PART A: EDUC5142: ARTS EDUCATION

MICROTEACH DETAILED LESSON PLAN

Daniel Russ, Lauren Young, Daniel Whitcombe & Karly Neoh
Subject: Drama – A focus on Improvisation
Year level: 2 Duration: 15 minutes

STRANDS
Making Responding
By the end of the lesson students will be able to Participants in the lesson will contribute by making
produce sound effects using their voices, create sounds and actions in relation to their required
different movement within space and stay in role roles and activities. Students will help each other
for short improvisations. They will work feel confident to express their thoughts and
cooperatively with other small groups and the actions while building on their experiences and
whole class. knowledge.

GENERAL CAPABILITIES CROSS-CURRICULUM PRIORITIES

 Literacy  Ethical understanding  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
histories and cultures
 Numeracy ☑ Personal and social  Asia and Australia’s engagement with
competence Asia
 ICT Competence  Intercultural understanding  Sustainability
☑ Critical and creative thinking

Our ‘big concept’ is improvisation and movement expression within a role.

Rationale (what Exposing students to improvisation in this context is important because:

are the big - It allows students to practice movement in dramatic play to fulfil a role or establish
concepts and why
is the learning
a situation.
important?) - Promotes teamwork and collaborative work in creating dramatic action.
- Develop understanding of body and facial expressions to create roles.

 Explore role and dramatic action in dramatic play, improvisation and process drama
(ACADRM027)
Relevant Elaborations:
- Taking Turns in offering and accepting ideas, and staying in role in short
improvisations
- Exploring possibilities for role and situation when participating in whole group
teacher-led process drama and roleplay
- Considering viewpoints, forms and elements: For example – How did the
Content
Descriptions performers use their voices? What sort of movements did the performer use?
 Use voice, facial expression, movement and space to imagine and establish role and
situation (ACADRM028)
Relevant Elaborations:
- Communicating verbally by using the voice to explore and show role and situation
- Communicating non-verbally by using facial expression and movement to explore
and show role and situation
 Students will have prior knowledge of:

 Working cooperatively with their peers

Prior
 Understand how to improvise and use creativity
Knowledge
 Students will also have sound knowledge of the different kinds of machines from life
experience and lessons throughout their schooling

Small Group Activity

Students are seated on the floor in front of the teacher.
 Break students up into small groups of 3-4.
 Provide each group with a card picturing a certain type of machine (e.g. washing
machine, microwave, blender).
 Give students 20 seconds to come up with a set of actions to represent the machine
pictured on their card.
 Go around the class and have each group demonstrate their actions to the class. Allow
students to guess what machine they are acting out.
 Repeat the same activity, however this time allow students to include a sound effect
to go with their actions.
 Each group presents to the class and we guess what machine they are.
 Students begin to identify relationships between different machines working together
to produce an item or complete a process (e.g. a series of machines to produce bread).

Reflection
Prompt questions may include:
 What are some of the similarities/differences between the machines?
 How did you recognise parts of the machine to identify what it was?
`  What movements or shapes did the participants make to create this meaning?

Whole Class Activity

Students are standing in a large circle.
 Teachers will model the activity to students. Tell students that they will be building a
‘machine’
 Begin with one student in the middle of the circle making a noise and a simple
repeatable gesture.
 When the student has a rhythm the next student in the circle can jump in and add a
movement which connects to the first students’ gesture. Players must physically
connect, however they do not need to stay in order.
 Each student continues to join in with a new noise and gesture which connects to the
last persons’, until everyone is involved in creating the machine.

Reflection
Prompt questions may include:
 What machine do you think we have created?
 What was your part in making it?
 How could we make the machine run better?
 What happens when part of the machine is taken away?
 Small Group Activity
 A theme, other than machines, could be used to prompt students’ improvisation (e.g.
animals or water cycles). This could connect to other learning areas being studied at
the time.

