Igniting the creative press @integratingthearts-blog - Tumblr Blog

References

Baker, E. Z., & White, N. (2013). Poetry in primary schools. Practically Primary, 18(2), 32-33.

Dunn, J., & Stinson, M. (2011). Not without the art!! the importance of teacher artistry when applying drama as pedagogy for additional language learning. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 16(4), 617-633. doi:10.1080/13569783.2011.617110

Ewing, R. (2010). The Arts and Australian Education: Realising potential. AER58, Melbourne: Australian Council of Educational Research.

Ewing, R. (2016). The school drama book: Drama, literature and literacy in the creative classroom. Sydney: Currency Press.

Ewing, R. A., Miller, C., & Locke, T. (2014). Editorial: An arts-led english and literacy curriculum.English Teaching, 13(2), 1.

Ewing, R., & Gibson, R. (2016). Creative teaching or teaching creatively? using creative arts strategies in preservice teacher education. Waikato Journal of Education, 13(1)10.15663/wje.v13i1.284

Gibson, R., & Ewing, R. (2011). Transforming the curriculum through the arts. South Yarra, Vic: Palgrave Macmillan.

Harris, A. M. (2014). The creative turn: Toward a new aesthetic imaginary. Dordrecht: Springer.

Lambirth, A., Smith, S., & Steele, S. (2012). “Poetry is happening but I don't exactly know how”: Literacy subject leaders’ perceptions of poetry in their primary schools. Literacy, 46(2), 73-80. doi:10.1111/j.1741-4369.2011.00654.x

Maunder, T. (2018). Common knowledge and learning curves. Retrieved August 26, 2018 from https://www.art-almanac.com.au/keg-de-souza-common-knowledge-learning- curves/

McWilliam, E., & Haukka, S. (2008). Educating the creative workforce: New directions for twenty-first century schooling. British Educational Research Journal, 34(5), 651-666. doi:10.1080/01411920802224204

White, T. P. (2013). Art a waste of time? Harvard Educational Review, 83(1), 93-95,274.

#semester 2

Week 10 – A4 image presentations

From the presentations, it was interesting to see what different people have brought to share. However, I noticed that the most common thing we all have said was that the Arts allow for students to gain different perspectives and explore ideas and thoughts through a different lens. It enables students to be expressive and empowers them to be creative, imaginative and risk-takers, which are key processes that are constantly emphasised throughout educational discourse. But with the lack of recognition of the Arts as the main source that heightens these processes, it is hard to tell whether students are really engaged with the creative potentials. Ewing (2010) continuously reiterates that the creativity processes (representation, risk-taking, imagination and experimentation) are common to the Art disciplines, but it is still surprising to see how the Arts is not considered an academic discipline itself. Creativity is a way of thinking that should be nurtured, developed and encouraged within education, particularly since it is commonly stressed within educational policies.

Presentation - series of photographs of Bonsai

#semester 2

Week 9 – Drama and Music integrated

Tangaroa's Gift by Mere Whaanga was used as a pretext during this workshop, which acted as the stimulus to assist in activating the imagined, dramatic world. As such, Ewing (2016, p. 5) suggests that “students and teachers work together in and out of role to suspend disbelief and create an imagined world.” It enables students to explore multiple meanings, imagine a fictional situation and take on different roles through dramatic processes (Ewing, 2016). However, when drama is integrated with music, a whole new creative situation comes to light. This is because students are able to develop an even higher capacity for creative thought and imagination.

During the workshop, what stood out to me was imitating spoken words to make a rhythmic piece. In groups, we were tasked to use variation and contrast in dynamics, tempo and pitch using selected words: paua, haliotis iris, perlemoen, abalone, black foot paua, sea snail and sea ear. I found this extremely exciting because the words were from a different language and the task enabled us to experiment with different sounds and rhythms. The words also allowed us to explore different cultures and differences, especially since they stemmed from the picture book. Therefore, Gibson and Ewing (2011, p. 112) suggest that “each culture and ethnic group celebrates its own unique music” which encourages us to respect and appreciate cultural diversity. Attached is a link for our recording, we used the words abalone and black foot paua to create our music piece. In the future, rather than allowing the teacher to provide us with the beat using the tambourine, the groups can choose their own percussion instruments. This could then be recorded and turned into a dance piece that suits the culture and themes of the book. Through this experience, students will have a deeper understanding of the picture book and culture.

