WEEK 12 – Tuesday 26th November 2019

THE LAST WEEK! I’ll admit…the module was better than I expected. As I mentioned in my introduction blog, I was nervous for this module as I don’t have much experience working with the arts. However, after the 12 weeks, I feel so much more confident and look forward to teaching them.

Our last dance workshop consisted of us performing our final piece and having it recorded. The final dance consisted of the routines we had previously made in our small groups and the piece of choreography in the middle. This experience has highlighted to me how important it is that children are given the opportunity to be creative. Within dance, there is very limited need for the input of the teacher. Children are able to use their imagination and experiences to come up with their own choreography. Before we performed, we discussed how important it is that all children are included. For example, some children may not be able to perform due to anxiety or injury, however, it is important that they children are given other jobs to do that include them in the experience. After we performed and were recorded, we went back to the benchmark of children having to “Perform, appreciate and evaluate dance”, we had performed so now we had to appreciate and evaluate our dance. We had to give ourselves 3 stars and a wish, mine were:

STAR – Timing, I was able to stay in time with my group when performing

STAR – Memory, I was able to remember the dance

STAR – Focus, I was able to stay focused and not get distracted by my peers

WISH – Confidence, I looked down a lot, I wish I was more confident in myself and able to stand tall and perform

We got a treat for our last music workshop and were allowed to work with the Ukuleles. We began by learning how to strum the ukulele, before playing a song called ‘my dog has fleas’, apparently, this is a good song to play to tell if the ukulele is in tune or not. I have some previous experience of playing the guitar at school, so I wasn’t too nervous about this. I really enjoyed this experience and think it would be something that is easy to teach pupils in the future. It seems intimidating but isn’t when you take the time to understand it, therefore, I think it would give children a great sense of achievement.

This was a great end to our time in music, I’ve loved working with various different instruments with the help of Julie, I especially enjoyed our workshop with the primary school pupils. This gave me an insight on what teaching music will be like in the future.

I’m looking forward to putting everything I’ve learned about expressive arts into practice in the future, to encourage children to be creative imaginative individuals.

WEEK 11 – Tuesday 19th November 2019

This weeks dance workshop, continued on from last weeks. We started putting our individual dances together as a section to create one big group dance. Our theme was Scotland, therefore we had to revolve our dance around Scottish themes. It is important to allow children to choreograph their own dances to allow them to explore their own thoughts and feelings (Cone, 2009). We had the opportunity to come up with various poses that the section had to perform while each group had a turn at taking spotlight and presenting their dance. So far, I’m really enjoying this dance experience! I feel like I really benefitted from starting off by working in small groups with my friends as it really boosted my confidence before having to perform to the whole section. After we came up with poses, we had to create a piece of choreography that filled the middle section of instrumental music. We discussed Scotland and what things relate to Scotland before coming up with gestures that match them. I think it was a good idea to have a set topic e.g. Scotland, as it gave us a frame to work from. This will also be beneficial in the school, as it will enable children to relate dance to whatever topic they are studying.

During music we were focusing on improvisation. We continued with the glockenspiel, practicing what we learned last week. We were then joined by Julie who played the melody of the songs on the piano, we then took turns improvising with the glockenspiel to play alongside Julie. I think this would work well in the classroom as there was no pressure to play the instrument correctly, but it would give the children the opportunity to become familiar with the instrument. These two weeks working on the glockenspiel have made me realise that music isn’t as intimidating as I originally thought! I now realise that everyone can teach and play music, therefore, I am looking forward to putting my experience into practice in the classroom in the future.

References:

Cone, Theresa. (2009). Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances. Journal of Dance Education. Vol. 9, pp 81-89. Available: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233223027_Following_Their_Lead_Supporting_Children’s_Ideas_for_Creating_Dances [Accessed: 21th of  November 2019].