Whole Class Activity

 You could begin the game with deciding on a type of machine and then have everyone
create it together (e.g. bubble gum machine, claw machine, bread maker, etc.)
 To maximise participation, instead of going around the circle, students could just jump
Variations in when they have an idea or when they feel comfortable.
 If students are struggling to come up with their own ideas, the teacher could begin by
guiding students into certain roles (e.g. student A you can be a wheel, student B you
can be a pole). Then you could progress to the original game once they feel more
confident and comfortable.
 You could remove students’ adding sound effects if the focus on the lesson is
movement and gestures.
 To increase difficulty of the activity you can play around with the speed of the machine
or slow it down to make it easier for students. This allows students to explore different
rhythms and team work.
Formative Assessment:
 Analyse student participation and communication methods (both individual and group
organisation)
Assessment  Students connect ideas from their other learning areas (English, Mathematics, Science,
D&T e.c.t) to inform their performances
 Students use their experiences to inform and develop their understandings about the
world and relationships between industries and their machines.

Cue cards of different machines, (including image and name of machine), to provide action
cues in first activity.
Preparation /
Examples may include: Camera, sewing machine, ATM, skill tester, printer, scanner, washing
Equipment
machine, toaster, motorbike, microwave, blender, fan, train and boat.

This lesson is a section of a HaSS lesson which explores the different types of
technology/machines students are familiar with. It would also include discussion about what a
machine is, ensuring all students have similar knowledge of the variety of functions machines
have. This would then lead to future lessons examining how technology has changed over
several generations.

The HaSS content descriptor this lesson will adhere to is:

Broader
 How changing technology affected people’s lives (at home and in the ways they
Learning
Experience worked, travelled, communicated and played in the past) ACHASSK046
- Examining changes in technology over several generations by comparing past and
present objects and photographs, and discussing how these changes have shaped
people’s lives (for example, changes to land, air and sea transport; the move from
wood-fired stoves to gas/electrical appliances; the introduction of transistors,
television, FM radio and digital technologies; how people shopped and what they
liked to buy, changes in the nature of waste and how waste is managed)
  HASS: History – Exploring machines from the past, comparing them with present
machines
Curriculum
 The Arts – Drama
Links
 D&T – Designing future machines
 Science – Exploring how pushes and pulls affect how machines work successfully
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2017). Drama. Available
from: < https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/the-arts/drama/>. Visited
Resources
16/04/18.
 PART A:
MICROTEACH EVALUATION
The activity was received with enjoyment and enthusiasm from the class, allowing us to consider it a successful lesson.
Contributing to this success, it was evident that the students achieved the specific learning outcomes relevant to the
task through our observational assessment. Students were overly expressive in their movements and sounds to produce
different improvisation scenes actively using their body, movement, gestures and voice (ACARA, 2017). They also
responded respectfully and enthusiastically to our instructions and demonstrations appreciating the scaffolding that we
provided. The planned activity was time appropriate with students remaining engaged and challenged throughout the
entire lesson.

The task could be modified to provide multiple opportunities for students with diverse interests, abilities and confidence
to enter and exit the activity (Dinham, 2014). Therefore, allowing them to feel more comfortable. This could be
incorporated through discussion with the class about being allowed to leave the machine if it is too loud or crammed.
Furthermore, because drama is a diverse subject, there can be suitable learning opportunities and dramatic roles found
for all students based on their strengths, interests and confidence (Dinham, 2014). Students could therefore film or
direct if they were uncomfortable during the activity.

Use of technology could have also enhanced the learning outcomes of students by supporting and building upon our
teaching (Roy et al, 2015). We could have presented videos of different machines, provoking further student thoughts
and ideas. Playing music was also suggested, which could aid in producing a specific mood or atmosphere conducive to
the activity (Dinham, 2014).

As a group we taught and managed the class successfully. My individual contribution to whole class instructions was
successful in explaining the first task succinctly but effectively. My group also contributed to the explanation, but I
believe if I were on my own I would have taught equally as successfully. My idea to use cue cards also provided the
activity with more structure and ease (Roy et al, 2015). Furthermore, students appreciated that we would model the
activities for them, providing clearer ideas of the task. I managed organising the students into groups using a strategy
which was creative, fast and promoted the formation of diverse groups. This contributes to developing social skills
through working with different people (Dinham, 2014). I found this more effective and challenging for the students than
allowing groups to be microteaching groups.

