microteaching – Louise MacDonald UWS ITE ePDP

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 Education London: A & C Black

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.