HMALS2005 Creative Movement Task 3 Dance Teaching resource

Emily Kuik 30094578

SECTION ONE- EXPLANATION OF ASSIGNED COMPONENTS.

Introduction

‘Dance provides opportunities of performance and facilitates an environment of intense focus and practice based on repetition’ (Lorenzi, 2010). Creative dance is a particular form of dance. It is typically taught in primary schools, as it does not require large amounts of training. Creative dance uses different movement elements to express thought and feeling. Creative dance is also looked at as ‘expressive dance’ where the dance will accompany aesthetic qualities and qualitative relationships between movement, rather than just being ‘elemental dance’ where it accompanies only the dance elements. Bergmann, (1995) states that, ‘whether the focus is on elemental or expressive aspects of creative dance is often a function of who is viewing the activity.’ When dance teachers are teaching creative dance to children, providing a stimulus can help to spark the creativity among some students. Students then may use this stimulus to interpret and express through movement. ‘Students can be taught the movement skills and strategies to create their own dance routines, or work as a team to choreograph dances with multiple partners. (Lorenzi, 2010)

Creative dance

The elements of dance provide a fundamental base to creative movement. Dance in secondary physical education incorporates the elements and fundamentals of movement. Buamgarten, (2011) states that ‘Dance programming should support children’s natural expressive-ness and creativity and should provide a solid foundation in movement fundamentals (Laban’s movement framework—body, space, effort, and relationship). Similar to Laban’s movement framework is Davies’ Movement Framework (Davies, 2003), which prioritises body, dynamics, space, and relationships as the main key movement factors relevant to dance learning and teaching in primary education settings. The elements of dance stated within this teaching resource differ slightly with added elements of ‘action’, ‘time’ and ‘energy’ in replace of dynamics, relationships and effort. Using a movement framework can be a basis of facilitation of young children’s abilities to perform and appreciate dance by focusing their attention on those particular movement concepts in the given framework. The elements of dance used within this teaching resource are adapted from the Dance Education Initiative Curriculum Guide, (2004). The five elements of dance are; Body, Action, Space, Time and Energy. The first element of Body covers areas such as; parts of the body, the initiation of the body, different body patterns, body shapes, body systems and the inner self of the dancer. Action Is the second dance element, which categorises into two areas of locomotor and non-locomotor. Working closely alongside the element of action is ‘space’. The element of Space covers; size, place, level, direction, orientation, pathway and relationships. The fourth element of Time varies from clock time of seconds, minutes or hours, to timing relationships; e.g. before, after, or in unison. Lastly is Energy, a fundamental of dance movement, which covers areas like weight, flow and quality of movement. This dance resource covers the depths of each element through the words used to describe and categorise movement. Students use these words as stimuli to create a short movement sequence which will further incorporate all five elements. Language is used to initiate, motivate, explain, and interpret the movement and dance. Asking students to

HMALS2005 Creative Movement Task 3 Dance Teaching resource

Emily Kuik 30094578

brainstorm words associated with each element will further engage and spark their creativity with the task and from here these movement elements and the words associated become relevant language within the dance class.

Peer teaching

Peer teaching is when students teach students, rather than the teacher teaching students all the time. Peer teaching began in 1795 created by Scotsman Andrew Bell. It was then brought into English schools in the 19th century, and has been very popular in schools ever since. (Briggs & Briggs, 2014). There are many benefits of peer teaching; students enjoy learning from one another, they develop relationships while feeling more comfortable; they can create a better understanding with a student of the same age and the teaching student is also learning by teaching their peers. (Briggs & Briggs, 2014).With the benefits come a few other things to consider; it is important that the student teaching, knows their information and content they are going to teach well enough, this is to ensure students stay on task. Each peer teacher can teach differently so it is important to give all students a go. Peer feedback is fundamental to the process to ensure the peer teachers know about the things they taught really well, or areas they could change next time. Linking this to dance, Shu-Ying, (2012) states that ‘In dance, as well as other areas of learning, to achieve effective learning, teachers need to be able to fashion inspiring learning environments and provide relevant guidelines for making, performing, and appreciating the art form within which artistic ideas can be explored.’ Relevant to this, Vygotsky (1978) stressed that development does not happen in isolation, but takes place when children interact with the social environment. He created the term “Zone of Proximal Development” (ZPD) to describe children’s cognitive growth, describing it as: The distance between “the actual development level” as determined by independent problem solving and “the level of potential development” as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers. Demonstration by teachers is an important tool when they want to clarify an idea or activity, or challenge the children’s ability to move or create. A student teaching one another raises the developmental level as students are collaborating with each other, sharing ideas and creating relationships. The effectiveness of demonstration by children and interaction with peers resonates with Vygotsky’s idea of the Zone of Proximal Development, as described above. ‘Such interaction with peers is important in personal development, including the fostering of self-esteem and inter-personal skills, including leadership, negotiation, and group problem-finding and problem-solving, the latter both important aspects of creativity.’ (Shu-Ying, 2012). Gigure, (2011) states that ‘While individualism is part of the creative practice, others are frequently involved in the process, often in the beginning stages of idea development.’ When using this teaching resource, students will be taking leadership of different areas within their groups, negotiating different movements to use, developing relationships with other peers while building their own movement confidence by demonstrating to their group and other class peers.

