed their findings. The children had identified lots of evidence of sustainability and were very knowledgeable on t
he purpose of each piece; they understood the importance of recycling waste and providing space for wildlife. One particular area caused much excitement; the compost bin was both an area for recycling waste and a wildlife spot! The children confidently explained how the worms turn the food waste into compost for growing plants in the school garden. I asked the children to tell me about the play space and equipment available in their playground, and how they felt about it. The children told me they enjoyed having a variety of different spaces to play, from a tarmacked basketball area to the wooden trim trail and
sand pit in the natural garden area. We finished off the discussion with a chat about the importance of taking responsibility for our local area and how much nicer the playground looked without any litter present, reinforcing the need to be responsible citizens.
Today we finalised our section dance. Due to low attendance, both sections were asked to come together to create a dance to be filmed. This meant that students from both sections had to learn the various steps of each other’s dance; this was an effective way to build our tolerance for ambiguity. Once recorded, we watched the video back and using a ‘three stars and a wish’ method, we evaluated our own individual performances, and one other student’s performance. This is an important part of teaching dance, as not only is it one of the three strands of dance as suggested by Smith-Autard (2002), it is also stated that learners should be given opportunities to develop “their capacity to enjoy dance through evaluating performances and commenting on their work and the work of others.” (Scottish Government, n.d.)
The afternoon’s final music input was to be self-directed due to staff illness, and with technicians needing access to the room to deal with faulty lighting, we were restricted in the amount of time we had to spend working through the material on Moodle. However, as only four of us turned up, we could help and support each other well. We used the material provided in advance by the lecturer, to try out some of the instruments, including the ukulele, guitar and piano. I found this extremely beneficial, as I was able to utilise the knowledge and expertise of my peers to improve my own skills and abilities with these instruments, and increase my knowledge and understanding of music terminology and notation, using the constructive feedback received from my colleagues.
Playing Wham’s “Last Christmas” on the ukelele
The element of peer evaluation and feedback in each of today’s inputs was an effective way to round off the Integrated Arts module. As prospective teachers, it is important that we become familiar with and indeed welcome constructive feedback from our peers and colleagues to inform our own development; the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) require both student and qualified teachers to “evaluate their classroom practice, taking account of feedback from others, in order to enhance teaching and learning” (GTCS, 2012).
REFERENCES
General Teaching Council for Scotland, (2012) The Standards for Registration: Mandatory Requirements for Registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland [Online] Available: www.gtcs.org.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.aspx?lID=3029&sID=7417 [Accessed: 15 August 2017]
Scottish Government (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence Edinburgh: Scottish Executive
Smith-Autard, J. (2002) The Art of Dance EducationLondon: A & C Black
This week began with the continuation of the microteaching tasks in drama. Having presented with my group the previous week, this gave me a chance to participate as part of the audience for other groups, without the pressure of presenting. Each of the lessons were enjoyable, however the final group decided to aim their lesson at CfE fourth level students, tackling the issue of misogyny and violence towards women. I found this to be highly engaging and motivating, and at times it was difficult to remember that my fellow students were just playing a part, as they played their roles so well. They used techniques that we had learned about earlier in the module but no other group had used, such as throwing a scrunched-up piece of paper at a life-sized outline of a character whilst verbally expressing our feelings toward that character. This was a very effective way to engross the pupils as active participants in the drama, and get them engaged with the theme of the drama. It is also a good way to allow pupils to convey their feelings and thoughts, which is one of the drama experiences and outcomes for the expressive arts in Curriculum for Excellence (Scottish Government, n.d. p.65):
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
It was really useful to see drama used to tackle social justice issues, and gave me a good insight into how I can use drama to explore controversial issues within the classroom, by adapting the lesson to suit the age and maturity levels of my pupils. In this way, drama can also be used to help children develop strategies to use in situations where they are faced with difficult choices, preparing them to be responsible citizens and confident individuals, two of the capacities that Curriculum for Excellence aims to develop in our children and young people.