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TX0Gi7xgETW31w3p_Z_POJ3NfDYzxMy6/view?usp=sharing

#semester 2

Week 8 - Art Gallery of NSW

The tour guide definitely stimulated our creativity and imagination as she asked us a variety of questions every time we stopped to take a look at artworks. We were able to discover the wonder, themes and styles of the artworks, which engaged us all in art appreciation. This tour has also emphasised the importance in art appreciation as it opens avenues for rich conversations about history and the art itself.

Some questions that teachers can ask the students on excursions to the Art Gallery are:

What is he sitting on? What is his posture like? Why is he sitting like that?

What is he made out of?

Why is he situated in his room? Have a look at the surrounding paintings? What does this tell us about him? What view does he sit around? (Sydney harbour)

What do you notice that is similar between all of the paintings?

Can we tell how old the painting is by looking at the border? How/why?

What do we now know by looking at the paintings?

Who do you think lives there?

When you walked into the room, can you hear the floorboards creak? Why these paintings would be situated in a room with creaky floorboards?

#semester 2

Week 7 - Fostering Creativity

It is interesting to witness how the rise of neoliberalism has impacted on the relationship between the Arts and creativity. Creativity is emerging as a fundamental skill for 21st century students, particularly because it is required for a “highly complex, challenge-ridden and rapidly changing economic and social order” (McWilliam and Haukka, 2008, p. 652). This economy is increasingly valuing this skill, but the Arts are still seen as being less of a priority within education. As such, this makes us think of creativity as an outcome that stems from productive, economic processes rather than as a transformative process. Harris (2014) delineates that this economic based creativity challenges the true nature of what creativity really is and its role in education. It is emphasised by many creativity researchers that fostering creativity is developed from the Arts (Ewing, 2010). Creativity dispositions are common to the Art disciplines as students are constantly engaging in experimentation, representation and ambiguity.

Therefore, the workshop engaged with a variety of activities that would foster creativity. Students are able to participate in arts where they finish off a drawing/design, for example a machine was created from “I am a moving part of something.” In future lessons, teachers can perhaps set a time limit for students to draw the first thing that comes to mind, rather than dwelling on all the possibilities. This allows students to also realise that there is no right or wrong answer in art, allowing students to become risk takers and engage with their creative minds. As such, this workshop yet again, demonstrated the ability for the arts to engage students with creativity.

#semester 2

Week 6 - Poetry

Teaching poetry seems to always cause a stir within education as it is the topic that continuously frightens and concerns teachers. Research suggests that this concern usually stems from the teacher’s confidence and their lack of knowledge about poems and poets (Lambirth, Smith and Steele, 2012). Not only this, “teachers’ personal interests and literacy behaviours are often allied to teachers’ professional subject knowledge and their ability to relay it to children” (Lambirth, Smith and Steele, 2012, p. 74). I agree with this research as I personally felt very nervous and concerned about teaching poetry as the topic is so broad and I myself, feel that I cannot teach poetry well. In saying this, my prior poetry experience during high school made me dislike the topic of poetry as I felt it was too dry and difficult to understand. However, the workshop has made me enjoy poetry a lot more as I understand where I can find good poetry to teach and read to my future students.

Baker and White (2013, p. 32) suggest that poetry has the power to “explore topics across the curriculum.” From the workshop, I understand that it is a dynamic and fun way for students to engage with content from different key learning areas. It enables students to open up different possibilities and explore multiple perspectives whilst gaining a better appreciation of poetry. Poetry can be appreciated in various ways, not just through writing, but through listening and performing.

For example, my partner and I rehearsed the reading of the nonsense poem The Ning Nang Nong. During the rehearsal, we came upon a conclusion to both read a line each and read the third line together. We also agreed to read certain words and phrases louder and with a different tone for more emphasis. Throughout this process, I appreciated poetry a lot more as I found it extremely enjoyable. Furthermore, this poem could potentially be a future performance for my own class, whereby the students would be grouped and assigned different parts from the poem. Lines where we want to draw attention to can be given to the whole class or an individual student. To elevate this, musical instruments can be used, particularly for higher grades to make the experience more engaging and bring more meaning to the nonsense poem.

