This week we began with our dance class. It has been a good few weeks since we last took part in the dance class, so it was quite challenging to remember the routines we came up with. I tried to visualise the 10 movements that we had placed upon the wall to try and remember the steps that we created. We managed to remember some of them and then just came up with a few new ones. This time round we changed the music to Christmas songs which was a lot of fun and appropriate for the time of the year. As some of my group was off we joined up with another group and we all came up with new moves to fit with this piece of music.
The fun part of this class is being able to join everyone’s moves together to come up with a whole routine. It’s amazing to think that in less than 2 hours we had a whole routine created. I think this just highlights the fact that time is not always an issue when it comes to teaching the expressive arts as most of the time you can have a lesson stated and finished before playtime or lunch time. The most important thing is giving the children this opportunity, in my opinion expressive arts is of just as much value as literacy and mathematics and should be given the same amount of respect.
I believe dance is a way for children to express their thoughts and feelings through movement. It allows children to be imaginative, creative, physical and work with one another to create a movement piece that fits along with music. I used to participate in dance when I was younger and loved the feeling when a routine had been put together through everyone’s inputs, I loved the different shapes I could make with my body and being able to express myself through a piece of music. This class taught me that you don’t need to be a professional dancer to teach it to children as long as you know the 10 basic movements and some activities, that’s where the creativity will begin and the children will be able to use their own imagination to come up with a dance piece. I hope that in my placement this year I get the opportunity to witness a dance lesson and if not hopefully I could teach one to the children to show them how much fun they could have with dance.
We then followed on with a drama session. As mentioned a few weeks ago we were all taking part in a micro teaching experience. My group had presented our teaching experience the previous week and it was our turn to take part in other people’s teaching experience. This was a very fun and enjoyable experience as we got to experience the teaching from a learners view opposed to the teaching view.
This was a very interesting task as every group came up with something different. I think all groups did exceptionally well, everyone was imaginative and provided a exciting learning experience for everyone involved. We got to experiment with different drama techniques alongside a context to work with. These varied from freeze frame, fast forward, voice in the head, mime and many others. I still feel that I lack confidence at times in areas such as performing but I do feel like this module has allowed me to grow in self-esteem and be more open-minded towards drama and the many positive effects it can have on a child’s learning. I was lucky enough to witness some of the drama techniques in action in my placement, it was amazing to watch all the children get involved, come up with their own ideas and most of all have fun!
I think that through this drama class people are starting to respect and understand drama a lot more, everyone is getting involved and understanding the importance of it in the expressive arts. As an aspiring teacher I have been able to see the value and need for drama in the curriculum and it’s important that we give children the opportunity to be expressive through the different art mediums. I have thoroughly enjoyed the drama section of the module and it has greatly increased my confidence and knowledge and understanding in a topic like this one and I know it will be a huge asset in my future career as a primary teacher.
This week I think both sessions fitted perfectly with one another. They both focused on the importance of being creative, using your imagination, team work and allowed some people to step out their comfort zone and get involved. Drama allowed us to create a scene or technique completely from scratch and use our imagination to think of an idea that would be fitting with the story. Similarly with dance we had to create our own dance moves focused around Christmas, allowing and challenging us to try and create moves that were different from those around us. Both of these classes highlighted to me that they could be integrated into other subjects in the curriculum in a fun and creative way.