HMALS2005 Creative Movement Task 3 Dance Teaching resource

Emily Kuik 30094578

Adaptation/differentiation - Student on the Spectrum

‘Creating and performing dances should be an integral part of the dance learning process for students of all capabilities.’ (Lorenzi, 2010). Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder that involves problems in communication, social interaction, narrow interests, and repetitive behaviors. (Neuburger, 2012). The disorder is a spectrum; meaning people with autism have an extensive range of symptoms. The core approach for people with autism is called Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). In general, ABA is a method of teaching skills and behaviors to people with autism by breaking tasks down into very small, sequential steps. This teaching resource caters for this by having each individual dance element colour coded, making a specific pathway of the task for each group by creating a movement for each of the colours/elements. Autism is specific because is involves problems in all domains; categories’ of symptoms are defined as (a) qualitive impairment in social interaction; (b) impairments in communication; and (c) restricted, repetitive stereotyped behaviour, interests and activities. Using dance can be an excellent way to encourage and facilitate communication for students on the spectrum. ‘All people, whether on the autism spectrum or not, can benefit from dance/movement therapy’. (Neuburer, 2012) . Dance movement therapy is one way to connect with some students with ASD. The aim is to get students moving, thinking, feeling and creating. Dance can be a refreshing, fulfilling activity for children on the autism spectrum, not because it’ will change behaviors, but because it offers a positive, enjoyable life experience. (Neuburger, 2012). The connection between DMT, the dance elements and this resource will encourage students to use their creativity. The visual connections of colour are used to help structure of the task ahead for a student with ASD. Students on the spectrum may struggle to understand what is being asked if they did not have a further cue or prompt for their task. This second prompt will be a linking coloured ‘element chart’ which will be placed on the wall, each one with a specific dance element labelled on it. Using the coloured icy pole sticks and asking students to pick each colour gives them ownership of their learning, which can be particularly important for students with ASD. Modifications for the students would be as simple as asking the student to create on their own, still using the same stimuli, or taking the ‘animal’ element away.

HMALS2005 Creative Movement Task 3 Dance Teaching resource

Emily Kuik 30094578

SECTION TWO - TEACHING RESOURCE

Explanation:

This resource is created to use in conjunction with a lesson teaching students about ‘The elements of dance’; Time, Space, Energy, Action and Body. The resource is created for ACARA level 4 and above, where the depth of understanding about the dance elements grows each year. The resource is designed to be simple enough that it could be used as a quick transition activity within a dance class where students need to pick a ‘action’ word to move from one activity to another; the action words would all be one colour of icy pole stick, and each student would have a different word as stimuli for their movement. The coloured icy pole sticks are designed to be lifelong and portable enough for any teacher to use in any space they may have free. The five elements represented for the colours of the icy pole sticks are as follows: Red= Time; Blue= Space; Yellow= Energy; Orange= Action; Purple= Body. The last colour is Green – Animals. Where students would pick out a stick with a name of an animal on it for further stimuli to create their dance.

How to use:

Introduce the five dance elements to the students by sticking up the five coloured posters on the mirrors/board. Engage students in a discussion about each element and what they think it entails. Ask students to think o words that might help to represent that dance element. Try and encourage students to think outside the box- for example, when talking about the element Space, raise the linking word of relationships and further to that, words like alone/connected. This can help to encourage students to go deeper in their learning about the elements and linking it to movement, ask how they

HMALS2005 Creative Movement Task 3 Dance Teaching resource

Emily Kuik 30094578

could express that. Pair students up, and ask them to pair up with another pair. In their groups of 4, ask one student to come up and pick out one of each colour icy pole sticks then return to their group. Students will have 5 words, each of which will link to the dance elements, and a sixth word which will be their animal. Explain to students that they are to use all these words to create a short 16 count movement sequence. The green icy pole sticks with the animal are to be used as an extra element to incorporate. Once students have created their creative dance, group them to another group of four, and ask students to teach their routine to the other group and if possible join them together. Students then perform their creative dance to the class.