My goals for improvement would be to:

- Gain more confidence when explaining tasks
-Have better control over excited students
- Be more assertive in groups allowing me to contribute to teaching more
- Project my voice more effectively

This experience enabled me to see improvements that I can make to my arts teaching, particularly within my class
presence during a loud and exciting lesson. It also provided insight into the positives and negatives that come with team
teaching, and what I need to adjust and consider to work more successfully in groups.

REFERENCE LIST

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2017). Music. Available from: <
https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/the-arts/>

Dinham, Judith 2014, Delivering authentic arts education, 2nd edition, Cengage Learning, South Melbourne, Victoria

Roy, David M. S & Baker, William James, (author.) & Hamilton, Amy, (author.) 2015, Teaching the arts : early childhood
and primary education, Second edition, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, VIC, Australia
 PART B & C:
SCENARIO

Cody and his two best friends have attended the local school in their zone since they were in 2yrs old. The
large school in the southern suburbs has 1800 students across ECE, preschool, junior primary, primary and
secondary campuses. Like a large percentage of the families at this school Cody’s family are on school card
subsidy. This has an impact on the school’s decisions about planning excursions and external programs. An
increasing number of his classmates are new arrivals, though the percentage is not particularly high. A feature
of the first term curriculum each year is a focus on identity, resilience, bullying and harassment. One of Cody’s
friends has been diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum, and during his time at the school there has
been advice available to his teachers but no physical support in the classroom. His friend at times finds the
noise levels hard to work in, getting agitated and needing a safe place to withdraw to.

The school is located on a 12-hectare site so there are ample opportunities for Cody and his friends to be
outdoors, a park-like space with several play areas and ovals, and the school facilities have recently been
upgraded to include a separate Primary multi-purpose hall. Primary students are permitted to use the small
100-seat performance theatre and the specialist music, drama and dance spaces by consultation with the
secondary staff, though time is limited.

Under one administration, the learning programs across all campuses are aligned. The ECE and preschool
teachers had provided Cody’s cohort with a good grounding for the Arts. Dance, drama and music
performances and visual arts displays are presented by the older students, at times specially for the younger
ones. Technology is widely available at this school, and Cody has access to a Primary computer space, class
set of iPads and a rich and progressive library. There are significant pathways offered in the areas of
technology, media and design as Cody moves through toward secondary study. Open-plan classrooms have
access to wet areas for Visual Arts activities but supplies are limited by classroom budgeting.

The primary curriculum is based on the Australian Curriculum. No specialist arts teaching is offered.
Classroom teachers in the Primary campus present the other arts subjects as part of their general program,
often using integrated approaches. Students in years 4-7 may opt to take part in the Primary Schools Festival
Choir as singers, instrumental musicians or dancers. Students may take part in Wakakiri programs when
members of staff are available to lead this. The school hosts a Hub Band run by the DECD Instrumental
Music Service for children from year 5-7, in conjunction with the secondary music specialists. Numbers are
limited and places are available to all schools whose students feed into the secondary campus. Limited
private instrumental lessons are also available through the secondary music program.
 PART B:
LESSON PLAN
Subject: Music
Year level: 2 Duration: 40 Minutes

STRANDS
Making Responding
Students improvise, compose, arrange and perform music. Students communicate about the music they listen to,
make and perform and where and why people make
music.
Students will produce animal noises using their voices
combined with creative movement. They will improvise During the lesson the students will respond to the beat
using body percussion and voice. They will also work paired with teacher prompts with creativity and
cooperatively and collaboratively with other small groups enthusiasm. They will respond to each other with
and the whole class to produce a class beatbox. supportive and encouraging gestures and words.
GENERAL CAPABILITIES CROSS-CURRICULUM PRIORITIES
 Literacy  Ethical understanding  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
histories and cultures
☑ Numeracy ☑ Personal and social competence  Asia and Australia’s engagement with
Asia
 ICT Competence  Intercultural understanding  Sustainability
☑ Critical and creative thinking

The ‘big concept’ of this lesson is improvisation.

