Task 6.A Questionnaire

To help narrow down my inquiry question I have made a very basic questionnaire; all the questions are open. I am hoping this will bring about new ideas and inspire the direction in which I would like to follow for my Inquiry. I gave the questionnaire to 6 GCSE dance students,  hoping the answers would help me to narrow down the very broad field i am looking into. I hope to relate my study specifically to teenagers, ensuring the end product can be applied to future teaching both in dance and other subject. 

Dance therapy uses movement as a form of therapy to help teens improve communication skills, develop a healthy body image, work through problems and cope with emotional issues. Dance therapy is based on the belief that there is a direct relationship between movement and emotion and that therapeutic movement brings balance to the entire body- physically, emotionally and spiritually

Has dance ever helped you to release anxiety or tension?

Do you think Dance can be a beneficial way to express how a teenager is feeling?

Does dance provide a distraction when you are stressed or feeling down?

Has dance/ choreography ever helped you face/ communicate a struggle you didn't wish to communicate verbally? 

Have you ever used your own life situations/ experiences as a stimulus for your choreography?

Do you think dance has helped you with self-esteem/ confidence?

I chose 6 KS4 dance students at random and asked them to fill in the anonymous questionnaire. The students answers were varied and prompted me to do more research. whilst vague, they did reassure me that this was defiantly something worth looking into as almost all were using performing arts as some sort of therapy.

Task 5.C Professional Ethics 'Reader 5'

The concept of ethics

After several attempts to wrap my head around the concepts of ethics, I still feel just as bombarded with information as I did the first time I read it. It seems to be such a huge area of study. One with no definite answer, no right or wrong just a vague grey area left open to interpretation. I believe ethics asks more questions than it answers, once you begin down a path, it can become an endless stream of questions. What is right? Will others agree? Am I sure?

Kevin Carter

The case of the photographer Kevin Carter left harsh imagery in my mind, when I think of the word ethics, I now think of this case. For me, this was the best example of ethics, where professional codes of conduct meet moral judgment. In this case I honestly do not know how I feel, I do not have an opinion, as I can see both sides of this terrible story. Both sides are right, aren’t they? I find myself going back and forth, question after question.

If he was instructed not to touch anyone for fear of epidemic, should he have listened? Can you really stand by when someone is dying? Does one life make a difference? Why did no one help? Why was this girl left to die? Should all the blame really be put on this man’s shoulders because he was there? I do believe every life is precious, and I don’t think I would have been strong enough to leave this girl. I understand it is just one life, but in that moment I believe I wouldn't be strong enough to think about the big picture. Is the big picture important?

If we all help when we can, won’t the world become a better place to live? Or could this one small act of kindness turned into a bigger uglier issue. He was warned for a reason right? Could this have lead to several deaths through disease? This case has helped me to understand the concept of ethics and how difficult it can be to determine right from wrong, a grey area open for interpretation.

My Virtues vs. My Profession

They say morals and ethics are entwined, I found this to be true when making a list of personal virtues. They entwined when I made a list of professional virtues and found some were the same. Looking at both lists I realised, even though some aspect such as: organisation, punctuality and responsibility appeared on both lists they were still completely different. How I would like to be perceived in a working environment drastically contrasts with how I wish to be perceived in life. This got me to thinking about how ambitious I really am.

 I am willing to portray only the professional aspects of myself and not any of the morals and virtues I feel strongly about in my heart. Caring, Positive, polite and helpful all appeared on my personal list, but not my professional one. When I think about the people I enjoy working with the most; they all have these great personal qualities. So why had I not put them on my professional list? This to me was a bit of a wakeup call, time to have a good long think about ethics and the kind of professional I wish to be.

My Inquiry and the ethical considerations

Thinking about the three processes for analysing ethics; Metaethics, Theoretical Normative Ethics and Applied Ethics, will help me to plan a detailed and safe inquiry for all involved.  My study will be based on GCSE dance student aged between 15/16; as I would like my results to be beneficial to all of KS4 I may need to consider adding other age groups to the study. The data, methods and results collected from students aged 16, may differ greatly from students who have just started their GCSE’S. 

As there is only one boy in the 3 years groups taking dance, I may need to think about how I approach this. Is it worth only using girls for the study? Should I visit other schools with more boys?

