Introduction

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Our names are Tracey Parnham and Kelda Ind and we are feeling bit like how this kid looks. So many things to say at once and a little confused about how to start. There are lots of things to talk about as we begin our adventure so lets get started.

• This is a statement that we agree that we will contribute 50% to this blog and that we accept that, in the summative assessment, we will both receive the same mark against the criteria indicated in the unit outline.

Tracey lives in Hobart with her husband Lawford and daughter Chloe (2 3/4). She works casually as a teacher's aide, and also studies part time. Kelda lives in country Victoria with her husband Josh and two beautiful inside and out girls: Hannah (2 3/4) and June (7 months). She studies part time while juggling motherhood and general life.

Teaching Media Arts: Discussion

Dear Kelda,

What I could access of the 'Arts pop' site on Scootle (2015) was drudgery to read though I found its initial idea inspiring. Using a story boarding is a fantastic tool for aesthetic education in making, presenting and appreciating and in using an app to understand and create their work ties the digital technologies and ICT general capabilities of the Australian Curriculum (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2015). Fraistat & Jones (2009) talk about the role of editor using technology and insists that the role of the editor is to "maximize the resources of whatever editorial environment he or she chooses to work within - and, increasingly, in digital media those resources will include image, sound and video" (p.10). I think that it is really important to remember that in learning to teach within these new modes that we experience them for ourselves and to realise what it is that we as end users appreciate about digital media and teach for this aesthetic as well.

While I haven't an example story-boarding, I have quickly put together this PowerPoint animation. It was fiddly, it doesn't look great and I wouldn't recommend using something so crass as powerpoint for animation. I would recommend using an app like Animation Desk - Sketch and Draw (Brakefield, 2015). Animation and story-boarding are something to practice more of, as you can see with my own efforts here.

Regards, 

Tracey

References:

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2015, May 15). The Australian Curriculum: Design and Technologies and Digital Technologies (Version 7.5), Foundation to Year 2, Years 3 and 4, Years 5 and 6, all curriculum elements, all curriculum dimensions. retrieved from

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/download/f10

Brakefield, S. (2013). Storyboard Studio. in Googleplay. Retrieved from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brakefield.storyboard&hl=en 

Fraistat, N. & Jones, S. (2009). Editing environments: The architecture of electronic texts. Literary and Linguistic Computing. 24(1) 9-18. doi: 10.1093/llc/fqn032

Education Services Australia. (2015) Arts-POP: media arts. Scootle. Retrieved from https://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/p/home 

Teaching Media Arts: Reflection

Dear Tracey,

Media is a relatively new subject in Australian schools (Dinham, 2014). The world is now saturated with media, and to help enable students to be confident citizens of the world, critical understanding of media and its uses is vital (Dezuanni & Raphael, 2012; Dinham, 2014). Media needs to be taught across two avenues: about media and with media (Dinham, 2014). About media is what has been traditionally taught in schools: critical analysis and reflection about media (Dezuanni & Raphael, 2012; Dinham, 2014). With media is creating media – skills that have become both everyday and crucial in thriving in our media saturated world (Dezuanni & Raphael, 2012; Dinham, 2014).

Here is my PowerPoint. It doesn't last long and yet took me hours (literally hours) to set up. In the classroom this could get annoying to use and at best would require a lo of time to have the students navigate how best to use PowerPoint.

Yours, 

Kelda

References:

Dezuanni, M., & Raphael, J. (2012). Media arts and learning in the digital world. In C . Sinclair, N. Jeanneret & J O’Toole (Eds.), Education in the Arts (2^nd Ed) (pp. 145- 159). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Dinham, J. (2014). Delivering authentic Arts education. South Melbourne: Cengage Learning Australia.

Teaching Music: Reflection

Dear Kelda,

As we are thinking about teaching music this week, I wondered about composing and teaching composition as a generalist teacher. The thought was irksome to me as I had never really been exposed to composition in music, and our lessons this week show that it can be as simple as Jeanneret and Swainston (2012) indicate, as allowing children to experiment with sound. Although given my own family attempt at creating a soundscape are not too promising.