Another example that made me appreciate poetry a lot more was the Australian poem I am by Mary Duroux. From this poem, I learnt different ways that we can incorporate different types of poetry writing into the classroom. I find that many students opt towards acrostic poems when they are asked to write one in class, but when they are provided with good examples and scaffolding, they can come up with some brilliant poetry. With this poem, my partner and I decided that students can: 1. Draw a silhouette of themselves in the middle of a blank piece of paper. 2. Brainstorm and write words/phrases about aspects of their personality around the silhouette. Then, connecting it to nature. For example, quiet may equate to soft rustling of leaves on an autumnal day. 3. Using the same structure of Mary’s poem, students start off with the metaphor “I am.”

Therefore, not only does poetry enhance the students’ vocabulary and provides them with different perspectives on topics, but it increases their sense of creativity. Students are constantly using their imagination and are tapping into their emotions and senses to write poetry. This is exemplified by Ewing (2010) as she states that integrating opportunities for students to build on their creative capacity leads towards attitudinal and behavioural impacts. Students improve on their mental health and develop positive ways to effectively collaborate, channel their emotions and levels of self-efficacy are improved (Ewing, 2010).

#semester 2

Week 5 - Planning a performance

The idea of planning and directing a performance for the end of year showcases sound extremely daunting and terrifying. My primary school never provided opportunities for their students to participate in end of year plays and drama related performances, therefore I have no experiences to assist me with any future plannings. However, I do value drama as an incredible tool for students to embark on creative and imaginative journeys. Not only this, there have been ample amounts of research that pinpoints drama as the discipline that paves the way for strong language development (Dunn and Stinson, 2011). It is clear to say that students will have opportunities to demonstrate their acting and creative abilities, whilst engaging with additional language learning (Dunn and Stinson, 2011). As this is the case, I would love to participate in the planning of a performance in the near future for my students, and also for my own professional development. Nevertheless, this workshop has provided me with some more confidence in doing so as I was provided with tips on ways to enhance any acting and performance.

#semester 2

Week 4 - Recycled Materials

The use of recycled materials within Art lessons provide a variety of opportunities for the integration of other key learning areas, especially Geography. It is without a doubt that the learning experience for students will be more meaningful and authentic as they are able to make connections with their learning across different curricula. Furthermore, students will be able to make more sense of the importance and value in recycling and reusing materials, which reflects their own lives. This demonstrates the value in incorporating the Visual Arts into the curriculum as the students learn best when they are actively engaged with the experience (Gibson and Ewing, 2011). Students will gain a better appreciation for recycled materials and will be able to develop their own artistic and creative ideas for reusing and recycling.

During the workshop, the construction of the 3D buildings using milk cartons sparked great imagination and enthusiasm. The milk cartons were accompanied by other recycled materials such as paper, toilet rolls and paddle-pop sticks. We wanted to recreate our own version of Diagon Alley from Harry Potter, therefore we channelled our creative minds and constructed the iconic shops: Ollivanders, Weasley’s Joke Shop and Honeydukes. Throughout this art-making process, I felt that it required an immense amount of concentration and steadiness. This is because the materials we worked with were quite small and we wanted to ensure we had all the features on our buildings. This is reflected by Gibson and Ewing (2011, p. 131) who suggests that visual arts “develop responsibility, focus, concentration and self-discipline.” In future class settings, I would ask the students to write a short response that briefly describes their building to encourage and hone in art language whilst promoting art appreciation. Language such as ‘flat, stylised, balance, contrast, texture and geometric’ should be reflected in the short response. Surely, this will provide the students with opportunities to look closely at their finished artwork, reflect on it and the process they undertook. Gibson and Ewing (2011) suggest that without the reflecting and appreciating process, it will be challenging for students to develop their skills, techniques and understandings of what constitutes art.

Following from the mini village, the Wheel of Woven Waste was an enjoyable and therapeutic activity that required us to weave unwanted plastic and fabric on our wire coat hanger. Upon reflection, this is another great activity for students to learn about recycled materials, waste and their impact on the environment.

