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.