You can listen to it by clicking here: 

I attended a music teaching conference this year with Australian Society for Music Education run by TASME who include and represent many differing types of music education stakeholders (Baker, B, 2015), and found it very interesting that those who were in attendance were all specialist teachers. I definitely felt a little intimidated given the participation involved and have no doubts about the comment Jeanneret and Swainston make that 'Lack of confidence to teach music is a common problem for the generalist' (2012, p. 93) and is definitely one that I felt. In saying this I know that it is not too difficult to bring music, song and dance into younger classrooms, though as a generalist I wonder how I would endeavor to do this with upper primary students.

I was very impressed with the learning I received from music teaching specialist Susie (pictured left) and I really recommend her and her husbands website as a fantastic resource for teaching music even for generalists. She uses the Orff Schulwerk method, and while I was only briefly introduced to its existence andpracticed using it. Doing this gave me courage and interested me in gaining knowledge and understanding of the Orff method.

Yours faithfully,


Tracey

References:

Baker, B. (2015). ASME Tasmania. Australian Society for Muisc Education (Tasmanian Chapter). retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/asmetasmaniaaustralia/home 

Davis-Splitter, S. & Splitter, P. (2015). Welcome to music. Retrieved from https://www.welcometomusic.net/ 

Jeanneret, N. & Swainston, A. (2012). Making musical and cultural connections. in Sinclair, C., Jeanneret, N & O'Tool, J. Education in the arts. Oxford University Press. South Melbourne.

Teaching Music: Discussion

Dear Tracey,

Music in schools is often relegated to a specialist teacher and the focus is on learning and performing an instrument and not on composing individual pieces (Burnard & Murphy, 2013; Jeanneret & Swainston, 2012). It is common to become daunted when tasked with composing an original score (Burnard & Murphy, 2013; Jeanneret & Swainston, 2012). Therefore, when teaching it is important to provide structure where students do not only learn to play instruments and to perform, but are also encouraged to manipulate different sounds (Burnard & Murphy, 2013; Dinham, 2014; Jeanneret & Swainston, 2012).

This week I tried the N-Gage tips from the reading ‘Deep Listening to the Musical World’ by Patricia Shehan Campbell (2005). I looked at the N-Act tips too but found they were really difficult! Here is my attempt at 'N-Gage'-ing with Meera Bai Bhajan: https://sites.google.com/site/keldaunimedia/mp3
I only recorded the first 20 seconds but if you liked the song I encourage you to listen to the whole song in its entirety (without me over the top haha!) as I found it a really moving piece. You can find the original here but be warned that it seriously gets stuck in your head! It is beautiful though.

Reflecting on the experience has produced in me two seemingly irreconcilable thoughts about how to teach music. On one hand I found trying to sing a totally different style, sound and language was quite daunting. It made me realise that when using these techniques in the classroom some students might respond better to a song that is well known to them (Burnard & Murphy, 2014). This will give the students confidences that they at least in the language and what the melody will do (Burnard & Murphy, 2014).  

On the other hand though, there was something freeing about singing along random (to me anyway) sounds to a song I had no knowledge of.  After I got over being overwhelmed by the unknown, I felt more freedom to experiment with sounds and not beat myself up if I didn’t sound like the ‘real’ version. When teaching music I would therefore expose students to a variety of music styles and encourage students to experiment with new sounds, and this might in turn free their creative juices (Burnard & Murphy, 2014).

Yours,

Kelda

References:

Burnard, P., & Murphy, R. (2014). Teaching Music Creatively. Abingdon: Routledge.

Campbell, P. S. (2005). Deep Listening to the Musical World. Music Educators Journal 92(1), pp. 30-36.

Dinham, J. (2014). Delivering authentic Arts education. South Melbourne: Cengage Learning Australia.