Within the dance lecture, we looked at the Midway Model for dance in schools (Smith-Autard, 2002). This model proposes that both the process and the product of creative dance are equally valuable, emphasising the importance of the aesthetic aspect of the arts as well as the creative. We also watched a video of a Parkour project undertaken with high school pupils from the local authority, which can be viewed here. This was an appealing project, as it moved the focus for the young boys involved away from traditional competitive sports, whilst giving them the opportunity to develop physical and creative skills, compose a routine and perform on stage, in much the same way as pupils would create a dance performance. Although there were considerable costs involved in funding a qualified instructor, this is something that I think would be highly beneficial to consider implementing, particularly with upper primary children who may not engage with dance as well as hoped.
In the workshop, the lecturer handed over leadership of the learning to us students. Giving each group a different task, we worked collaboratively to create a stretching routine, a warm up, and ten basic dance moves, all around a Christmas theme. Each group then ‘taught’ their activity to the rest of the section. This reinforces the role of the teacher as facilitator, providing the structure and framework for pupils to choreograph their own creative dance, developing problem solving skills, working cooperatively and taking responsibility and ownership of their learning.
This passing control of the content to pupils tied in with the microteaching activities in the drama workshop – giving us the opportunity to practice our teaching skills in each area, and also to put ourselves in the shoes of the learner.
REFERENCES
Scottish Government (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence Edinburgh: Scottish Executive
Smith-Autard, J. (2002) The Art of Dance EducationLondon: A & C Black
We began with music this week, and looking at rhythm and beat. Using only drumsticks or beaters, we learned how to tap out the beat to a number of different songs and genres. Similar to the figure notes system we looked earlier in the module, we used a very basic coded system designed to introduce children slowly to the timings of notes. Using words with the same number of syllables as beats in a note, for example ‘square’ for a crotchet and ‘circle’ for a quaver, even the most musically challenged of us (me!) could pick it up easily. This was then extended to the more common ‘ta’ and ‘te-te’ system of counting out the rhythm. We progressed on to the symbols for each note, and then on to reading traditional music notation, including rests and bars. We practiced playing different songs of varying difficulty within these systems, progressing rapidly through a programme that would usually stretch over a number of terms in primary school, to give us an overview of how much the children would learn and develop over the course of this programme. The final activity shown was an interactive task that enabled children to compose their own beat using the various different notes to produce four-beat bars.
Within the visual arts workshop, we discussed as a cohort, the experiences we had each had on placement within the arts. It was clear that there was a lot of similarities and routinisation in our experiences, with not a lot of originality observed. This led on to consideration of alternative themes to use for art; swapping ‘Christmas’ art for ‘Winter’ art, looking at myths such as the firefox legend surrounding the Northern Lights, and thinking about how these could be used to inspire creativity and originality in ideas. Another idea discussed was the notion of removing one of the senses to cause children to think creatively and extend their imaginations – for example playing a movie clip without showing the visuals and encouraging the children to draw their interpretation of the scene. This activity does not require a lot of resources – a simple pencil drawing would suffice – but gives children a chance to develop the basic skill of drawing. Tim Ingold (2013) tells us that we are educating children out of drawing by placing so much more value on writing, which makes this a highly effective activity to impress upon learners the value of drawing and creative interpretation.
The last point discussed was from an international standpoint. We looked at how the environment can be used in the creation of art, through the use of snow in Finnish schools as a material for art. Whilst we don’t get enough snowfall in Scotland to be able to produce anything close to the scale of snow art in Finland, it is worthwhile considering the opportunities the environment can offer for art – using seasonal materials such as fallen leaves in autumn and colourful flowers in spring and summer allows children to create without the restriction of traditional materials.
