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During the workshop I felt very confident and welcomed by all the students and the tutor. At the start of the workshop I was slightly nervous as to what to expect. However once all the students introduced each other, I felt much more relaxed. It was lovely to be able to introduce my partner and get to know her, as well as all the other students in the class. That simple activity really helped to make me and I'm sure all the other students feel welcomed. I am excited to continue to learn about the arts in education and can't wait to see what I can learn within this unit.

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What were your most uncomfortable / enjoyable moments?

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What were your most uncomfortable / enjoyable moments?

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I would say the most uncomfortable moment was walking into the unknown at the start of the class. I'm sure we were all thinking the same but I was unsure what to expect. However all the students and Marnie were so welcoming and made me feel less anxious. Marnie was amazing at making everyone feel involved and welcome. My most enjoyable moments were listening to everyones introductions, I was able to meet new people and learn a few things about them. I was really fascinated at how amazing drama can be and how impactful a tableaux can be, and how well it can tell a story to any kind of audience.

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What was your experience of the arts in Primary School

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What was your experience of the arts in Primary School

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Throughout primary school the only arts subject that was on offer for students was visual arts and music. I was always interested in drama and dance, however that was not available until I was in high school. I thoroughly ended visual arts, as I was never a highly academic students. I think allowing students to participate in Arts is such a vital part of a Childs education and own personal growth and development. I was always so content and enjoyed coming to school when I had a art class on. I just wish I had a few more opportunities in my primary education as I did in secondary school.

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How might primary students learn in drama?

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How might primary students learn in drama?

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Primary students learn drama in all kinds of ways. Some will learn visually where others will learn practically, or by physically doing something which is what mostly happens in drama. Children enjoy interacting and using their bodies to engage with other students as well as exploring new ideas. Children will learn in drama by allowing their bodies to explore, imagine and deal with different issues. Children will be able to think and create drama based activities or performances based on creativity, as well as developing creative problem solving skills which can be applied to all aspects of drama.

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I was fascinated at how well we can use children/students minds in using some of the cheapest items in drama, as we did in todays lesson using bin bags and balloons as puppets. This would be such a easy and cost efficient resource to bring into a classroom with students. Students will be able to use their imaginations when creating their own individual puppets. Something as simple as a balloon and bin bag can go such a long way in the drama classroom.

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At the start of the lesson, I was curious as to how we could ensure children would see the resemblance of the puppet. But as we got moving onto the activity I was able to develop a clear understanding of how easy we as teachers can use something so simple and cheap to use with our students. I was also curious as to how we can make the puppets more realistic, which we later discovered when turning on the music to really help set the scene. For example using sad instramental music to express the sadness in the puppets.

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Have you discovered something new about drama?

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Have you discovered something new about drama?

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Today I was particularly fascinated how we can use mime and puppetry to represent a certain idea. Using mime we are able to show and represent a wight, texture and even walls. Which I never even considered before this class. Using the balloons and a bin bag was also a new teaching technique which I found very intriguing. By participating in a group performances the way we did, allowed me to learn new ways to perform drama. These key ideas would most definitely be useful for myself to use in a classroom setting with primary aged students.The attached video clip is showing a few different ways mime can be tough within the classroom which could potentially be a valuable resource to show future students.

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Creative Arts Theatre - Let's Play - Mime Basics

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From listening to all my peers speeches I learnt the importance of why we need the education system to keep providing arts in education for primary aged students. Many people addressed topics such a the way it can beniefit those students who are not as academic, it also allows students who are quite anxious to freely and openly express themselves in a non judgmental environment. Arts in education can become a safe space for those students who are struggling in mainstream classrooms.

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What skills from todays lesson would you into a classroom?

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What skills from todays lesson would you into a classroom?

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I think what will stick with me the most today is the variety of music choices that are available when giving students drama activities. for example if I asked a group of students to improvise a dance that represented the idea of depression, I would involve sad, deep piano based music. This would then allow the students to freely move with the music in order to get their imaginations free flowing which as a result would provide students with beautifully presented drama performances.

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What did you learn from the 'Treasure hunt' activities.

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What did you learn from the 'Treasure hunt' activities.

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From taking part in the Treasure Hunt I was able to gain useful classroom tools that I can take to my future schools and practicum placements. We were able to positively explore how to get the children to use their imaginations when taking part in drama activities. I also learnt that using even just one prop can change a character role so easily. Even something as simple as a scarf is enough to use to simply change the character used. This is an example of teacher in role, which is a perfect tool to use with students.

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How did the practical activities and unit information inform your personal understanding of the use of dance as an expressive learning process?

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How did the practical activities and unit information inform your personal understanding of the use of dance as an expressive learning process?

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For me personally I have found this class the most enjoyable. I am always able to open myself up and express my body in ways I didn't know were possible. Everyone in the class is also learning which makes it such a warm and inviting environment. The practical activities are super hands on which is perfect for developing knowledge on what is needed and how we can teach students in the Arts. For example I have used my body to write my name and express my birthdate throughout movements. Dance is not limited to anything and you can literally express and tell any kind of story which is what i find so amazing. The practical activities expressed my own ideas in many ways. Even being able to perform small dance sequences in small groups extended my learning.

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What has been the most important personal realisation in the last few weeks in this unit? 

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What has been the most important personal realisation in the last few weeks in this unit? 

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For me the most important realisation was that we as future teachers are able to allow all students of all abilities to use their bodies in various different ways. Throughout the workshops we have learnt a variety of ways to use our bodies. Some of which are included in the elements of dance such as time and space. We have done various activities where we are able to express our movements. These have allowed me to realise that no matter a students ability we can always be inclusive and use movement to create a piece of dance, which is beautiful.

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What do you know about planning for authentic arts learning experiences? 

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What do you know about planning for authentic arts learning experiences? 

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For the planning of an arts learning experience I know that I would most definitely need to come to the class with a lesson plan in place. Since completing my first drama lesson plan I have gained a large amount of understanding in the main concept and what to include in these plans. In order to make the class run as smooth as possible. One of the points that stuck with me was to always ensure a warm down is included within the lesson, this allows the students to wrap up the lesson and express their own feelings and ideas based on the class.

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How would you encourage the use of creative thinking and imagination in the arts learning experiences you facilitate with primary students. 

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How would you encourage the use of creative thinking and imagination in the arts learning experiences you facilitate with primary students. 

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I personally would encourage all students creative thinking by simply allowing the students time to collaborate with other students and come up with ideas together in pairs or small groups. Throughout the workshops we have all had the opportunity to creatively work together which had allowed us to come together and share our ideas. Another idea is to give students a object or a colour which can help enhance these ideas. similar to what we did in our group performances with the coloured jellybeans, we then based our performances on a colour. This also ensures each group is different, with the different coloured jellybeans.

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What do you need to consider when assessing the students in Dance? 

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What do you need to consider when assessing the students in Dance? 

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When assessing the students in their art works we need to consider the elements of dance and in particular the way these elements are used and how they are used. The elements of dance include Body, Space, Time Energy and Action. A clear example of one element being space would to ensure the student/s are using the whole stage and allowing the way of movement through dance to use the space accordingly. Like starting the dance in the centre but then using the wings of the stage later on in the dance. Ensuring the students understand the elements of dance is a vital part of assessment in students.