Where it can be utilized:

This teaching resource will be most effective when teaching dance to students at a level 4 and above. The Australian Curriculum, (2015) states that students working at a level 4 in dance; extend their awareness of the body as they explore and experiment with directions, time, dynamics and relationships, while extending their fundamental movement skills by adding and combining more complex movements. (ACARA, 2015). This resource will need to be used in an open space where students have a safe area to move and create. The idea of using the icy pole sticks as a ‘draw card’ system can be used in many other classes when teaching a concept to students. For example in a physical education class, the teacher may need to draw out different skill points for a particular movement or sport for students to learn or demonstrate, this recourse idea provides a clear and fair way of doing this.

How it addresses assigned components:

The assigned components of peer teaching creative movement and having a student on the spectrum I feel work well together. Students with ASD lack many communication skills that are needed in a classroom, along with the social skills to interact and initiate the communication. Using the dance elements as a focus point for students helps to initiate, produce and cover the creative movement component, as students are required to create based on a small amount of stimuli. Relating this to students with ASD, creative movement can become an excellent tool for them to communicate through dance and movement. They have the opportunity to express feelings, thoughts and emotions through their movement, which they may not have been able to express otherwise. Using peer teaching can also help to build the social skills that students with ASD may lack. They are provided with an opportunity to learn from their peers, which can be a fundamental bridge they may need in order to build a friendship or social relationship with classmates. The resource addresses the needs of students with ASD by being a visual and tactile resource. The colour codes provide structure to the task and further link to the dance element posters for the board. This structure can be important for students on the spectrum as tasks not specific or structured enough can sometimes trigger an outburst from students. The concept of the dance elements in itself is a structured concept that hopefully students with ASD could understand as the fundamentals of movement and in particular creative movement.

HMALS2005 Creative Movement Task 3 Dance Teaching resource

Emily Kuik 30094578

Ways it could be adapted:

This teaching resource could easily be adapted to suit a younger or an older level of students. To modify the task to extend students or provide them an extra challenge the icy pole sticks with names of animals on them could be removed. Students would not have an extra idea to create with, and would then be creating their own movement piece just using the dance elements. ACARA, (2015), states that, students working at a level four level will ‘structure movements into dance sequences and use the elements of dance and choreographic devices to represent a story or mood’. From this, students could also pick their own words associated to each dance element and create a piece with more counts and possibly even to represent a story.

To modify the resource to suit a lower level or younger students, the teacher could provide students with diagrams of movements associated with the dance element words, or even provide them with certain movements they have to include. The teacher could also pick out the words from each colour coded dance element for the students, ensuring they will flow from one another easily. Some other variations could be to shorten the amount of counts students are to create, or group the students into larger groups.

REFERENCES

Bergman, S. (1995). Creative dance in the Education Curriculum: Justifying the Unambiguous. In Canadian journal of education. 20(2), 157-160.

Briggs, S. and Briggs, S. (2014). How Peer Teaching Improves Student Learning and 10 Ways To Encourage It - InformED. [online] InformED. Available at: http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/peer-teaching/ [Accessed 20 Oct. 2015].

Buamgarten, S. (2011). What forms of dance should be taught in physical education? In Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 82(3), 55-55, DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2011.10598599

Dance Education Initiative Curriculum Guide, (2004). The Dance Elements. Perpich Center for Arts Education

Davies, M. (2003). Movement and dance in early childhood (2nd

Ed.). London, UK: Paul Chapman Publishing.

Giguere, M. (2011). Dancing thoughts: an examination of children’s cognition and creative process in dance. In Research in Dance Education, 12(1), 5-28, DOI: 10.1080/14647893.2011.554975

Laban, R. (1948). Modern educational dance. London, UK: Macdonald & Evans.

HMALS2005 Creative Movement Task 3 Dance Teaching resource

Emily Kuik 30094578

Lorenzi. D. G. (2010). What is the role of dance in the secondary physical education program? In: Ideas Exchange, Strategies: A Journal for Physical and Sport Educators. 24(2), 6-9, DOI: 10.1080/08924562.2010.10590915

Neuburger, S. (2012). Dance Movement therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder? An Investigation. Retrieved on 20th October. Retrieved from: https://dance.barnard.edu/sites/default/files/sonia_neuberger_0.pdf

Shu-Ying, L. (2012). The use of scaffolding in the teaching of creative dance by kindergarten teachers. In Dance, young people and change: proceedings of the daCi and WDA Global Dance Summit. Taipei National University of the Arts. Retrievd on October 20th, Retrieved from; http://www.ausdance.org

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.