The common thread running between both of today’s inputs for me has been the idea of stripping things back to basics, and using minimal resources to get the creative juices flowing. When children are shown that they can compose music with something as simple as two drumsticks, or create sculptures from nature’s materials, they are shown the value of their imagination.
REFERENCES
Ingold, T. (2013) Thinking Dangerously in Teacher Education Conference Keynote Speech 34.03 mins. [Online] Available: https://vimeo.com/77119799 [Accessed: 5 October 2017]
The theme of disasters is arguably one of the most interesting and engaging topics of this module. We are quite lucky in that Scotland is a relatively stable country in terms of extreme weather, and as such disasters tend to be more of a fascination than a real concern to children here. There are a multitude of hands on, practical experiments that can be done with children on a topic of disasters, making it an exciting and active area to cover. In the science workshop, we tried out some of these experiments, recreating volcanic eruptions with bicarb, vinegar and fairy liquid, and investigating which parts of the world are more at risk and which phenomena they are at risk from.
In the second input, we considered the political and economic aspects involved in this theme. Focusing on the four stages of a natural disaster – mitigation, preparation, response, recovery – we discussed the role of governments, NGOs, and international aid agencies. Looking at case studies to compare the differences between wealthier, developed countries such as USA and Japan, and poorer developing countries like Haiti and the Philippines, clear disparities can be seen in a nation’s ability to cope with a natural disaster.
This led on to a discussion on the importance of sensitivity when introducing this topic to children, particularly when thinking about images. Whilst powerful and great for sparking discussion, some images would be too graphic and distressing to show children. Whilst children will likely be exposed to some imagery in the media etc, it’s crucial to keep in mind that some visuals may be too close to home for some pupils and cause unnecessary anxiety, for instance children living in high-rise flats may be disturbed by the pictures of the recent Grenfell Tower fire in London earlier this year. There is a careful balance to be sought between protecting our pupils from worry and upset, and avoiding disempowering them and failing to provide them with the opportunity to explore this topic.
It’s also useful to remember that less “sensational” disasters should also be explored, such as flooding, sink holes and landslides as these are the types of disasters more likely to occur in the UK. Keeping the topic relatable is imperative to engaging the attention of pupils.
The direct study tasks for this theme enabled me to expand my knowledge of disasters and develop several skills; the micro teaching task encouraged me to think about how I would teach this topic in the classroom, whilst the tsunami forecast padlet extended my research skills and my knowledge of the procedures involved in preparing for and responding to a natural disaster. I was also able to develop my presentation skills, take part in group discussions, use criticality in my research and reflection and improve my academic reading abilities through the preparation and research for our group micro teaching task.
This week we began the micro-teaching inputs for drama. Our group started with a drama lesson based on Julia Donaldson’s children’s book The Gruffalo (1999). Using a number of drama conventions introduced previously in this module, we planned and delivered a 30-minute lesson the rest of our section. The initial brief was to plan a twenty-minute lesson, however during the activity the cohort was so engaged in the drama that we decided, with the lecturer’s consent, to allow their creativity to flow and not interrupt just to stick rigidly to the plan. Dewey (1938, cited in Eisner, 2004) calls this “flexible purposing”, which Eisner (2004) tells us is the antithesis to rigid adherence to the lesson plan. This notion could however, have been developed further. Due to lack of confidence, and perhaps the fact that we read the story in sections throughout our lesson, our group failed to deviate from the original storyline of the book. Upon seeing the next group’s take on their lesson, it was clear to see that the activities could be much more engaging and fun if the lesson is allowed to follow the direction of the participants, regardless of whether this was the expected outcome of the ‘teacher’.
In the afternoon input, pupils from Greenhill Primary School Orchestra brought in their string instruments to demonstrate how they are played. The pupils showed us how to hold the instruments properly, how to control the bow, the names of the strings, and some chords. They then demonstrated how to play a song they have learnt, and confidently helped us to have a try. The confidence the children have was astounding, something that Bloomfield and Childs (2002) attribute to learning to play an instrument.
