Year 5 project…reflections….

Overview of the project:
30 year 5 students, 6 hours over 6 weeks

Began with the question… what is our body for, why are we not just a floating brain?
Each week we discussed this questions, gradually pooling our answers to come up with the following:
1. Acting on ideas - action and activity
2. Expressing feelings, communicating with other people
3. Continuing our existence as a human race
4. Individuality - knowing who is who

From these questions I set a number of tasks:
- Create a solo based on your favourite physical things to do - cartwheels, football, playstation, certain qualities of movement
- From these solos we created a group unison sequence with different children volunteering
- Jigsaws - partner makes a shape, you fit into them somehow, they remove them self and fit back to you etc..
- 10 second freezes - group of 4-6, walking round each other, anyone (undecided) shouts freeze and all group members have to immediately form a physical connection with everyone, repeat
- Partner communication - provide your partner with an intention and see how they can listen and respond - moving a body part in a direction

The tasks were together into an improvisation score, around five minutes long, performed at More Dance! The Scoop, London Bridge on 26th March. We used pieces of paper to constantly move the tasks around and try different transitions until we were all happy.

Reflections on the process and questions:
Rushed. Engrossed. Excited. Thriving in open tasks. Feeling themselves.
Not labelling ourselves as working with a style or genre.

I still set the tasks - not really coming from them? What is the balance between us showing them what is possible and them originating the ideas themselves?

How do we get away from the obvious - what do you like to do with your body - play playstation?

Reflections on the outcome and questions:
Autonomy and ownership by the children on performance day.
Feeling they had something important and their own to say.
Enthusiam, pride and commitment - unprecedented 25/28 to performance.

What question would I ask next, how do I start with a stimulus that comes from them? Asking what is important to you in your life at the moment?

How do all of the aims of physical education relate together: skill building (technique), cultural diversity (different styles of movement - street, contemporary etc), physical fitness (cardio, strength, flexibility)? Should I try and tick all these boxes? How, throughout a year programme in primary school?
Goal of dance in education:
To create more physically able/literate and expressive (emotionally, socially) individuals, who increasingly know/enjoy/explore their bodies and themselves
Through: discussion, collaboration, exploring, learning, discussing, open minded, risk taking, sharing,