Improvisation is a key concept in music, contributing to developing students’ musical

independence and creativity (Roy et al., 2015). It promotes self-expression, creates a sense of
accomplishment and develops self-esteem (Dinham, 2014). Incorporating improvisation in lessons
Rationale (what provides students with the freedom to experiment and explore their musical creativity and
are the big
compose music which is personal, expressive and meaningful to them (Higgins & Campbell, 2010).
concepts and why
is the learning
important?) The school plays a prominent part in providing opportunity for children’s musical exploration and
experimentation. It is therefore important for classroom teachers to provide a variety of
experiences allowing their students to express their musical creativity through improvisation,
particularly when a specialist music teacher is not available (Higgins & Campbell, 2010; Whitcomb,
2013).

Create compositions and perform music to communicate ideas to an audience ACAMUM082

Relevant Elaborations:
- choosing and combining sounds to create compositions, for example, combining pitch
Content and rhythm patterns
Descriptions
- improvising patterns of body movement, such as clapping or stamping, and creating
accompaniments to familiar music
- improvising with voices and sound sources to express actions, thoughts and feelings
 Links with other subjects:

DANCE
Explore, improvise and organise ideas to make dance sequences using the elements of dance
ACADAM001

DRAMA
Use voice, facial expression, movement and space to imagine and establish role and
situation ACADRM028

Students will have prior knowledge of:

 Working cooperatively with their peers

Prior  Understand how to improvise and use creativity
Knowledge  The difference between rhythm and beat
 The sounds that different animals make

After this lesson, students are expected to:

 Have a clearer understand the difference between beat and rhythm
Learning  Feel more confident in improvisation and musical exploration
Outcomes  Have composed their own rhythm developed through improvisational activities
 Feel comfortable and confident in sharing their composition to the class

 Students will be assessed through observation during this lesson

 The teacher can notice students who find the activity challenging through completion of
the first activity
Assessment  The teacher can then provide more assistance to these students throughout the remainder
of the lesson continuing to observe and assist the other students too
 Direct feedback will be provided by the teacher, to encourage and improve students lesson

 Have a large open space ready where the students can walk around freely and sit in a large
circle (move all tables and chairs to the side)
 A SmartBoard with speaker system attached
 The lesson should occur in a safe environment where the students feel comfortable to
Preparation/
Equipment make silly noises and act like animals
 Prepare the class to be supportive and encouraging to each other in all lessons, but they
might need a reminder before this lesson

Activity Timing

Clapping improvisation
Students are seated in a large circle 10 minutes
 Sitting in a large circle allows all to be seen whilst creating a sense of
The Lesson
Sequence democracy in which the facilitator has no clear elevated status therefore
allowing students to feel more comfortable and confident (Higgins &
Campbell, 2010)
 Tell students that they will create their own rhythm of clapping to a 4
beat
 Provide an example
  Count aloud to a 4/4 beat allowing the students to experiment with their
own rhythms
 Instruct children to stand up and they may now use other body
percussion (stomping, hands on legs, clicking)

Play the Animal Beatbox YouTube video

Students are in front of the Smartboard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxiSP_ch_oI 10 minutes
 Instruct the children to listen to the music and rhythm patterns
 Play the video once
 Tell students you will play the video again but this time they can clap,
stamp and create body movements to the song, again listening to the
rhythm
 Allow students to be standing up and moving around the room for the
second play
 Play the video again
 Discuss what they think about the beat of the beatbox?
 Discuss if they hear a different rhythm in the music?
 Ask why they think they have made the rhythm like this rather than just
saying the animal’s names on each beat?
 Explain to students that the class will make their own animal beatbox,
except they will use animal noises instead of names

