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OVERALL REFLECTION: How has my perspective of music, movement, and drama changed as a result of engaging with the unit content and required tasks?

My perspective of music, movement, and drama has changed drastically after engaging with unit content and required tasks. Through Victor Wooten's speech, I’ve realized that “music is freedom”(TEDx Talks, 2013) and that “music is a language” (TEDx Talks, 2013) . Children are capable musical beings and through music can communicate and express their feelings.  Movement holds meaning, it is not about just physically moving, through moving we do meaning-making. The “Mutton Bird”(Bangarradance Theatre, 2015) video helped me realize that through body language and movement, we can express our feelings and tell a story. Furthermore, through this unit I’ve realized how drama is everywhere in nature and that through simply incorporating the elements of sound and movement we can create tension and drama in the environment. The dancers in the “Mutton Bird” (Bangarradance Theatre, 2015) video clearly were able to create tension for the audience by incorporating the elements of sound and movement.  After doing assessment 2 I’ve realized the importance of setting drama, movement, and music-based activities outdoors as through setting activities outdoors, children are able to feel more connected to the place and are able to grow appreciation and respect for the true custodians of the land.  “Natural world offers an incredible wealth of sensory experiences and open-ended materials for motoric manipulation” (Wilson, 2007). The unit has impacted my teaching pedagogy because, in my future teaching, I will incorporate Miriam Roses's ideas about “deep listening and quiet still awareness” (MiriamRoseFoundation, 2017) as through doing deep listening I will get to know children better and will be able to fulfill the needs and desires of children. Also, I hope to implement imaginary play for children when I plan activities for movement, drama, and music, as research shows that “ children who participate in complex, collaborative, pretend play are better able to regulate their emotions and implement creative problem-solving” (Wallin, 2019).  This unit has also taught me that it is important to consider the different needs and interests of children when planning activities.

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SWAYING AND SWOOSHING (SUMMARY OF MOVEMENT ACTIVITY)

For my movement activity, I want to get children to sway and swoosh like a tree on a windy day. Firstly I will show children Aboriginal art of Wind dreaming from the Japingka Aboriginal art website, I will do this in order to inspire children to move like a tree on a windy day. I will get children to watch a video on YouTube titled “The Wind in the Trees“ (Ephemeral Rift, 2016) which is a video that shows trees swaying and swooshing with the wind. Then I will get children to close their eyes and think about how they think a tree moves with the wind. Later children will be given a chance to use their own imagination to move like a tree in the wind. Children will have a choice on how they want to move, and will not be directed as they are capable and competent individuals.

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CRACKING LIKE A BRANCH IN THE WIND (DRAMA ACTIVITY SUMMARY)
For my drama activity, I want to do an activity where children move and sound like a branch cracking in the wind. Firstly I will get children to view  Aboriginal paintings of trees from the Bluethumb Online Art Gallery and then will get children to close their eyes and imagine how they think a tree branch cracks and moves like in the wind. After that children themselves through using their imagination will roleplay and pretend to move and sound like a cracking branch in the wind. Through doing this roleplay and through reenacting the movement and sound of a branch cracking, children will be able to experience the drama happening, as sound and movement together create drama.

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CHIRPING LIKE A BIRD (SUMMARY FOR MUSIC ACTIVITY)

For my music activity, I want to do an activity where I get children to make chirping sounds of a bird. Firstly I will get children to view some Indigenous and Aboriginal paintings of birds from the Japingka Aboriginal art website in order to inspire them to chirp like a bird. After that, I will get children to imagine and think about how they think a bird chirps. Then I will showcase to children videos of birds chirping and tweeting in order to inspire them. When the video plays, I will get children to do “deep listening and quiet still awareness” (MiriamRoseFoundation, 2017) to the sounds of the birds playing in the video. After the video finishes playing, children will be given a chance themselves to create and make their own unique sound of a chirping bird. When the children make and enact these sounds, I will let them lead and choose the sounds they make, because children are capable musical beings.

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LEARNING OUTCOME: Children through making use of movement and sound and through making use of their imagination will experience drama.

LEARNING OUTCOME EYLF: My activity relates to outcome 4 “ Children are confident and involved learners” (Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, 2022) from the Early Years Learning Framework, as through my drama activity children “ develop a growth mindset and learning dispositions such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination, and reflexivity”(Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, 2022). Children when participating in this drama activity will express “wonder and interest in their environments”(Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, 2022).

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LEARNING OUTCOME: Children through doing deep listening and through making use of their imagination and creativity will be able to come up with their own unique sound of a bird chirping.

LEARNING OUTCOME EYLF:

My activity relates to outcome 1: “children have a strong sense of identity” (Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, 2022) from the Early Years Learning Frameworks as through participating in my activity children “develop their emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience and agency”(Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, 2022). Children develop a sense of autonomy because they have freedom on creating and making their own bird sounds.

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LEARNING OUTCOME: Children through using their imagination will be able to successfully create their own movements of a swaying tree in the wind.

LEARNING OUTCOME EYLF: My activity relates to outcome 1: “children have a strong sense of identity” (Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, 2022) from the Early Years Learning Frameworks as through my activity children“develop their emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience and agency”(Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, 2022).  Children develop a sense of autonomy because they have freedom on how they want to move.