I chose yr 11 GCSE students because as part of their practical exam they have to choreograph a piece using a stimulus; this is often a real life story or issue. Talking to the students and witnessing firsthand the positive impact this has had is the reason I want to look into this further. I am hoping research this in depth to find new techniques and methods for teachers to use across the board. This may be a little ambitious; however I’m hoping to narrow this down to very specific criteria.

As I currently work in the school access to the building and facilities isn’t a problem. Most observation will take place during lessons however some may need to be done during dinner or after school. This is not a problem as school is open until 6.30 pm every night. If I do decide to do after school sessions; registers will need to be made and parents contacted. A discussion and consent from both my head of department and head of the school will need to take place before I begin my plan.

Contacting students will not be a problem as I see them every day. For further details or in the event of an emergency; I can access all student details via my school laptop and gain any medical or confidential information needed. As it is a school, confidential information is only available via the data zone, which can only be accessed on school property. This is the same for any video recordings or images of students, content of this kind can only be stored on the school media zone; which can only be accessed through the school internet. These are all very important ethical issues I need to consider when planning my inquiry.

Task 5.B Codes of Practice

After reading through the job descriptions for both teacher and cover supervisor in a secondary school; I found there was not much difference between the list I wrote myself for task 5A, and the official documents. The school version was a lot more detailed and precise; however my own version had the same general message. I highlighted in blue; areas I found interesting that got me to thinking. I was unaware some aspects that I do naturally without thinking about actually appear in my job description.  I highlighted in red; areas I feel bring about some ethical issues.

After highlighting areas of possible ethical concern I found questions popping into my head that got me to thinking about how I would manage this during my professional inquiry.

The first ethical concern I came across was a big one: establish a fair but firm relationship between teacher and students? What is fair? I believe only experience in a school can provide and understanding to such a question. It is also important to consider that the school/pupils and area will affect the guidelines for what is appropriate and what is fair. I only know this from having visited and worked in a variety of schools. I have found that levels of behavior differ from school to school and what is borderline disruptive in one school, will be completely unacceptable in another. Fortunately for me, I have been working for 2 years at the school I will be conducting my professional inquiry; this ensures I have a better understanding of the students and their behavior. On the other hand this will provide a difficult task when trying to plan an inquiry relevant to all schools. I need to consider that my inquiry may only be helpful for schools that are similar? This also brings about another question: how do you compare schools? This is something I will need to think about in depth whilst planning my inquiry? It may be worth reaching out to other departments or visiting other schools

As a teacher I am responsible for recording student progress; this can be difficult at times for performing arts teachers as most of the feedback is verbal and progress is shown through performance. It is very easy in academic subjects as their achievements can be seen through their written work; however there isn't much theory for performing arts which means progress must be monitored through video recordings of the students performing. As we are not allowed to store videos on our laptop this can be very inconvenient for reports etc. All footage and images must be uploaded to the schools data base which can only be accessed on school grounds. This is something I will need to think about for my professional inquiry as video footage will be one of my main resources.

Managing challenging or difficult behavior is a huge aspect of every teacher’s job. Different methods are used for different situations so it is important to know your students well. But what is appropriate behavior? Every teacher has their own idea of a well behaved class, but every school has guidelines. I believe through observing fellow colleagues lesson you can get a better understanding of the standard at your school. Once you have established your own boundaries and rules a structure to your lessons will naturally form, making difficult situations easier to manage. How you handle the disruptive student(s) is vital to minimizing the negative impact of learning and progress of others. The students I intend to use as a focus group I know very well. This however, does not mean difficult situations won’t arise; a plan must be put into place to deal with disruptive students, ensuring they don’t affect my inquiry.

Whilst setting out behavior guidelines for students you can’t help but think about yourself. Should teachers have rules too? After all they are role models who can have a major impact on a young person’s life. In my job description, it says I am to; promote school values through professional behavior and commitment, to inspire trust and confidence in students. This seems fairly straight forward, but with all the safe guarding rules it can be very difficult to allow a student to confide in you. As a teacher a conversation of sensitive content where a student is confiding in you is to be shut down immediately, the child is then sent to a member of the safe guarding team. While I understand the very important reasons for this it does make inspiring trust difficult. The student may get the impression you are just passing the problem on and don’t really care. Should teachers just be there to deliver lessons? Wouldn't that make these blurred lines much easier for both students and teachers? There are all sorts of care teams in schools so should teachers be getting involved at all? Again this is just another issue I feel you only learn about through experience. 

Job Description for Cover Supervisor/ Teacher

·         To set clear expectations for maintaining appropriate learning behaviour.