Improvise animal noises

Students are spread across the room
 Allow them to walk around the room making animal noises
 Encourage students to include actions and expression through movement 10 minutes
 Provide prompts; ‘Maybe you’re a snake, tiger or elephant?’
 List off many different animals to give students lots of ideas
 Introduce a 4/4 beat
 Instruct the students to make their noises to the beat in their own
rhythm
 Provide an example ‘(Rawr), (Meow-Meow), (Squeak), (Rawr)’ repeating
it

Create an animal sound Beatbox

Students are seated in a large circle 10 minutes
 Have each student make an animal noise as you move around the circle
to the beat of your clapping
 Go around the circle a second time but challenging students to try not to
repeat an animal noise already made
 Clap to a 4/4 beat
 Instruct the students to make animal noises to the beat in their own
rhythm like the previous activity
 Tell students that you will go around the circle again, so every student
can share their animal rhythm (creating a big animal Beatbox)
 Provide students a moment to practise
 Clap the beat allowing the students to perform their Animal Beatbox!
  Students will be provided with clear modelling with the teacher regularly providing
examples and prompts
 Sound cancelling headphones would be available for students who are sensitive to noise
 Spaces of ‘safety’ such as near the teacher’s desk would be offered to students who
Supporting struggle with Autism where they can still be included in the lesson
Diverse  If students feel uncomfortable they are allowed to sit on an iPad and play an interactive
Learners music game
 If students do not feel comfortable sharing their rhythm they may clap, hum, nod or be
silent during their 4 beats to share

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2017). Music. Available
from: < https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/the-arts/>. Visited 16/05/18.

Dinham, Judith 2014, Delivering authentic arts education, 2nd edition, Cengage Learning, South
Melbourne, Victoria

Higgins, L & Campbell, PS 2010, Free to be musical group improvisation in music, Rowman &
Littlefield Education, Lanham, MD.
Resources
Roy, David M. S & Baker, William James, (author.) & Hamilton, Amy, (author.) 2015, Teaching the
arts : early childhood and primary education, Second edition, Cambridge University Press, Port
Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Whitcomb, R 2013, 'Teaching Improvisation in Elementary General Music: Facing Fears and
Fostering Creativity', Music Educators Journal, vol. 99, no. 3, pp. 43-50.
 PART C:
UNIT OF INQUIRY

LAUREN YOUNG
So we think we can… DANCE
Year 2
Overview Statement
This unit works towards introducing dance elements through improvisational activities working towards creative
choreography. Improvisation is considered an established technique within dance education by many teachers
(Biasutti, 2013). It allows students to self-express, develop creativity, explore movements and develop self-esteem
(Dinham, 2014). Developing aspects of improvisational dance will allow students to explore their abilities and ideas
contributing to more confidence in creative choreography (Roy et al, 2015).

Links to Curriculum
The unit provides links with all strands of the Dance curriculum. It also has links to science, English, drama and music
in numerous activities throughout the unit (ACARA, 2017).

Prior Knowledge

Students have been involved with dance since ECE. In reception they had a ‘big concept’ of body parts and in year one
they explored ‘Dances of the World’ focusing on sequences. They have briefly covered different elements of dance
but have little experience with improvisation in dance.

Unit Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this unit the year 2 students will be able to describe the effect of the elements in dance they make,
perform and view and why people dance. The students will be able to use the elements of dance to improvise,
choreograph and perform dance sequences that demonstrate fundamental movement skills to represent ideas.
Students will also know how to demonstrate safe practice (ACARA, 2017).