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Rational/Justification:

The drama activity I planned relates to my assessment 2 experience as I was inspired by the sound and movement of the cracking branch from my country site visit.  As a result of my inspiration, I incorporated role play in my session and made the child use their imagination to move and sound like a branch cracking in the wind. Through “role-play, children are able to “decenter” – to get into another person’s shoes and to see things from another perspective” (Wilson, 2007). Also “pretend play can significantly facilitate children’s capacities for perspective taking, which can facilitate abstract thought” (Bergen, 2002). My drama activity reminds me of the Mutton Bird video I watched in session 3 because my drama activity also incorporated the elements of sound and movement to create drama. For example the sound and the movement that the child made of the cracking branch created drama. Through the video “Mutton Bird” (Bangarradance Theatre, 2015) I’ve learned that through using movement and sound we can create tension/ drama in the environment.   I’ve incorporated Indigenous perspectives into this activity, as I showed children Aboriginal paintings of trees, I did this so the child would be inspired to move and sound like cracking branches of the trees in the wind and so that the child would grow an appreciation for Indigenous and Aboriginal culture.

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Rational/Jusification:
My movement activity for children relates to my assessment 2 experience because I was inspired by the movement of the trees swaying and swooshing in the wind during my country site visit. I incorporated the swaying and swooshing movements in my movement activity so that children could experience how a tree moves on a windy day. My movement activity reminded me of the  “Mutton Bird” (Bangarradance Theatre, 2015) video because children did not just move for the sake of moving physically, instead they used their body language to show how a tree moves with the wind. Just like the children in my activity,  the dancers in the  “Mutton Bird” (Bangarradance Theatre, 2015) video through using body language, were able to tell a story. In my movement activity, children were allowed to decide how they wanted to move, they were not controlled, because children are capable individuals who should be able to freely decide how they want to move.  I connect the movement of children in my activity to bodily-kinesthetic intelligence from Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. This is because “bodily-kinesthetic intelligence refers to a person's ability to process information physically through hand and body movement, control, and expression” (Logsdon, 2022).  When I observed the children's movement in my activity I realized that every movement they did held meaning.  I’ve come to the conclusion that when children move they are not just simply moving around, but instead through movement, they are meaning-making. I incorporated Indigenous perspectives into this activity, as I showed children Indigenous paintings of the Wind dreaming.  I showed children Indigenous paintings of the Wind so that children would be inspired to move like a tree in the wind, and so that children will grow an appreciation for the Aboriginal culture.

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Rational/Justification:
My music activity relates to my assessment 2 experience because I was inspired by the sounds of the birds chirping and singing in the sky.  In my assessment 2 experience, I transformed into a bird, so when I had to communicate with other birds I would chirp. I incorporated the sounds of birds chirping into my music activity so that children could enact and experience the different sounds birds make. When I observed the child making the chirping sound, I realized that through sound they were communicating and connected it to what Victor Wooten said in his speech, that “music is a language (TEDx Talks, 2013). Furthermore, the music activity I conducted reminded me of the importance of music in a young child's life and reminded me of the video I watched in session 4 called “Is your baby getting enough music?”(UNICEF, 2019.). Doctor Ibrahim Baltagi in the video said that “music at early ages helps children express themselves and share feelings” (UNICEF, 2019). I’ve incorporated Indigenous perspectives into this activity, as I showed children Indigenous paintings of  birds. I showed children these paintings so that they would be inspired to make the chirping sounds of birds and so that they grow appreciation for the Aboriginal culture. Through this activity I have realized that the experiences children have with music are impacted by the environment they are brought in, Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory “views child development as a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment, from immediate family and school settings to broad cultural values, laws, and customs” (Evans, 2023).  Also through the children doing deep listening to the sounds of the birds, they were able to enjoy moments of peace and calmness.

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Children are capable musical beings, the child in the video through using her own imagination and creativity creates her own chirping sound of a bird.

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The activity went as expected as the learning outcome was accomplished, the child was not directed to make a specific sound but instead was given free will to use their imagination and creativity to create their own sound of a bird. It was effective because the child was heavily involved in the music activity and because the child was able to grow an appreciation for Aboriginal and Indigenous culture. One thing that did not go as expected was the setting of where the activity took place, because the child said that she would have liked to do it “outside with the other birds and trees”.  Next time I will set the activity outdoors, so that there is more space for child to do the activity and so that the child can feel more connected to land and place. As an upcoming early childhood teacher I will set some activities outdoors as through setting play outdoors children will develop “physically, socially and emotionally” (Wallin, 2019).

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-Children are capable individuals.
- The children in the video directed their own movement of a swaying tree.

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Children are competent individuals, the child in the video through using her imagination and through using sound and movement is able to experience drama.

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My drama activity went as planned as the sound and movement the child made of the cracking branch created tension and drama in the environment. Also the learning outcome was achieved because the child was able to successfully use their imagination and creativity to roleplay and experience drama. I felt that the indoor setting was a problem in my activity because the child felt restricted and congested inside, that's why in the future is that I would set this imaginary play activity outdoors, as “natural outdoor spaces have a special quality that promotes the frequency, duration, and quality of creative play” (Wilson, 2018). As an upcoming early childhood teacher, in my future teaching, I will always give great importance to play outdoors in nature as “nature play is not just any type of outdoor play, nature play involves playing with nature, not just in nature” (Wilson, 2018). “Nature invites authentic play – the best kind of play for young children! Authentic play is fun, open-ended, and freely chosen” (Wilson, 2018).

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The movement activity I conducted with children was effective because children enjoyed moving and swaying like a tree with the wind. It was effective because children through directing their own movement grew confident. One thing that did not go as expected was that I felt that children were restricted to just making movements of a swaying tree, if I left my activity more open-ended children would be able to explore different movements. Also, one thing I would change about this activity, is that I would implement it outdoors as “ according to the philosophy of Reggio Emilia, the learning environment is the “third teacher” in early childhood education” (Edwards, Gandini & Forman, 1998).  In my future teaching, I will conduct activities outdoors so that children feel more connected to place and so that they grow a sense of appreciation and respect for the true custodians of the land.  Also because the“ natural world offers an incredible wealth of sensory experiences and open-ended materials for motoric manipulation” (Wilson, 2007).