       ·         To manage challenging or difficult behaviour from students to minimise any                     negative impact on the learning of others.

• Provide classroom supervision of learning for classes in the absence of the teacher for up to a maximum of ten consecutive days for the same member of staff, including the first three days of absence. 
• Create an orderly and purposeful learning environment in which firm but fair relationships are established between the Cover Supervisor and students
• Encourage students to engage with learning and support students to complete work set by the classroom teacher
• Support students consistently whilst recognising and responding to individual need
• Promote good pupil behaviour, dealing promptly with conflict and incidents in line with school policy in respect of Behaviour for Learning, including school rewards and sanctions.
•       Working with other relevant teachers and support staff:

·         To have a thorough and up to date knowledge of the relevant aspects of the National Curriculum and related National Strategies.

·         To take account of further curriculum guidance in changes and development.

·         To understand the contribution that ICT can make to teaching and have the appropriate knowledge and skills to use ICT in your teaching.

·         To promote progression in the relevant key stages and phases.

·         To regularly evaluate the progress of students in relation to their prior attainment.

·         To use analysis of data from internal school assessments and National Curriculum assessments to plan lessons and sequences of lessons.

·         To report to colleagues on the progress of an individual, group or class, eg when changing lessons.

·         To monitor the progress of students through the continuous assessment of attainment against the learning outcomes set.

·         To provide constructive, formative and summative feedback to students.

·         To report to parents on the progress achieved by their child and the action required for further improvement.

·         Liaise and work effectively with other professionals and agencies involved in the assessment and provision for students’ needs, eg educational psychologist and SENCO.

·         To develop students’ capacity for self-assessment so that they can become reflective and self-managing learners.

·         To apply effective teaching strategies and methods appropriate to motivate different students and groups of students.

·         To use a range of strategies to ensure that there is appropriate pace and challenge in lessons for all students.

·         To manage effectively and creatively the full range of resources available, including TA’s and HLTA’s.

·         To provide positive and targeted support for any students with particular learning needs.

·         To set clear expectations for maintaining appropriate learning behaviour.

      ·         To manage challenging or difficult behaviour from students to minimise any negative impact on the learning of others.

·         To derive your planning from the school’s agreed schemes of work and the National Curriculum. ·         To identify, record and communicate learning objectives for lessons and sequences of lessons. ·         To take account of the needs of individual students, groups or classes in your planning. ·         To demonstrate progression in students’ acquisition of knowledge, skills and understanding in your planning of sequence of lessons. ·         To use homework and other opportunities for learning outside of the classroom. ·         To amend your planning to take account of your effectiveness of your teaching strategies. ·         To be a Form Tutor to an assigned group of students. ·         To promote the general progress and well-being of individual students and of the Form Tutor Group as a whole. ·         To liaise with a Pastoral Leader to ensure the implementation of the school’s Pastoral System (ECM). ·         To register students, accompany them to assemblies, encourage their full attendance at all lessons and their participation in other aspects of school life. ·         To evaluate and monitor the progress of students and keep up to date student records as may be required. ·         To contribute to the preparation of Action Plans and progress files and other reports. ·         To alert the appropriate staff to problems experienced by students and to make recommendations as to how these may be resolved. ·         To communicate as appropriate, with the parents of students and with persons or bodies outside the school concerned with the welfare of individual students, after consultation with the appropriate staff. ·         To contribute to PSHCE and Citizenship and Enterprise according to school policy. ·         To apply the Behaviour Management systems so that effective learning can take place. ·         To demonstrate that all student make appropriate and consistent progress against their prior attainment. ·         To develop students’ literacy, numeracy and ICT skills through all subject teaching. ·         To demonstrate that the levels of students’ progress is as good as or better than local or national student performance in similar settings. ·         To demonstrate that students of different background, behaviour and/or ability make appropriate progress. ·         To demonstrate that students meet or exceed their own challenging individual targets and that the rate of their progress is generally better than that achieved by students in similar setting.

·         To participate in and engage with school and/or external INSET and professional development activities.

·         To share the outcomes of professional development with colleagues.

·         To take action as a result of feedback and identified development needs.

·         To take part in self-evaluation activities in order to inform professional development needs.

·         To seek and use opportunities to develop further professional expertise within the requirements of your role.

·         To participate in professional development in response to school priorities or needs in order to improve standards of teaching and learning.

·         To implement school policies and procedures consistently.

·         To contribute to team, departmental or school improvement planning.