#semester 2

Week 3 - ‘The Sea’ - Creative Arts exemplar

Going beyond the traditional ways of learning assist students in engaging with their critical and creative minds more effectively. As such, the Finding Nemo YouTube clip served as an excellent creative stimulus throughout the lesson, which made the learning more meaningful. Likewise, Ewing, Miller and Locke (2014, p. 1) suggest that “engaging meaningfully with any art form, whether a literary text, a painting of sculpture, drama, dance, film or music, can be transformative.” The stimulus was effectively used to gauge engagement and was easily integrated into the series of activities within the lesson:

1. In small groups, we needed to brainstorm what The Sea meant to us. Being asked to consider elements such as: colours, sounds, shapes, objects and activities provided a quick scaffold. This in turn, will provide future students with more guidance and assistance as the term can be quite broad, which may confuse many. • In hindsight, the groups can participate in a progressive brainstorm, whereby each group jots down words or phrases that relate to a specific element from The Sea. Elements (colours & sounds, shapes & objects and activities) will be written on a different poster-sized paper, which will be rotated between groups after the time-limit (usually five minutes). Essentially, groups will add on to what the previous group has written/drawn, which turns out to be a class brainstorm.

2. Selected words and phrases from the brainstorm turned into a piece of poetry or prose. • In future lessons, music can be integrated upon completion of the poetry, which will allow students to engage with creativity on a larger scale. In their groups, the students can use their voice, body or percussion instruments to create sounds to accompany their poetry. To further heighten musical knowledge, the instruments they use can be notated using symbols. Ultimately, each group will have different instruments and sounds related to their poetry

3. The creation of the treasure box using empty, transparent CD cases was an engaging activity. We were tasked to create a background and foreground using the previous activities to assist with our creation. A blurb and a ‘prayer to the sea’ line were written to accompany the treasure box. This easily ties in with other key learning areas, such as English and Geography. It is clear to say that the above activities permit students to develop their imaginations, creativity and learning as they are able to make-meaning and show their understandings through the variety of Art disciplines covered. Students will understand and wonder about the “different ways of knowing and exploring and expressing their ideas, concepts and emotions in creative ways beyond traditional curriculum boundaries” (Ewing, Miller and Locke (2014, p. 1). Therefore, the workshop has reinforced that traditional modes of learning does not always promote deep levels of thinking and there are other methods that enable students to effectively showcase their knowledge. In tandem with this idea, Ewing, Miller and Locke (2014, p.3) emphasise the power of meaning-making through multiple artforms as opposed to the “privileging of language in isolation.”

#semester 2

Week 2 - Common Knowledge and Learning Curves by Keg de Souza (Artspace Gallery)

Deemed as an experimental and revolutionised classroom library, the Common Knowledge and Learning Curves invites visitors to exchange ideas and become deep, critical and creative thinkers. As such, the exhibition pursues to break free from the traditional values of learning and knowledge construction, enabling us to explore both intimate and dynamic exchanges. We are provided with opportunities to experience inquiry learning, group conversations and critical reflections.

Questions regarding learning, teaching and education stream across the gallery walls. Whilst an old-fashioned mind map and mini cork boards are filled with ideas and diagrams about learning and teaching pedagogies. Tucked away, a variety of educational readings and books are stacked playfully in less visible parts, allowing for more marginalised voices to be heard. These all serve as valuable resources in allowing visitors to immerse themselves in deep thinking. The exhibit’s vibrant setting encapsulates a non-traditional classroom, enabling visitors to transform and personalise the room in unexpected ways to further encourage a more critical mind-set. Therefore, we are inspired to experiment and play with the building-block furniture to create a temporary space that offers us an individualised and/or a group-dynamic learning experience. Here, the artist invites us to question the relationship between one’s learning development and their learning space. Clearly, this is a space that permits visitors to delve with the critical and creative mind.

As you can see, the exhibit is “direct and theory-driven in its aims” in the hope that it will break down pedagogical theories through collective engagements and the elements of play (Maunder, 2018, p.1). Souza has created an exhibition that diverges from the traditional, as it is non-static and interactional in the sense that visitors are constantly invited to engage with the space, critically and creatively. Thus, from this exhibition, visitors not only learn about an array of educational theories, but they understand that there are no one sole method for teaching and learning as it depends on every individual’s needs.

