AED1260 Reflections - Amy Fitzpatrick by

My thoughts on Drama

aifitzpa — 2025-03-19 02:28:10 UTC

Drama for me has always been a subject I have leant towards resenting. I am not someone who likes being centre of attention or putting myself in situations where I may be ridiculed by my peers. Throughout my primary school experience, I was more confident and enjoyed the subject a bit more, however I have always preferred the visual arts. However, this class has given me a new insight into drama and all the benefits it has on students. I have actually enjoyed my time in the drama module, and it has a created a new insight into drama activities. This has encouraged me into considering in bringing it into my classroom when I become a teacher. I have been forced to see all the positives that it has on the students and the unconventional ways that it can help students to grow, especially in ways I’ve never considered before. Therefore, I am forced to see how amazing it really is for the students.

Teacher in Role

aifitzpa — 2025-03-19 02:28:35 UTC

Drama involves a list of different approaches such as imagination, puppetry, mime, voice, improvisation, storytelling and teacher in role. The drama approach I am most likely to involve in my classroom is the teacher in role. This strategy is where a teacher drops their identity of being a teacher becoming a whole new character (Piazzoli, 2010). This can be used to temporarily shift power dynamics and make the classroom a more immersive and interactive environment (Piazzoli, 2010).

Complications

aifitzpa — 2025-03-19 02:28:59 UTC

Something I lean towards trying to avoid using in my classroom is improvisation. This is due to the possibility of students feeling quite uncomfortable in a situation where they have to come up with something off the top of their head with little worrying. Although the use of voice, improvisation and storytelling may make the student feel uncomfortable, it also has the opportunity to enrich their learning experiences and making there more compelling and interesting (Du et al., 2024). That said, I will still include these in my classroom at times due to the positive impact that can come from students learning to step out of their comfort zone. Leaving your comfort zone can increase self-confidence and boost resilience which are all positive to personal growth of the students (Jessica A. Kent, 2023).

Collaboration

aifitzpa — 2025-03-19 02:29:16 UTC

Drama often forces the students to work together as groups, promoting lots of collaborating in the classroom. A drama activity that can be added that promotes collaboration into the classroom is mime. Introducing mime into the classroom can better develop students’ expression of emotion through body language and movement (Ünlüer & Özcan, 2013). For this activity you can have students working together collaboratively to create different scene as mimes, however this can pose issues when working collaboratively. When students are placed into teams with people, they are not comfortable with, they can become shy and uncomfortable which can affect their willingness to participate in the activity at hand. This can also affect their performance as they are uncomfortable and not willing to participate. To avoid these issues from arising you can consciously choose groups that you know will work together, and you can also size the group appropriately for the class (The Graduate School of Education and Human Development, 2017). When you have a group too big or too small it can affect the participation and effectiveness of the task.

Alternative way to Express Emotions

aifitzpa — 2025-03-19 02:34:33 UTC

Drama is also a positive way in encouraging students to use their imagination more. When students use learn to use their imagination more it can promote their adaption for the future and also develop the student’s creativity (Hong & Hong, 2022). Another drama skill that can be introduced in the classroom is puppetry. Puppetry can help students to learn to express their emotions and overcome social issues in a creative and non-threatening way (Wahiba Abu-Ras et al., 2025).

Social Emotional Wellbeing

aifitzpa — 2025-03-19 02:34:56 UTC

Drama has many positives to students’ growth and development and can encourage the students to grow in areas that other subjects may not. Drama can foster growth in the social and emotional wellbeing area for students. Drama can increase the growth of self-esteem and sense of achievement, it can also decrease emotional issues, and finally it can develop empowerment and social engagement (Telethon Kids Institute, 2022). Drama encourages a growth of creativity, and studies show that individual who are more creative tend to be more empathetic towards others (Telethon Kids Institute, 2022). Drama also teaches students that there are way to express themselves that do not involve speaking, and some students may find it easier to express themselves non-verbally (Telethon Kids Institute, 2022).

My Thoughts on Dance

aifitzpa — 2025-04-12 08:55:37 UTC

Dance is a subject that enjoyed when I was younger but as I got older, I began to enjoy I less and less. Attention is something that tend to keep my distance from, and when I participated in dance, I felt like all eyes were on me. However, throughout this module I have felt more and more comfortable when participate. At the beginning I definitely was hesitant to join in and put in all my effort but by the end of the module I felt myself enjoying class. I also feel it can have a great impact on helping children learn.

Universal Writing

aifitzpa — 2025-04-12 08:56:09 UTC

This is an activity I enjoyed participating, it didn’t involve skill and was different for everyone. This activity involves using different body parts to spell out words of your choice. In my class we spelled out our names and I would do the same for my future class. It would be a fun, interactive, and immersive game to introduce ourselves to one another that would also help in the developing of teaching writing skills. Barton et al., (2023) states that a beneficial way of writing is by involving emotion, creativity, personality, and finding different ways to express. Universal writing does exactly that, as a new way to write out letters which could be beneficial to students. On top of a great way to introduce themselves to each other in an enjoyable way.

Complications

aifitzpa — 2025-04-12 09:12:00 UTC

Some complications of dance in the classroom could be similar to what I experienced. You may not have full involvement of students due to the vulnerable situations that you end up putting the students in. Socially anxious students do not like being centre of attention and prefer to stay away from the spotlight, this is something that can be hard to avoid when participating in dance. To solve this, you can ensure to do group performances. Group performances may make those students feel more comfortable.