General capabilities Cross-Curriculum Priorities

Literacy
 Reading, examining literature Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and
Cultures
Numeracy
 Explore aboriginal dance and its purpose
 Count seconds and beats
ICT capability
 Use digital photography, use of iPads
Critical and creative thinking
 Use thinking skills, creating dance, improvising
Ethical behaviour
 Consider animal ethics when caring for the class pets
 Personal and social capability
 Communicate and collaborate with peers, remain
respectful and sensible in exciting environment
Intercultural understanding
 Appreciate how people from different cultures have
different dances

Learning Focus
Content Descriptors with Relevant Elaborations
Explore, improvise and organise ideas to make dance sequences using the elements of dance ACADAM001

 Exploring fundamental movements safely to improvise dance ideas, for example, running in a race, jumping like a
frog, stomping like a giant, rolling like a log, falling like an autumn leaf, floating like a cloud, gliding like a bird
 Considering viewpoints – forms and elements: For example – Which levels are you using in your dance? What sort
of movements did the dancers perform? What are they wearing? What kind of music are they dancing to?
 Experimenting with the elements of space, time, dynamics and relationships through movement, for example,
considering levels, tempo and dynamics
 Taking photos or videoing dance sequences to view and extend their dance ideas

Use fundamental movement skills to develop technical skills when practising dance sequences ACADAM002

 Practising and responding to a range of fundamental movements to music, for example, walking, running,
marching, galloping, skipping, crawling (locomotor); bending, stretching, twisting, turning (non-locomotor)
 Practising fundamental movements to begin to develop technical skills of body control, posture, strength, balance
and coordination, and responding to teacher’s feedback
 Developing awareness of and taking responsibility for safe dance practices, for example, being aware of self and
others in the dance space, moving with care, respecting others dancing in the space; awareness of the boundaries
of the dance space; awareness of their bodies’ needs, for example, getting a drink after dance activities for
hydration
 Recognising and accepting a teacher’s or classmates’ constructive feedback

Present dance that communicates ideas to an audience, including dance used by cultural groups in the community
ACADAM003

 Expressing ideas to an audience through movement, for example, showing contrasting dynamics by stamping
heavily and tip-toeing lightly, or using movement qualities such as slow controlled sinking to the floor to express
melting ice and sharp jerky movement to express a robot
 Considering viewpoints – meanings and interpretations: For example – What did this dance make you think
about? Did the dance movements remind you of anything? How are you communicating the ideas or intention in
this dance?

Respond to dance and consider where and why people dance, starting with dances from Australia including dances of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples ACADAR004

 Considering viewpoints – evaluations: For example – Why are these people dancing? Where are they dancing?
Where is this dance from?
 Assessment of student learning
 Students will be assessed in the last lesson with the assessment rubric provided
 The main assessment piece is the dance choreographed in pairs at the end of the unit, but other elements from
the unit will contribute to provide a fair assessment of ability
 The teacher can assess their teaching through reflection at the end of the unit answering the questions:
- ‘Did the students feel confident when they were improvising?’
- ‘What improvising opportunities were the students provided with?’
- ‘Were the students given opportunity to explore multiple elements of dance thoroughly?’

Supporting diverse learners

 Throughout the unit the teacher will provide clear demonstrations of dances to provide struggling students with
ideas and a model
 When teaching dances the teacher will provide support through modelling the dance, pointing to left and right
and calling out the moves (Dimham, 2014)
 If students are differently abled, the teacher will adapt the activity appropriately; encouraging any movement
that is possible
 Boys will be encouraged to dance. The teacher will avoid any negative language surrounding boys in dance that
suggests that it is feminine or ‘for girls’ (Gough, 1999)
 If the class has students who feel uncomfortable with body contact and close proximity, boundaries and rules will
be explained at the beginning of the unit (Gough, 1999)