·         To identify where your work contributes to the progress made by the school in achieving its priorities for development.

·         To promote school values through professional behaviour and commitment.

·         To provide challenge and support to all students.

·         To inspire trust and confidence in students.

·         To build team commitment amongst students and with colleagues.

·         To engage and motivate students to do their best.

·         Communicate effectively with different groups, eg students, staff, parents, other professional services.

·         To help to implement school quality procedures and to adhere to those.

·         To contribute to the process of monitoring and evaluation of the curriculum area/department in line with agreed school procedures, including evaluation against quality standards and performance criteria.

·         To review from time to time methods of teaching and programmes of work.

·         To maintain appropriate records and to provide relevant accurate and up to date information for MIS, registers, etc.

·         To complete the relevant documentation to assist in the tracking of students.

·         To track student progress and use information to inform teaching and learning.

·         To communicate effectively with the parents of students as appropriate.

·         Where appropriate, to communicate and co-operate with persons or bodies outside the school.

·         To follow agreed policies for communications in the school.

·         To assist the Head of Department to identify resource needs and to contribute to the efficient/effective use of physical resources.

·         To co-operate with other staff to ensure a sharing and effective usage of resources to the benefit of the school, department and the students.

Task 5.A Ethics for Teaching in a Secondary School

Working in a secondary school brings about new challenges every day. The pressures and responsibility brought on by such a demanding and important position keeps you on your toes as no two days are the same. It was never my intention to become a secondary school teacher, my opinion of high school dance and teaching teenagers in general was that it would be a stressful headache. I was never a fan of forcing the arts on students and felt it was a subject that should only be taught to those interested in the subject.

After accepting a temporary position at a school to help out a friend I found that my opinion on the importance of performing arts in high school had changed completely, it was around this time I decided to pursue a career in teaching. Witnessing the positive effects the arts had on teenagers along with the safety net built by influential and supportive teachers made me realize how important this job really is. Observing outstanding teachers deliver lessons of high quality with enthusiasm made me want to do the same.

I have been working in the same secondary school for two years now teaching dance and drama alongside covering for other teachers in a variety of subjects. When thinking about the ethics of my work place one thing comes to mind, children do what children see. This is something I take very seriously which affects the way I represent myself in the work place. I have seen how influential teachers can be and the positive or negative effects they can have on a young person’s life. I think as a teacher it is important to be the best role model you can for a young person. I feel it would be easier for me to list the ethics I try to stand by in order of importance:

• Always remember children do what children see, try to be the best role model you can. 
• Support you colleagues, present a united front in a situation, any disagreements must be discussed in the staff room or in private.
• If a child talks to you in confidence, always inform them that the information must be passed on if their heath or well-being is in danger.
• Keep your private life private from students, some things are nice to share with the students you are close to, for example your form group but as a general rule I try to not talk about myself at all.
• Always arrive to lessons early and prepared with a lesson plan in mind.
• When teaching small groups or one to one always leave the door open.
• Protect your own personal space if needed and inform students when they get too close, this is usually an issue with lower school transitioning from primary.
• Set rules and stick to them, children respond best to routine when it comes to discipline and behavior.

 These are just some of the ethical considerations that come to mind when I think about my job. After making this list I had a discussion with my fellow performing arts colleagues and we made a new list of things related specifically to dance and drama. We talked about how learning in our subject can sometimes break the usual code of conduct and how some rules do not apply to our subject as much as they do in non practical subjects. For example, physical contact and touching another student would not be acceptable in English or maths, however in dance part of learning is contact with the teacher and can sometimes involve physically moving a student’s body or body parts.These are just some of the issues we come across in our subject:

• Female teachers cannot go into the boys changing rooms, students are very aware of this and some use it as an excuse to misbehave. This can also be an issue if a student gets injured during changing time. 
• Nature vs Nurture, can you teach someone to dance who has no natural rhythm or technique? Is it a waste of time, should we focus on the student who have a real chance of pursuing it for the future? Should there be a discussion as to which students can progress to GCSE and A level performing arts? Do we waste too much time with inclusion and differentiation? Is it best to have a mixed ability class and differentiate or best to divide by ability?
• Contact with students, how can we keep ourselves and student safe when such a high level of contact is involved? Should all dance studios have cameras?
• Safe guarding- when creating choreography for GCSE students tend to use real life situations as a stimulus, this can be a safeguarding issue which you then need to inform the student will be passed on. We try to encourage students to choose topics they are passionate about but sometimes this can lead to the routines being a form of therapy and is important that as a teacher we keep a close eye on the students and report anything we are concerned about. 
• Being on your own, one to one tuition when students are absent or sixth form classes that have one pupil. Should we allow ourselves to take these one on one lessons when the subject is so physical?
• By physically correcting students are we making ourselves vulnerable and open to allegations? Is the learning more important? Can learning be done without this?
• Should students be given the option to either take P.E or Dance?
• Health and safety when moving rooms at the last minute, events in school can create chaos and rooms are used for different things such as open evening, meeting etc. Sometimes this happens during a lesson, which can call into question health and safety, can the new room be used for practical work?

