Reflection: This experience worked well for the two minutes. The children were engaged, swaying away (two children had no interest at all). A little while later some children started to drop and crash to the ground. Unfortunately, a few other children also followed which disturbed the group. Some of them kept swaying using their hands like big branches. I changed up the experience and asked for the children to scrunch up the scarf into their hands, throw it up and try and catch it like falling leaves. This modification brought some of the children’s attention back. 

Reference:

Hollingworth, M.J, 2021, Barefoot Dancing A Learning Activity. Viewed on 11th March 2023, https://danceteachingideas.com/barefoot-and-dancing-a-learning-activity/

 Reflection: This was the most successful experience. The children loved the song and some recognised the tune of “We’re going on a Bear Hunt”. The children worked in pairs as they collected the natural treasures from the ground. Some children could be heart singing some verses of the song when they found an item, i.e. “A bark! A small, small bark”.

Reference:

Ridgers, N. D., Knowles, Z. R., & Sayers, J. (2012). Encouraging play in the natural environment: A child-focused case study of Forest School. Children’s Geographies, 10(1), 49–65.

 

Reflection: 

Prior to starting our experience, as a group we did our acknowledgement to pay recent to the past, present and emerging first nation peoples of the Bunarong Land. The experience went for three minutes. The first half, the children were trying to listen to the animals that could be heard through the didgeridoo instead of following the beat to the music. After we paused and regrouped most children were able to follow and stop with the music. It was a successful experience. The children mentioned that they liked hearing and guessing the animals through the didgeridoo. Listening and guessing the animals through a didgeridoo would be a wonderful extension of this experience.

References:
Hamm, C 2015, ‘Walking with place: storying reconciliation pedagogies in early childhood education’, Canadian Children, vol. 40, no. 2, Canadian Association for Young Children, pp. 56–66, viewed on 8th March 2022 <https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=117176256&site=eds-live&authtype=shib&custid=s1145751>

Week 1  - Classes

At the start of the session I thought the classes were going to be more about the sharing of different resources we can use in the classroom as well as seeing dance/movement as a language. I did not expect to go so deeply in music and movement. There’s a relationship between dance, music and acting.  Movement is often people coming together to convey a message. When movement is in a group it is less overwhelming.

The Power of Listening and the power of silence struck me… what are the different things you can hear? How your ears hear but your brain listens was a revelation. Maybe whispering when we need to get a child’s attention would work better than calling out!

The new terms have been interesting to learn and use within context at work in our documentation.

It’s been slightly challenging to connect with the context after such a long break! 

Session 3: What is drama? 

What is drama: Drama is theatrical ...it's a performance...

Drama Meaning: Fiction- Non Fiction through performance of written dialogue 

Combined meaning : A fiction- non fiction production consisting of a group of people  performing through written dialogue

What a wonderful session that was! Reading the chapter “Is Beauty a way of knowing” was truly captivating. Being aware of the difference between what is actually an atelier and what people might think it is and also what an "atelierista" does …. Like educators they become researchers alongside children. 

After making up our story today, i feel that i am confident in my storytelling… I'll be more confident in giving it a good go, there isn't any right or wrong way of doing it. As long as i am able to captivate my audience! 

Session 4 : No Class… due to Kat not being well. 

Reflection: Read the Ruth Wilson piece which was mind blowing especially the sustainability part where it shouldn't be the children’s responsibility.  I added it to the padlet. The piece is a great read to keep and refer back to for future documentation. I loved the part where Ruth mentions how sustainability shouldn't be put onto the children’s shoulders.  She also mentions adults taking over the children’s play, taking their ownership away as they try to “join in” rather than waiting to be asked to. We have to remember is an active form of learning that unites the mind,body and spirit, it’s holistic. 

Reflection: Being face to face is so much more interactive! It’s nice to meet my peers and be able to brainstorm. I enjoyed learning about the 8 senses and the different experiences connected to them that can be used in the classroom.

I thoroughly enjoyed my walk and reflection in Flagstaff garden.  I went through the perspective of being a child/ at a child’s height and wandered around looking up the trees. The sounds, smell and what I saw got me really attuned to my surrounding. I never take the time to sit and just be, what a joy it was to be given the time to do this in a different area! This experience taught me to embrace stillness, it did me wonders... How much of a positive effect

My highlight was the Cool Cats song and the Inanay Capuana song. I loved the actions and the discussion prior to the Torres Strait island song around Acknowledging the origins.

Reflection: I find that with 2 assignments pending we are all focused on those assignments and I personally find that my brain cannot focus on the content as much. The article “ LET'S PLAY OUTSIDE - THE IMPORTANCE OF PRETEND PLAY IN NATURAL SETTINGS (WALLIN, 2019)”. It embedded a lot of what we have been learning and putting into practice. I agree with Wallin (2019) who says that as educators, caregivers, and parents must be even more vigilant about every child’s human right to play in the great outdoors.

