Jess- Music and Fox Workshop

Hi Merian!

I agree with your comment about the usefulness of drama as a medium to engage children in the big issues. I also think that it is useful to provoke exploration of personal issues and identity (Bird, Donelan, Freebody, O’Toole,  & Sinclair, 2012, p. 65).

I love watching the children at my preschool explore social behaviours through their dramatic play. I’m always amazed at how they develop their unique personalities as they experiment and observe how others respond to their behaviours!

I were conducting a workshop about Fox or another story with primary age students, I think that I would definitely include less parts in the lesson. I think how much is included in the lesson depends on the year level of the students. In my experiences with children up to grade 3, I’ve discovered that they need a lot of time to get things done and to transition between activities.

I like the role-play strategy used in the Fox workshop, and would use this as I think it would help the children identify with the characters and explore the themes (in the case of Fox, abandonment, loneliness, friendship etc.). This would also enable them to explore the social and emotional consequences of different actions, thus encouraging their intellectual and social development (Bird et al., 2012, p. 66) without having to face the consequences of those actions (Toye & Prendiville, 2000, p. 11).

Music (Week 3)

I enjoyed Campbell’s (2005) article about ‘deep listening’. In the article, Campbell (2005) makes the observation that children are living in ‘surround-sound’ environments often educators are required to bring children’s listening attention to music and encourage a fuller involvement with it (p. 30).

Inspired by the ideas from Campbell’s (2005) article, I encouraged my preschool students to listen to various forms of music and discuss what they thought they could hear and how it made them feel. Later we made a soundscape of a land filled with dinosaurs (a huge current interest of the boys), which was filled with the roars, stomping and swishing necks and tails. After experimenting with the sounds made by their own bodies, I provided percussion instruments and asked the children to think about representing animal sounds using the different instruments. As they became comfortable with their sound, and with my encouragement, a rhythm emerged. I recorded the soundscape so they could listen at other times during the week. The children enjoyed the experience so much; they conducted their own soundscapes during free-play times.

Additionally, the experience has given me confidence to explore the use of music further in learning contexts.

Thanks for sharing your Lorax experience, Merian!

Jess.

P.s - See Jess Arts Experiences for my personal music exploration.