WEEK 10 – Tuesday 12 November 2019

This weeks lecture was focused on creative partnerships within the arts. This is where professionals come in to teach the children to provide them with expert knowledge in the art. One example of creative partnerships that we discussed was Creative Minds Learning Network. This is an organisation that hold events for teachers, that allow teachers to learn about the arts in order to be able to teach them effectively. Although dance is important within education, some pupils may not feel comfortable partaking in a dance lesson. Therefore, an organisation called the parkour project started coming into schools and taking a parkour lesson. This allowed the pupils, especially the boys, to express themselves through movements other than dancing. The project raised attainment and confidence levels and also improved the pupil’s ability to follow instructions and have awareness of the space around them.

Our dance workshop consisted of us performing our dance routines to the rest of the section. I was nervous as I’m not a great dancer and my confidence levels are pretty low. However, I soon realised that everyone was on the same boat and nobody was particularly keen on presenting their routines. This experience has definitely brought us together as a section, I feel so much more confident and connected with the rest of the group. As educators, it is important for young people that we teach dance because:

• It increases confidence
• Increases their physical wellbeing
• Ability to communicate and work in groups
• Improves self-esteem which can be carried over to other curricular areas

According to Smith, “Children should be able to compose, perform and appreciate dance” (Smith-Autard, 2002) Therefore, we have the responsibility of being able to promote confidence around dance and encourage children to partake in dance activities in and out of school.

In music this week, we were looking at a concept called ‘figure-notes.’ It used shapes and colours rather than notes and you simply press the key that matches the sheet. Figure notes is a form of notation that allows everyone to play together, whether you know tradition or non-conventional notations of notes. During our workshop, we all had the opportunity to have a shot at using figure notes on the glockenspiels. I really enjoyed this experience, I don’t have a very musical background and often feel intimidated when faced with a piece of music to read. However, this experience made me feel like I fitted in, nobody was more advanced than anyone else as we were all able to read the same pieces of music.

WEEK 9 – Tuesday 5th November 2019

Our Tuesday planned out slightly different this week for a start we didn’t have a lecture and we also began our block of dance workshops.

Our music workshop was an exciting one, we had 22, primary 7 pupils from Bellsbank primary school with us, who taught us all about their string instruments. A brief background of the pupils: they are all from a deprived area, an organisation supplies string instruments for free and provides the children with weekly lessons. The young boy I was working with had been learning to play the violin for primary 4. I could tell he was passionate about the instrument and had developed a love for learning about string instruments. We worked through a range of activities with the children to give us students an introduction on how to hold the violin correctly, how to pluck the strings and finally how to use the bow. This was a great experience for the children from Bellsbank, stepping foot in a university is something they may never have had the opportunity to do. However, today, they were given the chance toc come into the university and work alongside students. They were the ones with all the knowledge, teaching us.

In our dance workshop, we were looking at the 10 basic moves we should teach children.

1. Jump
2. Kick
3. Roll
4. Twist
5. Turn
6. Hop
7. Gesture
8. Reach
9. Balance
10. Slide

These are the basics, that we should develop our dance lessons from. We completed a few warm up activities, then we were put into groups and were required to use the basic 10 steps, to come up with a dance routine. Cone states that “One of the most powerful experiences dance educators can offer children is the opportunity to create a dance that reflects their ideas.” (Cone, 2009) Children are given the opportunity to come up with all their own moves, using the basis of the 10 steps. I really enjoyed the dance workshop, I liked the activity we done where we had to go into one big line. Zara then played a song and the person at the front was required to make up a dance move that the rest of the class then had to follow. Every time the music was changed someone else was at the front and had to come up with a move. I think this was good as it would be good to use with children, it allows them to express themselves in a way they might not always get the opportunity to.

References:

Cone, Theresa. (2009). Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances. Journal of Dance Education. Vol. 9, pp 81-89. Available: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233223027_Following_Their_Lead_Supporting_Children’s_Ideas_for_Creating_Dances [Accessed: 8th of  November 2019].