Jeanneret, J., & Swainston, A. (2012). Making Music and Cultural Connections. In C . Sinclair, N. Jeanneret & J O’Toole (Eds.), Education in the Arts (2^nd Ed) (pp. 128- 144). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

mithilaconnect. (2009, February 7). Meera Bai Bhajan Aisi Lagi Lagan by Anoop Jalota [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1sHo28g9PI&list=PL4H5923f_aLq8UDjpmd49ge_Z3tp7jrgi 

Teaching Dance: Discussion

Dear Kelda,

I really connected to the idea of teaching dance although my memories of school dance don't coincide with this excitement. I remember formal barn dances we were taught and it was a cultural learned choreography, not learning how to explore and share ideas using your body in fundamental movements, and to choreograph your own work as in now indicated (ACARA, 2015). The thinking around teaching dance has certainly changed over time.

Recently during NAIDOC week my practicum class attended a cultural learning experience at the sustainability center in Mt. Nelson. One part was a dance lesson given by Aboriginal sharer of knowledge Linton Burgess who encouraged the students to make the movements of a particular animal or two and to dance as that animal to some clap sticks. He asked students “when no-one knows how to dance what is it they look to, who do they watch?” going back to the Aesthetic learning process in Sinclair (2012, p.47), it was a very intentional ploy to get students to appreciate, and create. This was very powerful teaching. 

Source: Linton Burgess During NAIDOC week

After watching videos of students having dance/movement lessons from prep to grade six, (see youtube) it is important to understand how the concept of using your body evolves and the method of teaching develops with the students physical and cognitive abilities. The difference looking at little preppies becoming horses, bunnies and frogs, and the Grade six's using sport motions to synchronize a choreographed dance sequence shows this natural progression both in physical control of their own bodies but also in the ability to work together, to use symbolic gesture and to solve problems.

Here is my own universal writing dance technique, it is not always the end product but the process of making that is worth reflecting on. I would gladly use the universal dance technique with my own students.

Good Luck,

Tracey


References:

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2015, May 15). The Australian Curriculum: Dance (Version 7.5), Foundation to Year 2, Years 3 and 4, Years 5 and 6, Years 7 and 8 and Years 9 and 10, all curriculum elements, all curriculum dimensions. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/download/f10].

Sinclair, C. (2012). Teaching for the Aesthetic, Teaching as Aesthetic. In Sinclair, C., Jeanneret, N. & O’Toole, J. (ed.) Education in the Arts. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.  

Teaching Dance: Reflection

Dear Tracey,

Dance makes unique contributions to the child’s development of body awareness and propriorecption that is important in every moment of life from being able to sit on a chair to walking in a crowd (Dinham, 2014; Rank, 2014). I also think it is a great way to make friends with your body and express emotions that you may not have known you were feeling (Deans, Meiners, & Young, 2012; Dinham, 2014). Every child needs to know how their body exists in space in order to have a clear mind, regardless of dis/ability and dance is a wonderful way to bring this into the mainstream classroom so every child has that opportunity (Deans et al., 2012; Dinham, 2014; Rank, 2014).  

And OH MY GOSH WHAT FUN THE SPELLING OF YOUR NAME! I had so much fun and got so puffed! I feel like not only did it awaken my body but I felt more excited and awake to be able to write this blog entry. I imagine that doing an activity like this would have a similar effect on students – what a great, fun way to help student to re-engage with their bodies and their work (Rank, 2014).

I originally tried to dance in my jeans and that was difficult. It made me think to be mindful of the students’ clothing when doing a dance routine in class, and how some clothing is more restrictive than others (Rank, 2014). Also I think it was great having some parameters when doing this dance but then being able to make individual choices within those parameters (Dinham, 2014; Rank, 2014). I feel like this is important for students too, especially those that might be daunted by dance and choreographing their won dance – to give some quite specific instruction but still allow for creative freedom (Rank , 2014).

Yours, 

Kelda

References:

Deans, J., Meiners, J., & Young, S. (2012). Dance: Art Embodied. In C . Sinclair, N. Jeanneret & J O’Toole (Eds.), Education in the Arts (2^nd Ed) (pp. 128- 144). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Dinham, J. (2014). Delivering authentic Arts education. South Melbourne: Cengage Learning Australia.

Rank, K. (2014). Teaching Primary Dance. Carlton South: Education Services Australia Limited.