Category Archives: 2.1 Curriculum

Importance of relationships at the early stages on life.

Relationships are key for children at a young age. I watched a video by Suzanne Zeedyk and John Carnocha on the development of the brain in the early stages of a child’s life. This video made me as a practitioner realise how important it is to promote, in my classroom, positive relationships between everyone.

The video was all about the way in which the brain development can be affected by the way in which the child has been brought up. For example if the child has been brought up in an unsafe or hectic environment then this could affect their development due to them stressing about other things at home. Whereas if a child has been brought up in a safe and calming environment they are more likely to be focused and worrying about other things. Also taking these factors into consideration it also affects their communications skills. The child who is in the hectic environment might see such things as domestic abuse and may be frightened to communicate due to being scared of what they have seen. However the child in the calming environment will be less stressed and will be more than confident to communicate with others. The living environment has a massive impact in many ways on how well the child is able to develop and this video highlights this majorly.

For me,  all children go through many things out with school and this may be the reason as to why some children may not be developing as quickly as others. My role as a future primary teacher is to make sure the classroom is a safe, well nurtured and happy place for every child to be in. I will promote positive relationships within the class so that every child feels welcome and involved at school which they might not feel these things at home. These positive and trustworthy relationship will be promoted around the school so that all children are feeling this way.

Dance Workshop

My first input within the module Teaching Across the Curriculum was a dance workshop. The workshop opened my eyes to realise that it not only is an aspect which keeps the children active it also allows them to develop many other aspects of their learning. It allows the children to have fun whilst developing themselves.

Dance as an area within the curriculum is a very important aspect as I realised more after the workshop. Dance can increase the child’s confidence majorly. I feel dance brings out a creative side in everyone and allows the children to be open minded and express themselves. It allows the children to come up with new creative ideas to show everyone. By showing their new ideas to their classmates this allows the children to gain the confidence to stand in front of people and perform. Due to the children being able to be themselves they see this as an opportunity to have fun and its a new exciting way to learn instead of being in the classroom.

I am a dancer myself and the workshop made me realise its not all about making a routine or learning a routine. Dance can be so much more and can actually relate to many areas of the curriculum if you plan the lesson correctly and effectively. For example Numeracy is incorporated within dance as you are always counting to the music. An example which was given at the workshop was R.M.E incorporated into dance, learning about religion on the move. Drama could be incorporated by using movement instead of language to be dramatic. I feel dance can be taught in many ways and can develop many aspects of the curriculum.

Dance also is a very social aspect. It allows the children to get to know each other by working together. This was proven at the workshop when I met more people on my course that I had not spoke to before.  Meeting new people will bring out different characteristics from everyone. It will develop each child’s confidence by seeing all the different characteristics within the group. For example if one child is more confident at performing in front of people than another child, the child can encourage the other child to not be scared to perform and this will be developing the child to be able to do this in the future.

The workshop for me was the perfect insight to see how dance can be taught in many different ways and can meet the curriculum in many other aspects too. I look forward to putting this knowledge into practice when out on placement.