#semester 2

Week 1 - Creative Art teachers’ stool

Being tasked to create a stool fit for a Creative Arts’ teacher was enjoyable and invigorating. It not only sparked our imagination and own creative thinking, but it allowed us to illustrate our creative ideologies through phrases, words and images from magazines. Upon reflection, I really value this type of activity as it diverges from the traditional modes of learning. It allowed me to express my ideas on creativity through a creative platform, rather than writing a written response. It is without a doubt that the use of magazines to create my response sparked great imagination, critical and creative thinking. This is because it required me to think of different modes of representation and thinking of methods that will effectively communicate my ideologies. White (2013, p. 94) suggests that “effective art is communication, requiring clarity, organisation, hierarchy of meaning, and an understanding of connotations, symbolism and emotion.” This reiterates that art does have the potential to engage with the critical and creative minds as it requires a certain type of mindset to effectively translate thoughts into a visual concept. We need to constantly revise and simplify the visual representations to ensure that viewers are seeing what we want them to see. With this, the workshop fostered a great sense of self-autonomy, encouraging active student engagement with the content and task at hand. This student-centred activity was a great way “to challenge conventional ways of thinking and doing” (Ewing and Gibson, 2016, p. 82).

This workshop has also made me realise how useful magazines are, as I found myself previously recycling them rather than using them for more creative purposes. These can easily be used in the classroom in other ways, for example:

• A “Who Am I?” introductory activity; students can use the magazines to collate a collage or poster that informs the class about themselves. Students can also write a poem that reflects their design and identity. • Stimulus for a creative writing piece.

Perhaps in future classrooms, teachers can extend on the workshop’s activity by writing a short written response or blurb that encapsulates the ideas on the stool. This will surely integrate other key learning areas and provide further clarity to the ideas which can be quite abstract.

#semester 2

SEMESTER 2

Reference List

Anderson, M., Hughes, J., & Manuel, J. (2008). Drama and english teaching: Imagination, action and engagement. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.

Baldwin, P. (2012). With drama in mind: Real learning in imagined worlds (2nd ed.). London;New York;: Contiuum.

Banaszewski, T. (2002). Digital storytelling: Finds its place in the classroom. Multimedia Schools, 9(1), 32.

Bequette, J. W., & Brennan, C. (2008). Advancing "media arts" education in "visual arts" classrooms: Addressing policy ambiguities and gaps in art teacher preparation. Studies in Art Education, 49(4), 328-342.

Blumenfeld-Jones, D. (2010). Fostering creativity and aesthetic consciousness in teachers, Action in Teacher Education, 32:5-6, 22-46, DOI: 10.1080/01626620.2011.10519471

Caldwell, B., & Vaughan, T. (2012). Transforming education through the arts. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon;New York;: Routledge.

Carroll, N. (2016). Art appreciation. The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 50(4), 1-14. 10.5406/jaesteduc.50.4.0001

Eisner, E. W. (1999). Does experience in the arts boost academic achievement? The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 72(3), 143- 149. doi:10.1080/00098659909599615

Ewing, R., & Simons, J. (2004). Beyond the script: Drama in the classroom: Take 2 (2nd ed.). Sydney: PETA.

Ewing, R. (2010). The Arts and Australian Education: Realising potential. AER58, Melbourne: Australian Council of Educational Research.

Ewing, R., & Gibson, R. (2016). Creative teaching or teaching creatively? using creative arts strategies in preservice teacher education. Waikato Journal of Education, 13(1)10.15663/wje.v13i1.284

Gabriel, F., Ugon, J., & Larkins, J. M. (2015). Implementing student centred learning in a traditional tertiary environment.

Gibson, R., & Ewing, R. (2011). Transforming the curriculum through the arts. South Yarra, Vic: Palgrave Macmillan.

Music Australia. (n.d.). The kodaly approach. Retrieved April 30, 2018, from http://musicaustralia.org.au/discover/music-education/music-education- methodologies-approaches/the-kodaly-approach/

Pascoe, R. (2016). Teaching the arts. Retrieved May 22, 2018, from http://www.artsedge.dca.wa.gov.au/Documents/Creative%20Teaching %20and%20Learning/FINAL-AiR2016_TeachingTheArts%C5%B8R.pdf

Phillips, S. A. (2017). Exploring 21st century literacy through writing: Urban educators' use of digital storytelling with struggling writers.

