The Arts

2. DAY 1: MUSIC
Music was the only subject I was anxious about participating in due to my lack of knowledge and experience, but I was
eager to learn so I am able to successfully implement music into my teaching pedagogy.
Gabrielle explained how to read the basic notes (Ti- Ti and Ta’s) in a way which I could understand and put into practise
throughout the different activities. I hope I can teach my students these skills so they get ‘ah ha’ moments like I did. The
activity which stood out for me was the song Bow Wow Wow as it was great way to get comfortable with peers and was
able to focus on multiple elements of music including, beat, rhythm, melody and harmony.
As a music teacher I see myself as a facilitator, rather than an expert by providing many opportunities for children to
express themselves and explore their creative sides through music. I would do this in an open ended way to allow students
of all abilities to enter and exit the activity at their own rate. I will also ensure I plan lessons around the students personal
interests to make the lesson engaging. For example, using modern songs that the students are familiar with suitable for
both genders.

3. DAY 2: MEDIA ARTS
Before During AfterMedia arts plays a major role in modern day society as it is all around us from memes
to Instagram to advertisements. It involves creating representations of the world and
telling stories through communications technologies such as television, photos,
videos, newspaper and social media (Australian Curriculum 2016).
Therese has equipped me with some great concepts to teach my future students in
media art. We focused on photography elements such as angles, lighting, and camera
shots. We also discovered the grid setting for the rule of thirds which involves dividing
up your image using 2 horizontal lines and 2 vertical lines, to position the important
elements in your scene along those lines, or at the points where they meet. After this
learning experience we went back out to put our newly learnt skills into practise. The
photo on the right is an example of the improvement of effectiveness.
As an arts educator, I see myself integrating media arts within all my subjects as an
option for diverse learners to present their work.

4. DAY 2: DRAMA
Drama is where we actively use body, gesture, movement, voice and language, taking on roles to explore and
depict real and imagined worlds. As we discovered from class discussions Drama is an area which a lot of people
feel uncomfortable with, however Shaan demonstrated how we can develop a consistent framework when
teaching drama. This includes:
• Develop stop/start strategy to gain students attention immediately
• Circle
• Task explanation
• Warm up activity
• Skills exploration
• Cool down
A skills exploration activity that we had a go at was freeze frame as shown in the images on the right. We looked
at how important body language, positioning and facial expressions are when performing. This is done by
freezing the frame of a particular scene and the audience has to guess the scenario.
Before this workshop I could see myself only integrating drama into literacy lessons by students performing
scenes from a books etc. Now as an arts educator I feel confident to incorporate drama into my curriculum as an
isolated subject to teach students explicit skills.
Freeze Frame 1
Freeze Frame 2

5. DAY 3: DANCE
Coming into the dance workshop, I felt fairly confident in my ability to teach dance as I
had done it in other courses. However Jess demonstrated many activities we can do to
teach the different elements of art. For example:
Body – body connections
Energy – partner mirroring
Space – ribbons
Time – freeze game
Relationships – clumps
This was a valuable experience for my future teaching practise as I can use each element
throughout a whole unit of work. All the activities were open ended and adaptable for all
year levels. The video on the right demonstrates a performance we put together using a
range of the elements we learnt, which could be used as an assessment piece at the end
of the unit.
As an arts educator I will ensure that I create an environment where my students feel safe
and comfortable to express themselves through dance. I will do this by creating enough
space, and planning lessons which are inclusive for all students interests, learning needs
and cultural practices.

6. DAY 3: VISUAL ARTS
I was excited going into the visual arts workshop as I always
enjoyed it in school. However I did not have a great deal of
knowledge about how and what to teach. I was amazed when I
discovered how many elements there are. My group created a
piece which demonstrated the element of contrast through
different textures as shown in the image on the right. This task
proved how much problem solving is involved, throughout the
planning and creating process.
After this workshop I feel like I will be able to teach visual arts
authentically instead of just getting students to complete an
artwork without any skills meaning and purpose.

7. CREATING AN INCLUSIVE ARTS ENVIRONMENT
• Open ended tasks
• Multiple entry and exit points
• Gender inclusive/neutral
• Culturally inclusive
• Adaptable for individual abilities/needs
• Tailored to student interests
• Range of teaching methods to suit all learning styles

8. ISSUES THAT IMPACT ON ARTS EDUCATION
IN CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIA
Arts is undervalued in both the community and
school and is seen as a privilege or only for extra-
curricular activities (less important).
(Boyd 2018).
After engaging in all the workshops, panel
sessions and lectures as well as doing further
research, I have learned how important the arts is
and how many benefits it has for student learning.
There is a myth in the educational community that
all arts forms are the same so all elements of the
Arts have been condensed into the one time slot.
(Boyd 2018).
I will take every opportunity to integrate it into other subject areas
as well as prioritising time to teach explicit skills within each
element of the arts. I will involve families and the community to
celebrate the end product of students successes within the arts and
to showcase what skills the students have developed to try and
decrease the stigma and to make it a regular and normal thing in
schooling.