The idea of children leading the learning was further developed through both inputs this week. By handing over leadership of the lesson in the drama workshop, the lecturer enabled us students to see how our primary school pupils may feel when asked to take ownership of their learning. This was then observed in practice with the Greenmill pupils leading the learning in the music inputs. The impact this had on the confidence and self-esteem of the children was clear to see, and reinforced to me the importance of arts education in the curriculum.
REFERENCES
Bloomfield, A. and Childs, J. (2002) Teaching Integrated Arts in the Primary School. London: David Fulton Publishers.
Donaldson, J. (1999) The Gruffalo London: MacMillan
Eisner, E. (2004) What Can Education Learn from the Arts about the Practice of Education? International Journal of Education & the Arts Vol.5(4) pp.1-13
This week’s inputs looked at the different ways we can give children ownership and control of their learning. In contrast to last week’s structured framework for dance and drama, this week focused on allowing children almost complete control. Giving children the opportunity to have a say in their learning shows respect for their abilities and that their creativity is valued by the teacher.
In drama, we explored some more techniques and conventions including flash forward, flash back, narration, slow motion and forum theatre. Forum theatre is the brainchild of Augusto Boal, and the idea is that members of the audience are invited to stop and participate in the drama by taking the place of an actor of their choosing, and acting out an improvised, alternative version of the drama (Farmer, 2014). This is an excellent way to allow children to take a directive approach to their learning, however research by Killen and Cooney (2017) reveals that teachers lack confidence in allowing learners to take control of the lesson, so this is something that I will keep in mind and try to develop my own confidence in.
In the music input, we looked first at the voice. As prospective teachers, our voices are one of the most important tools of our trade. Constant use of the voice, often in noisy environments, coupled with dry air conditions in classrooms, can put teachers at greater risk of voice and throat problems. The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) have issued guidance for teachers and student teachers, including examples of good practice and strategies to protect and care for the voice (GTCS, 2003). One of the recommendations suggests using vocal exercises to warm up your voice. We tried out some of these vocal exercises in the music seminar, looking at some resources that can be used in the classroom to allow children to warm up their own voices before any singing activity. One of the resources we looked at is ChoonBaboon, a singing programme developed by Alan Penman, aimed at first and second level Curriculum for Excellence. ChoonBaboon is an interesting and engaging resource that is indispensable for teachers who lack confidence teaching music (ChoonBaboon, 2017).
We then moved on to looking at graphic scores. This is a musical score, composed through the use of symbols on a grid. Creating a firework themed score within our section, we composed and then played the score using various instruments from chimes and bells, to castanets. We then had the opportunity to work within small groups to choose a theme, and compose a graphic score to play using any of the instruments to represent sounds related to our theme. This was a fantastic activity and each of us really engaged with our creative abilities. I would definitely use this activity in the classroom, as it is a simple activity that does not require a lot in terms of planning and resources, but can have a huge impact on children’s confidence when they actively compose and play their very own piece of music, having complete control over their chosen theme, sounds and final piece.
Our Christmas graphic score
REFERENCES
ChoonBaboon (2017) Welcome to Choonbaboon [Online] Available: http://choonbaboon.com/ [Accessed: 31 October 2017]
The theme of Interdependence saw us visit two strikingly diverse dairy farms: Strandhead Farm in Tarbolton and Mossgiel Farm in Mauchline. Both successful family-run farms, they vary greatly in their methods and ideology. This was by far the most interesting input for this module to date, and I not only had my preconceptions challenged, but also greatly increased my skills and knowledge, in terms of my own development and in the context of teaching.
