Curriculum connections

Curriculum: The Creative Process

                                  

According to The Ontario Ministry of Education (2009) students are expected to learn and use the creative process to help them acquire and apply the knowledge and skills in the arts. This creative process is supposed to be integrated with the critical analysis process I will explain below. As students and teachers become more comfortable with this process they will be able to consciously move through stages. Every student can be creative and sometimes this process is more about asking the right questions instead of getting the right answer. Teachers have an influence on the learning happening going on in their classroom based on the atmosphere created. Research shows that students may complete the full cycle, but sometimes it may only get to the exploring and experimenting phase which is the most critical phase for students to learn.


Initial Reaction 
Students are encouraged to express their first impression as it is the starting point for investigation and discovery. First reactions can be useful for later evaluations. Some sample guiding questions include:
- What is your first impression?
-What does this work bring to mind?
-What does this work remind you of?
-What do you feel? What emotional does this work evoke?

Description
Students are asked to brainstorm everything they see or hear in the work through ideas, images, and elements. This list should be very simple as they are just describing their observations. Some sample guiding questions include:
- What do you see when you examine the work closely?
-What grabs your attention in the work?
-What do you sense (see, hear, smell, feel, taste) when you examine the work?
-What stand out for you? What do you notice?

Analysis and Interpretation
Students will be trying to figure out what the artist has done to achieve these effects, such as the use of elements, materials and concepts. Students may look back to their first impressions and work towards personal interpretation and cultural studies information in this stage. Some sample guiding questions include:
-What elements and conventions of the art form are used in this work?
-How are the elements organized, combined, or arranged?
-How does the work evoke ideas, feelings, images?
-What do you think is the theme or subject of the work?

Expression of an Informed Point of View 
Students will compare their point of view after reflection and analysis of their initial reaction and make connections to other works of art they have seen or heard. Students will also reflect on if they have learned anything that they can apply to their own work. Some sample guided questions include:
- How effectively does the artist select and combine elements to achieve an intended effect in this work?
-What doesn't work and why?
-Has your point of view shifted from your initial reaction? If so, how has it changed?
-Have your thoughts or feelings about the work changed since your first impressions? If so, how have they changed?

Consideration of Cultural Context 
Everyone views the world and other issues differently, this can be based on their own beliefs, values and opinions. Students need to know that the arts isn't created in a vacuum, they reflect they personal, social and historical context of the artists. Knowing something about the context of the work can shed a whole new light on the piece. This approach gives teachers the opportunity to use authentic cultural information and inquiry based research that can add depth and meaning to the students work.  Some guiding questions include:
- Were working conditions for people in the arts more or less favourable at the time this artist lived than they are today? Why, and in what way? Are there viewpoints or voices that are left out or never heard in the works?
-Were you surprised by anything you discovered? If so, what?
-What interesting things did you learn about the artist's life and work? Is there something important that we need to know in order to understand the meaning of his or her work?

As a future educator, I want to ensure that all my students feel safe to take risks in the classroom as mistakes are not seen as a bad thing and be able to connect to material based on their own experiences. After reading through this process, I want to ensure that my students know there is no right way to get to an answer, there are actually multiple and everyone has a different thought process of getting there. The Ontario Ministry of Education states, "This is a good opportunity to remind students that different people may respond to the same work in different ways. Each person brings a particular cultural perspective and a unique personal history to experiences in the arts" (pg. 23). This quote is amazing and I feel like everyone should be told this. 

Deeper Understanding of Dance

These concepts are great to look back to and five the teacher an overall understanding of dance.