Subramaniam, M., Hanafi, J., & Putih, A. (2016). Teaching for art criticism: Incorporating feldman's critical analysis learning model in students' studio practice. Retrieved March 23, 2018, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1086252.pdf

White, E. (2011). Working towards explicit modelling: Experiences of a new teacher educator.Professional Development in Education, 37(4), 483-497. doi:10.1080/19415257.2010.531628

Wong, M. C. (2013). Intangible cultural heritage of dance as medium for intercultural dialogue. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4- btu/files/2839/Chee_Meng_Wong_Diss.pdf

Week 12 - Presentations

Listening to my peer’s presentations made me realise that many people struggled with behaviour management, particularly in the early weeks. It seemed that we all improved on this, despite only seeing the students for less than an hour per week. I came to understand that behaviour management is something many teachers still struggle with at times and we can only do our best to minimise disruptions and misbehaviours. Apart from this, I learnt a lot as my peers came up with some amazing lessons for their students, which ranged from whole-class soundscapes using rubbish materials and etching images on black paint which revealed a beautiful oil-pastel artwork underneath. It was interesting to hear these as it gave me ideas on future lessons and were all easily adaptable for different stages. This also reiterated the importance in sharing resources and ideas as pre-service and future teachers to ensure that we provide our students with the best learning experiences.

The presentations and my participation in this course have further made me realise the importance of the Arts as the vehicle that enables students to transform their thoughts, ideas and emotions. Eisner (1999) reinforces that allowing students to delve in the creative press empowers them to explore unknown realms and possibilities, push the boundaries and be expressive. This is something that cannot entirely be achieved with the traditional academic disciplines. Research further suggests that a curricula enriched with the Arts improve the students’ resilience, self-esteem and enthusiasm for learning, allowing them to also perform academically better (Caldwell and Vaughan, 2012; Ewing, 2010). Despite this research, the Arts are still not highly regarded. Therefore, I aim to implement more Arts into the classroom and integrate them to other key learning areas to provide my students with meaningful learning experiences.

#workshop

Week 11 in-school experience

Being the last lesson, we wanted to do something with the students that was fun and enjoyable. As we have yet to have experience with music and dance, we decided that we would integrate the two strands. Initially, we wanted to do activities that followed on from the drama and picture book, however with the time that we had with the students, we felt that it would not have been ideal. This is because the activities such as composition would be rushed, making the learning experience not very meaningful. Therefore, introducing quick and fun activities ensured that the students were having fun on their last day. As we felt that our behavioural management skills were much better and we had more control over the class, we decided to do our entire lesson outside after setting explicit expectations and boundaries inside the classroom. The music and dance related activities were:

1) Send off the star

Students needed to imagine that they were the little boy from the picture book in the previous drama lesson. The aim of the activity was to send the star off and back into the sky. Standing in a circle, the students needed to send the star off to the person next to them using a clapping hand motion until it reached the final person. Played several times, there were a range of variations, which included: different speed and direction. This activity allowed the students to be engaged and focused as they needed to watch the star closely and send off when it is their turn.

A modification for next time could be for students to incorporate sounds. Particularly in a space theme, students can make a sound that relates to space or stars when sending off the star to the next person.  

2) Miming

Pairs needed to mirror their partners and copy the exact movements. This was modelled explicitly prior to the students trying it out themselves. The modelling enabled students to understand the importance of using different levels and body movements. Focusing on each other built cohesion and focus between the pairs. It is confirmed that this activity permits students to explore their own body movements, which makes them feel more comfortable when engaging in more dance related activities (Gibson and Ewing, 2011). As such, this served as a good transition to the next activity as it assisted in creating a safe space for students to experiment and explore.  

3) Follow the space leader

To ensure that students understand the activity and the expectations, explicit modelling ensured that students would not muck around in the groups. This reflected in the activity as the students were behaving and were thoroughly engaged with the dance movements. They incorporated a variety of different levels and dynamics, which demonstrated their understanding of the elements of dance. As such, it required students to copy their leader’s dance movements and when the teacher yelled “swap,” the leader would move to the back of the line and a new leader is in place. The dance movements incorporated the space theme and linked to the previous drama role-walk as it required students to represent space objects through different movements. Incorporating this activity enabled students to express their inner thoughts in relation to space. Hence, Gibson and Ewing (2011) suggest that when students are moving creatively, they are engaged in problem solving and creativity.