Strandhead is one of the most technologically advanced farms in Scotland. The traditional methods of milking and feeding cows have all been replaced by computerised machinery; feed is mixed and distributed by a robotic device, with cows deciding for themselves when and how often they wish to be milked by entering the computerised milking vestibule. Whilst the cows seemed to be happy (after all, how accurately can one interpret bovine emotions?), the fact that they are prohibited from leaving the barn raises significant animal rights issues for me. I also left this farm feeling appalled at the seemingly heartless practice of separating new-born calves from their mother within hours of their birth. The youngest of the calves, who are confined to a relatively small solitary pen, seemed extremely distressed at only four days old.
High-tech methods revolutionise farming at Strandhead – but at what cost?
Mossgiel farm was a breath of fresh air after that; a small, family-run organic farm which strives to be as ethically and environmentally conscious as it possibly can. The owner, Bryce Cunningham, took the decision to move to organic methods to ensure the farm could continue to be financial viable after the wholesale price of milk plummeted in recent years, resulting in a drop in income of over £10,000 per month at its lowest. Being an organic farm, they are restricted in the use of pesticides and use only natural fertilisers; not too difficult given the abundance of manure that comes with dairy farming. The aspect that fascinated me the most was the cows’ diet: having looked into the scientific research, Farmer Bryce incorporated seaweed into the cows’ feed as it not only provides nutritional benefits to the animals, but also reduces the methane levels that the cows produce. He also feeds them fresh Ayrshire potatoes (tatties!) which, importantly, he purchases from a local arable farmer’s excess stock that have been rejected by supermarkets. These two habits not only provide a superior diet for the cows, leading to a better quality milk, they both significantly reduce the overall environmental impact of the farm by lowering emissions and reducing waste.
Two other things struck me at Mossgiel: the breed of cows kept are native Ayrshire cattle, better suited to the soil and weather conditions present in this part of the country. This also means that the grass native to this area is perfect for the cows, reducing the cost of additives that other non-native breeds may require. This farm also used Mother Nature’s way of adding to their stock – four eager bulls are permanent Mossgiel residents, unlike the previous farm which favours artificial insemination to selectively ensure female offspring only. This does in turn increase the number of male calves born at Mossgiel, however this has led to Bryce creating Ethical Veal, an innovative brand development that enables the farm to continue with its ethos of ethical, organic sustainability.
The cows, affectionately called the “Mossgiel Girls” by Farmer Bryce, who makes the effort to know each of them by name, are milked twice a day. This is done by Bryce himself, who takes the time to check each cow over and ensure they are all at their best. The milk is then pasteurised on site, using a slow heating and cooling process which produces a superior quality froth on the milk, before being packaged and sent out to the farm’s customers. We were treated to a sample of the milk, and they are not lying when they attest to its superior quality.
The newest addition to the Mossgiel Girls – two day old calf
The most remarkable aspect for me, was the issue of separating calves from their mothers. At Mossgiel, they too separate the calves, but this was an issue that challenged me to reconsider my stance on this process. Farmer Bryce explained that when he took charge of the farm, he too disliked the practice of separation, and insisted that the calves and their mothers were kept together for the first few weeks. However, within the first couple of days, sixteen calves had died. This was discovered to be caused by bacteria that lives on the mother’s udders, which are normally cleaned and disinfected prior to milking, but the cows were not milked whilst feeding their offspring and therefore the bacterial disease had cultivated in the young calves and killed them. The birth of his first child gave Bryce the inspiration for a “moses basket” system, whereby the calves are placed in a crib-like enclosure, safe from the hooves of the collective herd but within their mother’s reach. This method certainly seemed to be tremendously effective as even the youngest calf, at only 2 days old, seemed content and settled in her crib.
The two farm visits had a significant impact on my own thoughts and opinions, and initially I felt that I would rather take a class of schoolchildren to the organic farm rather than the high-tech farm. However, upon reflection, I realised that it would be better to give children the chance to experience both farms, and allow them to draw their own comparison between the two methods, using a critical approach and analysing the merits of each of the diverse processes involved. The visits have encouraged me to think about how I would teach the theme of Interdependence; I would probably incorporate this into a farm to fork topic aimed at second level CfE.