The activity “Life is drama, drama is life, we just need to notice” where we needed to notice what changed made me reflect on who do i notice ? Do I notice the quiet child that goes under the radar? The one who always does the right thing? There was a lot to think about!

Session 8:
Reflection:
Thank goodness for Kat coming on early to go through our assignment and help with any questions. Loved the video about the different sounds we can make using different props like blocks for a horse running, walking over plastic for a crunchy feel/ sound. 

The body percussion section was interesting, it does tie in well with pattern making and cross patterning that we do at Kinder.  We thankfully finished earlier today to finish our A3. 

 The unit started strongly with terms I had never heard before, such as “temporal art” and “musicing”, yet we do these every day. 

 

In the first week, the two resources that inspired me now and in my future practice are the videos of Victor Wooten (2013) “Music as a Language” and Didarri “Inner Deep Listening”. In his video Wooten (2013) explains that music cannot be taught, just like language it’s all about exposure. The more exposed a child is, the more natural it becomes. His idea of how music is learnt brought me back to Howard’s Gardner Musical Intelligence. For this intelligence to further developed as educators we need to provide an array of musical inspired experiences, so the children are always exposed to it and music becomes a natural gift. As Wooten state, “Music is a “powerful communication tool--it causes us to laugh, cry, think and question”. (Wooten, V, 2013) so why wouldn’t we expose the children to it from a very young age?. 

 

This unit has also taught me the difference between “Listening and Hearing” two different actions. It has made me reflect on myself as an educator how can I embed their vision of stopping and listening more, so all the children feel connected and heard. 

As am ECE I and will be mindful of stopping, listening and being more in the moment with the children throughout the day.

 

Ruth Wilson’s (2007) “Children, creative play and the natural environment” has been the epiphany of this unit. Wilson (2007) reminds us how childhood is the most important time in the children’s life and how it should be nurtured and not hurried. She values the importance of creative play and states that it is only through the world of play that children can learn about themselves and the world around them, it cannot be taught only discovered. 

This is where, as educators we need to learn to observe from a distance and wait to be invited in the children’s play, so we don’t change the narrative and the learning outcomes. This is something that I have already put in practice and will continue. As ECE educators we need to remember that play is a basic right, and we need to provide interrupted play opportunities to the best of our abilities.

 

Throughout this unit I was reminded how the eight sensory system play a great part in the children’s development. As ECE’s, it is fundamental to remember that when children are provided with an array of opportunities to use their senses through play where “they are actively building nerve connections in the brain’s pathways, which is crucial to brain development.” (Gano & Krull, 2020). 

In my future practice, I will be mindful to create those opportunities through the different play experiences and spaces that will be set up for the children so all of their eight senses are further developed. 

 

Whilst revisiting all of the senses, I do believe that our interoception is one of our most important sense that can sometimes go unnoticed. If we lack interoceptive signals, it can be an indication of our ability to regulate our emotions, crucial to our wellbeing. As an ECE, normalising the importance of emotional development, providing children with the language and tools to express their emotions and read those of others would be a wonderful start. Exploring emotions through drama can be a wonderful and interactive way for children to explore different emotions and when doing it in group setting and adding humour helps the children feel more comfortable.

 

Dramatic Play, a type of play where all the drama happens. This type of play is one of the most important milestones in early childhood as it teaches the children how to make sense of their world as they observe and mirror society. Meyers and Berk (2014) state that “early childhood is a vital time for laying the foundations of self-regulation”. How is self-regulation and dramatic play connected? They interconnect, where one cannot operate without the other. Dramatic Play teaches the children how to navigate different social situations where they often must wait for their turn, share and resist the urge to take. 

 

Looking at different theoretical perspectives, Vygotsky’s (1978) belief that play is a form of social cultural learning connects with the idea that children who engage in dramatic play can further develop their self-regulation, a skill that assists in functioning in acceptable ways in making friends and become independent. For this to take place as an ECE, I would draw on my knowledge to model and support children in different scenarios in pretend play so to scaffold their ability to develop skills within the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978) needed to develop appropriate the social skills needed as they grow.

 

 

This unit has allowed me to explore the language of music, movement and drama at a deeper level. I will now be aware of the importance of including temporal arts daily. As an ECE, applying the language of dance, music and drama will provide an array of opportunities for children to move, sing and play. This is fundamental for the holistic development of a child as we need to remember that “stillness in young children causes fatigue. They need to move” (Dance Teaching Ideas 2023). As ECE's we know that movement is what develops the brain and not the other way round.