The Lesson Sequence

Learning Resources and
Activity/Teaching Strategy
Outcomes Assessment
Dance Ground Rules Resources:
Dance:  Discuss with students how we can maintain a safe -Smart Board
Use fundamental environment to dance in and reasons this is important -Hard copy of SNAPS
movement skills to  Provide students with the rules (SNAPS) to follow during rules to place on wall
develop technical skills dance to establish sensible and safe behaviour (Dinham, -Music of teacher/
when practising dance 2014) class’s choice
sequences sources from
L ACADAM002 S Signals and instructions followed youtube, CD, spotify
E N Noise kept to a minimum
S Other subjects: A Attention given to the teacher and task Assessment:
S Science: The teacher will
P Personal space respected
O A push or a pull affects observe the students
S Sensible behaviour adopted throughout the
N how an object moves
or changes shape lesson to gauge their
ACSSU033 Warm up level of
O Students will explore the movement potential of their body understanding/
N through intrinsically challenging themselves following teacher ability
E prompts.
 Discuss with students why it is important to warm up This will contribute
 Have students stand in a neutral position to whether the
 Guide them through instructions allowing them to explore teacher makes any
changes to the unit.
what movement their body is capable of
 Include movements that focus across the body’s midline
If students were not
as able as expected
  Eg. ‘Touch your right knee with your left thumb’, ‘Curl the teacher may
your toes into a ball’, ‘jump as high as you can’, ‘Leap as provide additional
gracefully as possible’, ‘twist your body as much as you lessons about dance
can’, ‘Dance your silliest dance!’ elements and
 This activity could be presented as a modified game of provide more
‘Simon Says’ where students are not disqualified scaffolding

Improvisation games
Students will explore the dance elements of level, size and
speed through improvisational activity.
 Instruct students to imagine they have a ball
 The ball can be as big or small as possible
 Have them perform numerous actions with the ball
focusing on the size and speed of their actions
 Eg. ’Throw the ball as fast and high as you can in the
air’
 Discuss the different pushing and pulling actions
involved
 Instruct students to pair up and stand facing each
other
 With one student being a puppet the other student
will use their imaginary wooden beams to push and
pull their body creating a dance
 Instruct the puppet to name if the puppeteer is doing
a push or pull to move them
 Prompt puppeteers to create both big, medium, small
and fast, medium and slow movements
 Play music while students create dances
 Have students swap

Reflection
 Students reflect on the different ways push and pull
were used and the effects of them
 Students reflect on the different sizes and speeds of
their dancing and the effects they had on the dances
Dance: Resources:
Use fundamental Improvisation warm up -Smart Board/
movement skills to Students will mirror each others dance, improvising and Speakers
develop technical skills learning from each other - Music of teacher/
L
when practising dance Adapted from Jeff Meiners Class class’s choice
E sequences
 In pairs students will mirror their partners movements to
S ACADAM002 Assessment:
music
S The teacher will
Explore, improvise and  Remind students to explore movements of different sizes,
O speeds and levels continue to observe
organise ideas to make students during the
N dance sequences using  Provide prompts including different body parts to move
activity
the elements of dance and styles of movement (robotic, jelly-like, animals..)
T ACADAM001  Have students provide constructive feedback to each
other Student will gather
W
improvements in
O student
Other subjects: Locomotor/Non-locomotor activity
understanding
Physical Education:  Discuss with students the difference between
through reflection
locomotor and non-locomotor movements
discussion
 Perform fundamental  Ask students what kind of non-locomotor movements
movement skills in a they completed in the previous activity
variety of movement  Students will walk around an outside area with the
sequences and teacher prompting different kinds of movement
situations ACPMP025
 Play music consisting of varied tempos
Drama:
 Eg. Zig-zags, circles, straight lines
Explore role and
 Students will produce these movements in both
dramatic action in
locomotor and non-locomotor ways
dramatic play,
improvisation and  Prompt different forms of each eg. Skip, hop,
process drama backwards/body parts, bending, twist, shake
(ACADRM027)
Reflection
 Students reflect on the different ways they moved
throughout the lesson