The second part of the Interdependence theme entailed a group research project. Under the topic of Sustainable Seas, our group was required to undertake investigation of several sources and create an infographic to present our findings using a website called Picktochart. Taking responsibility for exploring the global aspect of ocean sustainability using the WWF website, I increased my own knowledge in this area, and gained a comprehensive understanding of the impact of human activity on our oceans, from the disappearing coral reefs leading to drastically reduced costal defences and severe implications to the food chain, to the results of seabed mining and gas and oil extraction industry on the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide. Our infographic can be viewed here:
This theme challenged my views and beliefs on several issues, and allowed me to develop my critical thinking skills and develop a healthy respect for differing ideologies regarding sustainability and ethical practices. I also found my knowledge of sustainability in both farming and fishing/marine tourism has been extended. I have also added to my ICT skills using web resources to create an infographic – this could be a useful resource to use in the classroom.
Looking at another children’s story, based around a single event involving a brother and sister who didn’t get on, we were introduced to a further five drama conventions: Role on the wall, VoxPop, Mime, Thought tracking and Voice in head. This topic felt much more prescribed, and restrictive, compared to the previous drama input based on the Dragon tale. By using a book as a stimulus, albeit a digital version of the book, there was a different atmosphere and I felt after the freedom of previous session, this method was more rigid. However, I can see how taking a more structured approach to drama can aid the teacher in leading the children to a deliberate learning outcome, which is sometimes necessary to ensure the children are getting something from the lesson.
The second input this week was our second dance session. The focus today was on consolidating the skills and steps developed in the last session, through refining our group routine and adding in some steps to create a whole class performance.
To warm up, we formed a large circle and agreed upon 10 different dance moves, each assigned a number from 0-9. These moves were all Halloween related, given that this is the week leading up to Halloween. We had various moves, from a swooping Dracula twirl, to the zap of a fairy wand. We were then given a sheet of maths questions, and in our smaller groups we had to work out the answers (funnily enough, all corresponding to the dance moves) and perform the correlating dance moves in that order. This was a fantastic example of how dance can be integrated into other curricular areas, and develop skills that can be used across all areas of a child’s life, using team work, initiative, cooperation and taking responsibility for their part. It also develops memory and retention.
We then moved on to another task, in which each group was given a different printed image. All of the images were again Halloween related, although this task could easily be adapted to any topic by using images related to the chosen topic. In this way, this would be an ideal way to integrate dance into an IDL topic in the classroom. Our group was given an image of a haunted house, and we came up with a dance move that we felt represented that image. We then came back together as a section, and each group demonstrated their move for the other groups to imitate. Lastly, we put all the moves together in a choreographed, timed structure and rehearsed this a number of times. This would be the beginning of our whole section dance, which will incorporate our group dances in turn. We also developed an opening sequence, similar to a Mexican wave, and created entrance and exit dances for each group, finishing up with a finale step. Our dance will be filmed in a couple of weeks.
Two key points I have taken from today’s inputs, are the importance of giving learners time to think, and the use of structure within the arts. In order to extract the creativity from learners, giving them adequate time to formulate their thoughts and ideas, whether through creating dance moves, or planning a short drama scene, is essential (Eisner, 2004). Rushing learners to come up with an answer can impact on their confidence if they do not feel they have been able to get their idea across accurately.
Providing structure to a lesson, giving the children a framework to use to come up with their ideas can be a useful way to introduce a topic within the arts to children. It is an essential skill of a teacher to be able to judge how much structure, and time, to provide learners. A careful balance is needed to allow creativity to flourish. Cone (2009) stresses the importance of allowing children to develop their learning, with the teacher being able to step back and refrain from interferring with the creative process.
