This was our final week of Integrated Arts. I was a little sad, if I’m honest, for the module to be over as I really enjoyed it. One of the things I enjoyed most was that the module was so practical. Every week, we had a different workshop on different art area’s and I really liked experimenting and playing around with different materials and techniques. Drama was definitely my favourite area to study. I was a part of drama groups when I was younger so to be able to pick it back up and learn how to incorporate it into the classroom was really enjoyable for me. I also found the other areas (dance, visual arts and music) really fun and beneficial for my future practice. I feel that my confidence has grown in these other areas and they have helped to develop new skills.
As this was our final week of dance, it was performance time! We started off by rehearsing a few times so that everyone felt confident going into the recording. I felt quite nervous going into the performance, even after rehearsing lots and knowing that every one else was feeling the same way.Recording the performance is an easy way to self-evaluate and compare your progress from the beginning of the rehearsals to the end product. A point we spoke about to consider for future practice is that not all children need to be dancing to participate. Some pupils may not be able or want to dance. This could result in them feeling left out and sat on the side. A way of avoiding this is by giving everyone a job, like set designer or costumes. This way, they still feel included and it encourages team work. After our performance, we watched it back and used “3 stars and a wish” to evaluate it. I thought that this was a really good concept to consider for my future practice because it allows children to also consider what they done well in as well as an area that they could develop in. My three stars and a wish were;
- I was really enthusiastic (had good energy)
- I was very focused on my groups part of the dance
- I was able to put forward ideas for our chore graphical devices
- My wish was that my timing could’ve been better at the end of the dance.
Our dance can be viewed here. https://vimeo.com/376244238
In our music input, we were learning to play the ukulele. We began by learning the basics of the ukulele and how to play it through the use of figure notes. We all got a shot to play the ukulele’s and I actually found it really fun. I had memories of playing guitar in school and I was hopeless at it. I couldn’t move my fingers quickly enough or get them in the right positions but I didn’t feel that pressure learning the ukulele. We played everything as a class and nobody was singled out. I also really liked that we used figure notes because it meant that I could focus on the finer positions rather then trying to work out what notes to play as well. Learning to play the ukulele seemed really difficult when the idea was presented to us but it was actually quite straight forward with the use of something like figure notes. This is definitely something to consider in my future practice because it can create a sense of achievement in the children as they’ve conquered something that seemed intimidating.
