Today was my final day returning to Priestnall to observe the drama and dance department. Today I spent the majority of the day with Mr Dever shadowing the Drama department before observing the lunch time extra curricular dance club and Year 11 GCSE dance.
Unfortunately during the dance showcase tech run yesterday evening the sound system wasn't working. This meant that whenever Mrs Morrison or Mr Dever had some spare time, their focus was to ensure that the sound system would be working in time for the dress rehearsal which was taking place that evening. This has taught me the skill that sometimes as a teacher unforeseen problems may arise and you must think quickly and on your toes as to how you can adapt the lessons you had planned in order to solve and overcome any problem that may occur.
The first 2 lessons of the day were a Year 8 and Year 7 drama class. They were set on a task to go into smaller groups and to create a devised piece of theatre. Similarly, to yesterdays drama lesson I had to interact with each group to ensure they were working on the task at hand, and to offer any feedback and suggestions that would have improved their work. My skills in working collaboratively with the students have continued to develop since yesterday as I felt more confident in my ability to offer suitable feedback with an authoritative stance whilst continuing to maintain a friendly, kind and helpful undertone.
The next lessons of the day were 2 different Year 9 drama classes. As the sound system still wasn't working, Mr Dever had to place his focus on ensuring that it would be fixed in time for the dress rehearsal. However, under these circumstance the lessons with the Year 9 classes were still educational and informative as Billy Elliot the musical: Live was watched. Soon, the students in Year 9 will be picking the subjects they wish to continue at GCSE so this lesson acted as an introduction to the theoretical side of drama GCSE. From this lesson, I have learnt that you can adapt any situation you may be in and still have a productive and informative lesson. Putting on a DVD can still be educational and it varies up the style of lessons a student is in, meaning they remain interested and are more likely to learn something new.
This lunchtime I decided to observe the lunch time dance club to see if their are any differences of teaching style between curriculum lessons and extra curricular activities. I noticed that the extra-curricular lunch time dance club had a more casual undertone as the students were wearing their school uniform rather than their dance kits in order to save time and spend as much time as possible in the studio. Whilst this wasn't as formal as a lesson, I noticed that it is still important that the teacher-student dynamic is kept in tact and their is still a sense of authority in the room. I found it interesting to see the difference between an extra-curricular dance club and a dance lesson as their was more of a focus on reaching the objective of refining the dances in the dance club and less focus on behaviour as there would be in a lesson.
After the lunch time dance club, a Year 11 student stay behind to work with Mrs Morrison on her group choreography for her GCSE dance exam that was taking place next week. Here, it was interesting to see how the dynamic changed between teaching a whole class in comparison to a one on one session. During this session Mrs Morrison and the student worked together as a team in order to add improvements to the dance and to potential raise the standard of the dance so the student could potentially reach a higher grade. I learnt that it is important ensure that all suggestions a teacher may make are appropriate and suitable. When you are in the teacher role in an one on one session you also become an advisor, that needs to be approachable and helpful as well as creating an environment where the student feels comfortable to provide their own suggestions.
A time lapse of my 30 minute stretch.
Once I returned home from Priestnall I continued to work on my flexibility by doing a 30 minute stretch. This time I decided to put some music on and do my own stretches rather than follow a video. By doing this I am control of which specific stretches I decided to do and how long I hold them for. By having this control over my stretching routine I am able to adapt my stretches depending on which area of flexibility I need to work on. For example, my right leg is my weaker leg in terms of flexibility so I need to hold my stretches on the right side for longer in order for my level of flexibility to be equal on both sides.
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