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This was my 1st week of University and 1st tutorial of AED1260. To start off, I was slightly intimidated by the amount of students in the class and the fact I didn't know anyone at that point. However, as the tutorial progressed, I became more relaxed and familiar with the setting.

Meeting new people was uncomfortable at first, but as time passed, I became more familiar with my classmates. I'm glad I got to meet the friends I have now, because we spend time together now and can help each other in the unit. To start off with, the activities seemed quite awkward, as I didn't know what I was doing. Once I got over the awkwardness of the activities, I began to enjoy myself more as I participated.

I guess feeling awkward to start off with made me shy away a little bit from meeting people and also caused me to put low effort into the activities at the beginning. I definitely had However as I got more comfortable, my body began to relax and I became more aquatinted with people.
I think that the experience I had on my first day was similar to how a student might feel on their first day. They may be feeling nervous or anxious because they haven't met anyone and they're in a unfamiliar environment. They don't really know what to expect from this new setting and it's their job to make friends and find a foundation in their new class. I felt similar emotions when I first stepped into the theatre.

In this workshop I discovered that Art is an expression of how we interpret life and the world and that interpreting the world around us is part of our development. When we use the Arts, we express who we are on the inside.

Teaching the Arts in Primary Education allows students to build the skills to express themselves and achieve their creative potential. It builds cooperation skills, problem-solving skills and reflection skills.

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This is my 2nd week at AED1260. We are currently going through our Drama Module.
I have learnt a lot so far in this unit. These workshops have been very engaging as the activities involve students getting physical and moving around. There isn't any way that you can be distracted (besides other students) as these activities require full focus and attention. The activities have given me an deep understanding of how teachers may teach drama in a primary classroom. Teaching drama and the Arts can be just simple activities that require students to be active creatively and physically. Due to this sort of teaching, I can say that I learn better when I am actually physically involved in an activity, which is kinaesthetic learning.

I have become more familiar and settled in these workshops since I started. I really enjoy this unit probably more than my other units this semester and I'm now fully relaxed when I go to each workshop. Compared to the first workshop, I'm much less nervous. I've also become more familiar and friendlier with my classmates, which is great for collaborative learning.

Working in a group was interesting, as I was working with people with different ideas and abilities to use in the activities. We all had something unique to contribute and were suited to different roles in the group. People who weren't interested in drama didn't have a lot of input compared to people who were interested.

Some other students were more engaged than others, due to varying interest levels. Certain students seemed more bored and didn't really want to get involved in the activities, while others showed high enthusiasm. They had more input than the other students.
Drama production usually happens with people working together as a group. Working in a group, each member can put in input and contribute different ideas and suggestions for the drama. They can put these ideas and perspectives together to form a new plan for the drama production. This makes people work on their teamwork and interpersonal skills, which is an important aspect when applying this to teaching primary students.

I learnt that students have different personalities and interests. Everyone has something unique to offer and when a group fully collaborates and puts all their ideas together, it can create a great piece of art. I also learnt that sometimes you will have to deal with certain people who won't put in much effort or interest and will social loaf.

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This is my 6th week of AED1260. We have started our Dance Module.
This unit has helped me to understand how to properly teach the Arts in a primary school setting, using simple activities. Dance pedagogy is focused on children's ability to express and interpret in dance. Teachers can use dance to teach students how to express themselves, like other arts. This has been shown through each workshop I've attended. The tutor has shown us different techniques and activities to follow, getting us to participate as students. This has helped me understand how a primary school student may learn the skills needed for the Arts and discover some talents they may have. It also has helped me to understand how as a teacher I can guide students to achieving that
Sometimes, doing the physical activities and performing in front of people can be nerve-racking for some people. I always use some breathing techniques so I reduce the nervousness. I act confident in order to hide any sort of embarrassment I may be feeling. Sometimes, the assignments and workload done at home, along with other unit work can be overwhelming, so I make sure I schedule my work into a timetable and avoid procrastinating.

The most important personal realisation that I've had in this unit is that organisation is extremely important. Managing module work and assignments in the unit, along with other units, work and church, can cause a lot of stress and pressure for me and I've had to find a balance between these things. I've had to learn to organise my workload into manageable chunks. Organization is also a major part when it comes to cooperating in drama and the other Arts.

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This is my 9th week of AED1260. We have started our Media Arts Module.
The Media Arts is human creativity expressed through technical outlets such as film, photography, audio, computer art, digital design and other technologies. This is an interesting part of the arts as it is not traditional as it uses modern technology. I'm very familiar with media arts as it was one of my favourite subjects in high school. Some of my family and friends are also cinematographers so I have a good understanding of technical codes and elements. I've had plenty of understanding of how camera angles and shots in film especially. if I was to develop my skills in Media Arts more, I would probably want to learn how to use certain programs to create art through media. I understand how media arts elements work, but I don't know how to use certain programs and tools to achieve those elements, so that would be the first step.

I've noticed that this unit (especially this module) really has become my favourite unit out of the other units. The workload given by this unit is not much compared to our other units and it does teach some of my favourite subjects. I did miss a couple weeks due to illness, but catching up was not hard. This unit has not given me much stress. However, I haven't been necessarily following my timetable I set up properly and have been a little lazy in completing work, though I am working on correcting myself.

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This is my 11th week of AED1260, my second last week
Looking back - what was your favourite activity in the unit?
I have to say that the Drama was the most enjoyable module of the unit, because the activities were very engaging and active. Dance was less interesting because I (along with other students) wasn't really engaged with the activities, and they felt more awkward. I also enjoyed media, however there weren't many activities to participate in for that module.
Drama is a good art form to express yourself, and every activity in drama was a good opportunity to express certain ideas and creativity. Dance was also a good way to express certain emotions.
Throughout this unit, I have been surprised by how simple the Arts Education can be to teach on a primary level. The expectation of students' understanding is not very high, and the curriculum is very straightforward. The activities being taught in this unit were very simple, and they are very useful in teaching the different Arts like drama, dance, and media in a primary classroom setting.
As part of the Creative Arts performance, we had to get into groups and work together to deliver a presentation consisting of Drama, Dance and Media Arts. The most important part of working in a group for creative arts is organisation. This includes assigning roles, finding rehearsal times, preparation and other tasks. It's important to have clear communication with your group mates and figure out what task each member is doing. I also realised that you need to put as much time as you can in order to make it good quality. Preparation is the key to having a successful production, and I hope our group has put in enough effort for ours.
This has been an amazing unit and I have learned a lot about the Arts. More than that, I learned how the Arts were applied in Primary education and why it is important to teach these principles.