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This final reflection is on the integration of drama and another learning area. Drama is a way that students can connect directly with the learning by acting it out, considering the new information on an emotional level, and linking the knowledge to personal experiences, all which deepen the level of understanding. This is authentic arts integration activities because the students are achieving the learning by becoming part of it. The use of Process Drama allows students to explore, investigate and act as different people in history (HaSS), what might the different needs be throughout the lifecycle of a tusked frog (science), or even work through difficult social and emotional issues in a safe environment (HPE). Freeze frames can be used to teach English skills of summarising and identifying the main points of a story, however, it also teaches key 21st century skills of problem solving, critical and creative thinking, and communication.

Before the start of this course, I felt that integrating the arts is something that I would really struggle with as I am not very good at it, particularly drama. At this point in the course I am still no better at drama, however, I can see how authentic arts integration, especially drama, can make any subject come alive and allow students to really engage in the learning.

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Describe
In Week 7 of the unit the students explore what life was like for people of the First Fleet in the new settlement. Using Process Drama, the class will work together to imagine and describe the different parts of like, what difficulties or successes there were, and how people may have felt. This activity would consider both the convicts and their wardens' perspectives. The teacher would ask questions of the students to facilitate the exploration of the task. Bothe students and teacher would be involved in the discussions and the improvisations. At the end of the activity Students will be asked to reflect on what they had just discussed and experienced.
Explain
Through discussing and acting out the student's beliefs on what life would be like in the new settlement, the students are able to explore the possible feelings and experiences of those people. Being involved in this process enable the students to make personal connections between the First Fleet and experiences in their world today.
Reflect
This activity would have formative assessment throughout. These would take the form of observations and questioning. The teacher will be able to assess how the students' explored ideas and used empathy in their improvisations (ACADRM031) to show their knowledge and understanding of the different experiences of the new settlers (ACHASSK085). The teacher could use the reflection part of the activity to question students and gain a better understanding of their achievement against the learning outcomes.

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What?
Integrating science with dance is the focus of this week’s activity. We were to select a native Australian amphibian, which apparently is restricted to frogs. I selected to find out about the tusked frog. This is a “near threatened” frog that lives in wet forests and ponds. The females tend to stay more in the forest, while the males prefer the ponds. During the dry season the tusked frog will go to sleep, called aestivation, in burrows so that they stay wet. They come out of this sleep state in the wet spring, and this is the breeding season.
So what?
There was little information about their movement. However, watching videos you could see that there are the usual differences between how they moved on land and in the water. Using different elements of dance, it was good to explore different ways in which we could mimic these movements and explore what it is like to be the frog.
Now what?
There are limited movements that can be explored in this activity and so if I were to use this in the classroom, I would extend it to look at creatures that are the prey of the frog (snails and insects) and what is the frog prey for (snakes, birds, bats, goannas, rats frogs, and fish). There is a wide range of movements relating to the other animals but the presence of them would also impact on the movements of the frog at that time – quicker, bigger, more jerky movements, or being still and smaller.

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Pictographs known as Wandjina in the Wunnumurra Gorge

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Pictographs known as Wandjina in the Wunnumurra Gorge

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This week's task was to draw a piece of music. Although there was a similar task in the last course, I still find it very difficult to put my thoughts onto paper and would rather have moved to the music. The picture I drew was based on both what I was hearing but also how I might have moved to the music.

My stairs were the slow sad music but as it went on it got a bit quieter and lighter. My little bouncing ball was the hopeful little sounds that I am representing by the ball going up the stairs. The 2 emotions are conflicting and confusing, although not negative, and so I have shown this by the purple swirls going over the top.

Although I struggle with this activity myself, I think that it is a helpful one to do in the classroom as it might allow those who struggle to communicate. I would probably repeat the unit of work using dance instead of visual arts and then compare the 2 processes and get the students views on which is more beneficial.

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What?
This week we were expanding on our sustainability pictures and creating stop motion movies.  Mine attempts to show that overfishing is not sustainable and will rid the oceans of all critical life.
So what?
I tried to use bright colours, foil paper for the fish, and filling the space, to show how vibrant and full of life our oceans are. Once the net has passed it is plain and empty, emphasising the impact of overfishing.
Now what?
Making the stop motion movie was a brand-new experience for me. If I can do it then primary students can certainly do. This was an exciting and engaging way for my story to come to life and I will looking into more to make suer that I can use this in my classroom in the future. This activity really made me think about what I was using and why. This is what made it real for me and I will be using this as a key learning point to start any lesson in the future.

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reflection task - Week 3 - My_Stop_Motion_Movie_1_

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What?
This is the product of my authentic art activity relating to sustainability and using items from my recycle bin. I may have cheated a little as I don't always put my recycling in the bin and I took all of these materials out of my children's craft tub, and 2 sea animals that I did not create.
So what?
When starting to look at what 'craft material' (recycling) I had I found the background first and the wavey lines spoke immediately to me as water, and so I was thinking how important the oceans are to our survival on this planet. The next thing I found was the net and from that my picture is attempting to show the message that fishing doesn't just catch the fish.
Now what?
I am really looking forward to building on this picture and making a stop motion movie, although this is new ground for me, and making my little fishy friends come alive.

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My garden is very overgrown, with a number of weeds, grass runners, and dead leaves and sticks that have not been cleared up. It is also filed with hidden balls from my dog, toys from my children, and many different forms of wildlife (the caterpillar was returned immediately after this picture was taken and happily continued to eat my plant. :-)). My garden may look messy, even to me on occasion, but if you really take the time to look at what happens in that space, you can really start to see life and adventure.

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This week we considered what thoughts, noises, sounds, or music come to use when we looked at a piece of art. Using Soundtrap we were able to experiment with different sounds, dynamics, tempo, and rhythm to express how the picture made us feel.

I found this to be quite a challenging task as none of the pieces of art spoke to me straightaway. However, on studying them further, the Pictographs known as Wandjina in the Wunnumurra Gorge reminded me of The Day of the Dead celebrations. This gave me a positive view of the picture that even though these people may not be alive anymore, they are still with us. The red of walls made me picture a heart and this connected me with the thought that everyone who is in my heart and memories will live on through my stories of them. I chose the rhythmic drumbeat as it was like a heart beating, and the melodic sounds of the pipes was the memories I have of those who are gone. The melody was random with slow and fast points but that matches the memories as there is so many and none are the same. The words I spoke was what the whole picture said to me.

I would not have the confidence at this point to do this with a class, although I can see many skills that students would gain through activities like this that they could use within the learning environment of the school and also beyond. I have marked this activity down as one for further trial and investigation. I plan to carry out activities like this with my 2 boys to see if they can help me to become more comfortable and confident in this area.