Powerful Strategies for Dance

Movement Exploration: guided and improvised movement explorations with the intent to develop a movement vocabulary
Elements of Dance/Fundamental Concepts: using the fundamental components of dance, which include the following: body, energy, relationship, time, space
Choreographic Forms:using the structures that organize movements such as call and response, canon, rondo, ABA, etc.
Role of Dance in Various Cultures; exploring a variety of dance forms and styles from the past and present and understanding their social and/or community contexts

Dance Literacy; using Dance to communicate ideas/themes from other disciplines and from life (Interdisciplinary)

Elements of Dance
The Elements of Dance should be the framework for every dance unit. Focus of the lessons should progress from the ways the body moves, to ways in which the uses of time and energy are developed in every body action, to ways in which the body uses the space around itself and with others. I have posted these elements within the classroom before so students can reflect on them as the unit is in progress. 

Curriculum expectations: A1. Creating and Presenting: design and demonstrate compositions of movement sequences and short dance pieces, using the elements of dance to communicate feelings and ideas. 

BODY	The instrument of Dance. The term body may also refer to the body’s position or shape, and, how the body is moving.
SPACE	The physical area in which the body moves. It is also the surrounding area of the body.
TIME	Time involves rhythm, tempo, accent and duration. Time can be based on measured beats or on body rhythms such as breath, emotions and heartbeat.
ENERGY	The force with which the body moves.
RELATIONSHIP	The way in which two or more dancers/props/body parts are connected

These were some fantastic activity ideas that were given to us for the junior level: 

1. Exploring the Element of Energy through strong versus light and, sudden versus sustained.

·      Students walk around the room and respond to teacher commands of “hit the deck”, “run for your life”, “walk through jello”, “swing”, etc. with actions that are strong, light, sudden and sustained. (Exploring with the Creative Action Words stimulates great movement ideas in these categories.) Teacher can accompany the students with a tambourine or recorded music. Repeat frequently and alternate the commands while making the music length and strength correspond to the desired movement.

·      Have the students explore and choose their own actions that they will attach to each command and music prompt.

·      Students will then be asked to create a phrase of movement that will correspond to certain musical prompts determined by the teacher.  They will use the actions they have chosen earlier and link them together depending on the determined music prompt. Start with 3 prompts and build on that if and when the students are able. It may look like this: “run for your life”, “perch”, “walk through jello”.

·      Reflect with the students on how the movement is different as an observer and how the movement feels as a performer.

2. Dances created by being driven by a theme or storyline.

Theme/Storyline: A snowflake crystalizes, gets pick up by the wind, travels over rooftops and under tree branches, then finally settles on the ground.

·      Students are asked to show their most creative snowflake shape with their body. Ask them to play and experiment until they are happy with their chosen body shape.

·      Tell the students you are giving them 10 counts to go from lying on the floor to crystalizing into their snowflake shape. Have them practice that sequence.

·      For the next sequence of the snowflake travelling on the wind, have them practicing travelling lightly on the wind in various pathways around the room, changing level as they imagine they are going over rooftops and under tree branches.

·      Have them practice the first 2 sequences together.

·      Tell the students to explore reducing speed and settling in a zig zag pathway as they settle to the ground. Ask them to end on the ground in their snowflake shape.

·      Now put all 3 sequences together to dance the story of the snowflake.

Now Flock It Out!

Flocking is a type of improvisation in which students move in groups with no set pattern or in a diamond formation. Within the diamond formation each person is facing the same direction, typically if you are staring at the wall and cannot see anyone else in your group, you are the leader. The leader is at the top of the diamond, whom everyone is facing. Other group members should only be watching the leader, as they will be following their movements. This is an extended version of mirroring. This strategy helps students learn about body-spatial awareness, coordination, guided dance and gross motor skills. 

I personally enjoyed this activity and think a lot of younger students would like it as well. I think this because no one is watching you dance other than when you are the leader and you get to decide how you want to lead for. Once the student turns to the side and another person is at the top of the diamond, they start to lead. This is great for kids that are shy because the attention is not on them and they get to get comfortable with the 3 other classmates they are flocking with. 

Below is a video demonstrating a flock! 

Curriculum expectations: 
Grade 6: A1.3 use guided improvisation in a variety of ways as a starting point for choreography (e.g., use exercises such as mirroring, flocking, and body storming to create movement material for choreography)