Benefits

aifitzpa — 2025-04-12 09:23:00 UTC

Dance in the classroom can have many benefits on students. It can have learning benefits due to movement getting more oxygen around the body and creating endorphins. This can help enhance students learning. It can also have behavioural benefits as dance can help student’s hyperactivity disorders to calm down and chill out. It can have physical benefits as movement is good for the body and more movement can decrease the chances of injuries. It can have also have social benefits as it can help develop self confidence in such a stimulating environment. Sources state that involving dance in the classroom can improve the students understanding of the content learnt and it can improve the overall classroom behaviour (Skoning, 2008).

Social Emotional Wellbeing

aifitzpa — 2025-04-12 09:31:00 UTC

Dance in the classroom has a positive impact on increasing social emotional wellbeing. Despite the negative impacts on specific students, if it is implemented it still can have a positive impact on all of the students. Studies show that involvement in dance increase well-being, reduce anxiety, and increased levels of social skills and emotional intelligence (Narikbayeva et al., 2025). Due to the positive impacts on the social emotional well-being of students, I can’t help but recommend the involvement of dance in classrooms. In my future classroom I will be involving dance in small ways in my classroom.

Drama, Dance, Media References

aifitzpa — 2025-05-16 05:43:28 UTC

My Thoughts on Media

aifitzpa — 2025-05-16 05:44:06 UTC

In high school, media was always one of the few arts subjects that I thoroughly enjoyed. Media was always my top choice in classes, and I continued to choose it as a class every year until year 11. I found the film aspect and the creative side of film incredibly interesting and captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with different techniques of media such as stop motion and exploring different camera angles. However as I got older I began to grow out of my creative media side, but when we started this this as one of our subjects for this course I was very excited to start something that I once used to love.

Stop Motion

aifitzpa — 2025-05-16 05:45:02 UTC

Stop motion is a type of film that involves taking a series of images and putting them together to create a video. The creation of stop motions involve art design, screenwriting, photography, performance and many more (Zhang, 2025). When introducing stop motion in the classroom, the way you present it is very important. For example, if you present it to them through a textbook it is going to lead to a boring atmosphere and may lead to the students not enjoying the creation process of the stop motion as much (Zhang, 2025). However, if you go straight into the practical side of it and start with them experimenting with the process of stop motion, it may be more exciting and interesting for the students. Introducing something new to students, such as stop motion, can make them become more interested in a topic and become more knowledgeable and strengthen understanding in a concept (Zhang, 2025). For younger children, stop motion can be a little bit more complex for them and be harder for them to grasp which makes it especially difficult for them to participate (Undheim & Hoel, 2022). However, in some cases they can still create videos that are rich and expressive, and the students are still capable of making meaningful choices (Undheim & Hoel, 2022). Stop motion is valuable for sharing different ideas, constructing knowledge, and representing multiple specific topics (Farrokhnia et al., 2020).

Complications

aifitzpa — 2025-05-16 05:50:57 UTC

Media arts can pose some complications when involving them in a primary setting. When using digital technologies, you need to try and figure out the best ways to use the technology that best fit the students’ needs in a way that still leads them to learning something (Bird & Edwards, 2014). For a long time now, there has been an ongoing debate on whether or not having technology involved in play is beneficial and appropriate for students (Bird & Edwards, 2014). Due to this, it is still not completely understood how children actually do benefit for the use of technology while trying to learn (Bird & Edwards, 2014). Having technological play in the classroom can also lead to further misunderstandings for the children when trying to separate meaning and objects (Bird & Edwards, 2014).

Benefits

aifitzpa — 2025-05-16 05:58:11 UTC

As well as complications, there is also always positives to media arts. As time goes on, there is a rise on the importance of the use of technology in the classrooms (Bird & Edwards, 2014). It is being viewed more and more as an important tool for learning in the classroom (Bird & Edwards, 2014). Learning continues to happen with the use of tools, and digital tools I one of them (Bird & Edwards, 2014). Ludic activity is encouraged through learning in creative ways, and digital tools is a toll that is highly regarded for supporting this (Bird & Edwards, 2014). When students participate in any of the arts, such as media arts, it helps and encourage them to develop new, unique and important life skills (Ewing, 2020).

Ideas for Future Teaching

aifitzpa — 2025-05-16 05:58:29 UTC

When I am a teacher, I do believe that it is valuable to involve some sort of media art into my classroom. However, I will have to make educated decisions on what exactly that will be based on many factors. One factor that is big to consider is age. From my research, it is evident that younger kids may find it more difficult, and it may be too technical for me to introduce something like stop motion. Stop motion may have to be used strictly for the older years in order for it to still be a learning experience for the students. My idea for using stop motion in the classroom would be using it in a HASS lesson. I would get them to go into groups and I will give each group a different historical event. I will then make them create a short stop motion video on the historical event to then present to the class.

Dance Activities

aifitzpa — 2025-05-16 06:03:46 UTC

As a teacher in my future classroom, I would use universal writing as a fun introductory activity. It is an activity that I would do on the first day to introduce themselves to their classmates. When the students are settled in, I would get them to pair up with a partner and start teacher them in their names in universal writing. I would encourage them to use different parts of the body to try and spell their name. I see it as a fun icebreaker and a way to learn each other’s name, making the students feel more comfortable and settled in into their new classroom.