Throughout the outside lesson, we did not need to remind the students to keep their voices low and stayed within the boundaries that we set. We felt that the students progressed and our management skills improved. In hindsight, establishing the expectations and boundaries ensured that we established a positive, creative dance context for the students. Gibson and Ewing (2011, p. 39) reiterate by stating that facilitating positive dance climates arise when teachers discuss signals, organisations and expectations, “including the need to share the space amicably.”

When students were asked to reflect upon the past four weeks about their favourite lesson or activity, many students said ‘Follow the Leader’ and the freeze frames. Students elaborated on this and suggested that they were enjoyable and engaging activities, making them want to go back and redo the activity. This confirmed that the Arts has the potential to provide students with learning experiences that are engaging, motivating and fun. Moreover, it allows students to tap into their human experience, emotions and thoughts whilst building upon a deeper understanding of concepts from other key learning areas.

#NSDS

Week 10 in-school experience

Inviting students to explore quality literature through drama allows for a deeper understanding of the book whilst promoting them to imagine new possibilities. As such, the focus of this in-school experience was for students to represent their predictions through a freeze frame about the strategy the character would take to catch a star in How to catch a star by Oliver Jeffers.

Prior to the activity, the students were asked to role-walk an array of objects and people that related to space: astronaut, sun, rocket, star, alien and planet. Explicit modelling and W.I.L.F. criterias were provided to ensure that the students understood what was needed and to minimise misbehaviours that were apparent in the previous lesson. This proved effective as the students had a clear understanding of our expectations, listened to our instructions and the noise-level decreased significantly. Therefore, the students were actively participating and engaging in the role-walk and utilised a variety of levels and body gestures to portray the character. These characters could easily be individualised, which was evident throughout the activity as there were a diverse range of enactments. The role-walk was integrated into the classroom as a warm-up activity, which proved to be effective as Ewing and Simons (2004, p. 23) suggest that “observing and exploring the meanings generated by bodies moving in space can ease children into other modes of drama.” Creating meaning and exploring their imagination through movements developed their concentration, observation and confidence.

In order to ease the students into the freeze frame and provide them with some context, we read the first few pages of the picture book and stopped just before the page that told the audience the strategies the boy used to catch the star. Hence, the students were able to use their imagination, creativity, own-experiences and an understanding of the book to create a freeze frame in groups. Further explicit modelling of our own freeze frame with a few students’ help and a W.I.L.F. criteria effectively honed in their understanding and provided them with a clear goal. This was demonstrated during the preparation of the freeze frames as the groups took some time to collaboratively think of a prediction and demonstrated abilities to try different body gestures, levels and facial expressions. We could clearly see that the students were highly engaged and noise levels were not as high as the previous weeks. This illustrates the value in setting expectations and criterias to assist in decreasing misbehaviours and off-task behaviours.

As such, Ewing and Simons (2004) reiterate that providing students with opportunities to translate their own thoughts and ideas into a tangible form engages them with the creative dispositions (for example: aesthetic consciousness, ambiguity). For example, through the drama activity, students are generating imaginary predictions and ideas which are then clarified and communicated to each other through a freeze frame. Here, students are engaging in a variety of other skills as they are “creating and developing their ideas individually and collaboratively, communicating them in a variety of aesthetic forms” (Baldwin, 2012, p. 70). This as such, deepens their own thinking, develops collaborative work, and promotes active listening and creativity (Baldwin, 2012). To improve on this drama lesson, implementing the tapping-in strategy will further increase engagements with creativity as it requires students to think in the mindset of their character. As a concluding activity, hot-seating the different characters the students portrayed and the characters from the book allows participants to “expand their understanding through questioning” (Anderson, Hughes and Manuel, 2008, p. 130). It enables us to understand motives, attitudes, mannerisms and perspectives that underlie the character’s actions and personalities (Anderson et. al., 2008).

#NSDS

Week 9 - Final products of the galaxies

#NSDM

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