Dance: Resources:
Respond to dance and Aboriginal Dance -Smartboard/
consider where and Adapted from The Curriculum Place whiteboard
why people dance,  Students watch a video of a traditional Aboriginal -Speakers
starting with dances dance - Music- Class song
from Australia  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUxDNyrCtCo -Prepared dance
including dances of  Discuss the purpose of the dance moves for chorus
Aboriginal and Torres
 Brainstorm different purposes of dances
Strait Islander Peoples
ACADAR004  Introduce how dance is sometimes used to tell stories
L Assessment:
E The teacher will
Explore, improvise and Class Choreography
S continue to observe
S organise ideas to make  Using a song which is appropriate to the class at the
students during the
dance sequences using time the class will choreograph a dance with aspects
O activity
the elements of dance of improvisation throughout (during the verses)
N
ACADAM001  Create a dance for the chorus prior to the class -with
simple movements
T
Other subjects:  Teach the class and allow for any suggestions of
H
HASS: change
R
Explore a point of view  The purpose of the dance is to tell a story
E
ACHASSI038  Ask the students ‘What is special about our class?’
E
 Prompt students to consider the aspects of dance that
The ways in which they have been exploring since reception;
Aboriginal and Torres
Relationships, space, expression, body movement and
Strait Islander Peoples
expression
maintain special
 Discuss with students why it is important to have a
connections to
beginning and end of a dance – just like a story
particular
 Remind students of the SNAPS rules
Country/Place
 Perform the dance, model the chorus and allow
ACHASSK049
student improvisation during the verses

L Dance: Look, See, Look at me Resources:

Present dance that
E
communicates ideas to
S an audience, including
S dance used by cultural
O groups in the
Adapted from The Curriculum Place -Smart Board/
 Read the book ‘Look, See, Look at me’ Speakers
- Music
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IokV2nE3nB8
-Task sheet
 Discuss the different movement words in the story
N community
ACADAM003
F
Explore, improvise and Individual Choreography
O student dancing
organise ideas to make
U dance sequences using
R the elements of dance
ACADAM001
Other subjects:
English:
Identify visual
representations of
characters’ actions,
reactions, speech and
thought processes in
narratives, and
consider how these
images add to or
contradict or multiply
the meaning of
accompanying words
ACELA1469
 Create a list of the different movements for student Assessment:
reference This activity provides
the teacher with a
video of each
 Individually students will choose two of the
which they can use
movements to incorporate into a dance
to assess the
 Allow students to explore these movements with 2 students learning
minutes of improvisation time outcomes
 Provide students with the task sheet (APPENDIX 1)
 Students pair up and create a 15-20 second dance The teacher will also
incorporating each of their two (four) movements observe the creation
with a clear beginning and end through
 Student will be given a choice of slow, medium or fast improvisation in the
instrumental music to use beginning of the
 Pairs will share their dance with another pair, who will activity which will
contribute to the
record the dance on the iPad
assessment
 Students will watch the video of themselves dancing
and reflect

Reference List

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2017). Music. Available from: <
https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/the-arts/>

Biasutti, M 2013, 'Improvisation in dance education: teacher views', Research in Dance Education, vol. 14, no. 2, pp.
120-140.

Dinham, Judith 2014, Delivering authentic arts education, 2nd edition, Cengage Learning, South Melbourne, Victoria

Gough, Marion 1999 Knowing Dance – A guide for Creative Teaching, Dance books LTD, London

Roy, David M. S & Baker, William James, (author.) & Hamilton, Amy, (author.) 2015, Teaching the arts : early
childhood and primary education, Second edition, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, VIC, Australia

The Curriculum Place, Year 1 Dance Unit,

www.cnscurric.catholic.edu.au/uploads/1/0/3/9/10391716/dance_year1f.doc
 PART C:
APPENDIX 1
Task Card

LOOK, SEE, LOOK AT ME DANCE

Your task is to choreograph a 15-20 second dance with a
partner that:
o Tells the story of the 3-year old boy
o Includes up to 4 different movements from the book
o Considers the elements of dance that we have been
exploring (body movement, locomotor, non-locomotor,
space, size, level, speed)

PART C:
APPENDIX 2
Rubric

Assessment Developing Acquired Established

Improvises freely within given structures

Improvises showing understanding of elements of dance

Non-locomotor movement performed with alignment, control,

coordination and balance
Locomotor movement performed with alignment, control,
coordination and balance
Choreographed dance shows an understanding of dance
elements

Participates with enthusiasm and expression

Works respectfully with class

Works collaboratively and contributes equally with partner