REFERENCES
Cone, Theresa Purcell. (2009) Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas For Creating Dances Journal Of Dance Education [Online] Vol.9(3), pp.81-89. Available: EBSCOhost. [Accessed: 17 October 2017]
Eisner, E. (2004) What Can Education Learn from the Arts about the Practice of Education? International Journal of Education & the Arts Vol.5(4) pp.1-13
This week, we experienced the first of the dance inputs in the module. We began with some fun, engaging activities that would be an ideal way to introduce the topic of dance in the classroom: an adaptation of Chinese whispers, using a sequence of dance moves which were passed along a chain of participants, or a follow-the-leader style conga line allows the children to develop confidence in dance by using a format they are already familiar with. These activities can develop skills that are transferrable to other areas – memory retention, following instructions and team work. Other activities, such as the teacher/lecturer directing students to move around the space in a certain way, e.g. skipping, jumping etc, with the aim of getting themselves into a group of whichever number they heard called out and performing a dance move or forming a specific shape, can be integrated into various parts of the curriculum, for example a warm up for a gym class, or outside in the playground for an outdoor health and wellbeing lesson.
The next activity urged us to think about the importance of warming up before dance. By drawing around one student from the group, then labelling the body outline with the various muscles and bones. This highlights the vast range of body parts that are used to create any movement, and is a great cross-curricular activity to do with pupils as it incorporates biology, expands vocabulary, increases spatial awareness and develops knowledge of how the body works. This follows on to a stretching activity which gives children some skills to use to warm up in other areas of physical activity.
The final stage in this input was to develop our own dance routine, based on the 10 principle steps of dance: twist, reach, roll, slide, gesture, hop, jump, kick, turn, and balance. This method of teaching dance gives participants a structure to use, which can be essential to encourage the most rhythmically challenged to participate, whilst still allowing for use of creativity and imagination. Children can use their own interpretation of the steps to develop a meaningful piece of dance, which is an important outlet for them to explore their creativity and express their own thoughts and ideas (Cone, 2009). The 10-step basis for dance is also a key tool for teachers who lack confidence in their own dance skills and knowledge, as the simple structure is easy to apply and demonstrate, lending itself well to child-led learning.
Music
Today’s music session centred around the importance of music in education. We considered why music matters in the lecture, and this was followed up by a look at some of the academic research and theory underpinning the teaching of music. The importance of participation, whether through performing, composing, playing, singing or just listening and evaluating music, was stressed. Music is a valuable instrument (no pun intended) for social development in children – it develops a sense of identity and increases self-esteem, whilst allowing expression of feelings, ideas and memories which aid in developing emotional resilience (Hallam, 2010). Music can also have physical benefits; pain reduction, a drop in stress levels and decreased fatigue are all elements that Jensen (2008) attributes to music.
Music also has a significant impact on other areas of development: experience with music enables learners to develop the ability to discriminate pitch, which is a valuable asset to phonological awareness necessary for learning to read. Learning to read musical notation requires mathematical skills, develops visual and rhythmic skills and encourages print awareness. Music increases memory retention, critical thinking and creativity skills which are then easily transferred to other areas. Overall, students who regularly participate in musical education yielded higher grades than their non-musical counterparts, and, perhaps most notably, there was no discernible damage to pupils’ attainment due to less time in the classroom whilst receiving music tuition (Hallam, 2010). This is a notable finding, as the possible detriment of grades and attainment is one of the issues that teachers face in delivering the arts in education today.
The overarching theme within both inputs today is without a doubt the importance of the arts in other areas of the curriculum. Both music and dance can allow children to develop skills that will be essential in literacy, numeracy and physical development.
REFERENCES
Cone, Theresa Purcell. (2009) Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas For Creating Dances Journal Of Dance Education [Online] Vol.9(3), pp.81-89. Available: EBSCOhost. [Accessed: 17 October 2017]
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: Sage. [Accessed: 17 October 2017]
Jensen, E. (2008) Brain-based Learning: the new paradigm of teaching California: Corwin
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