Task 4.D Literature

The Importance of The Arts For Teenagers

Having been involved in the arts my whole life I find it hard to imagine a world without it. Growing up in a creative environment has allowed me to express difficult emotions through the arts and become the person I am today. Spending time with other creative people I believe has made me a more positive person and brought much joy to my daily life. Looking over my inquiry questions and thinking about the topic of conversations they have brought about makes me realise it all comes down to one thing, the importance of the arts especially for teenagers. Working in a secondary school I have to say I feel like I am constantly defending the importance of my subject whilst playing tug of war between other subjects such as Math, English and science.  I feel these subjects get far more credit, when actually I believe performing arts brings about just as much if not more progress and importance in a young person life. Talking to my fellow performing arts colleagues the biggest problem in school is the view of the importance of arts and how whenever something has to give, it falls on our department. For example a classic problem at the moment in our school is space for the dance classes, at the moment they use the main hall but whenever there is a parents evening or event of any kind the dancers are forced into class rooms which are always unsuitable for practical work. This leaves the teachers feeling frustrated and applies great pressure as they only see the students twice a week as a pose to English and maths who see the students 4 times. So my question is this, are the arts really important and if so why do we feel as instructors that others think it’s not? I am currently still looking for more books and literature to support my theory as I have found so many interesting facts just from researching this question, but here is a speech that MP Harriet Herman gave on the performing arts recently which has helped me to narrow down and develop my inquiry questions.

Arts are important for individuals

I think we should talk about rights here.  It is every child’s right to open up and explore their artistic and creative potential which should be a journey which goes on for the rest of their life. It gives them the opportunity to learn to enjoy, understand and make a rich contribution to every aspect of their lives – social, political, economic, psychological. A sense of where they’ve come from historically, a sense of where they’re going; and how they may want to change that and take control of their lives. It helps them in every way to become that unique person that they, and they alone, have the potential to be. So, that being the case,  how, then, can we accept a situation where some get that opportunity and others do not? How can we tolerate cultural exclusion? Creative and cultural learning supports attainment in all subjects including in literacy and maths.And research shows that taking part in arts activities at school can make up for early disadvantage in terms of:
likelihood to progress to further education; employment outcomes; and more general benefits, like participating in society through volunteering and voting. Having an appreciation of, and an engagement with, the arts gives a young person what many of you have described to me as cultural capital - which is important in and of itself, but also contributes to social mobility.

After reading this I find it amazing that not all schools actually offer performing arts. When I went to school we only did a few lessons of drama and there was no dance, dance wasn’t even a GCSE option! Upon searching this question I found another great resource on the effects of performing arts on teenagers, it’s a list of reasons supports the arts for teenagers and the positive effects it can have (Why the arts are important by Dee Dickinson).

Why Are the Arts Important

1. They are languages that all people speak that cut across racial, cultural, social, educational, and economic barriers and enhance cultural appreciation and awareness.

2. They are symbol systems as important as letters and numbers.

3. They integrate mind, body, and spirit.

4. They provide opportunities for self-expression, bringing the inner world into the outer world of concrete reality.

5. They offer the avenue to "flow states" and peak experiences.

6. They create a seamless connection between motivation, instruction, assessment, and practical application--leading to deep understanding.

7. They are an opportunity to experience processes from beginning to end.

8. They develop both independence and collaboration.

9. They provide immediate feedback and opportunities for reflection.

10. They make it possible to use personal strengths in meaningful ways and to bridge into understanding sometimes difficult abstractions through these strengths.

11. They merge the learning of process and content.

12. They improve academic achievement -- enhancing test scores, attitudes, social skills, critical and creative thinking.

13. They exercise and develop higher order thinking skills including analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and "problem-finding."

14. They are essential components of any alternative assessment program.

15. They provide the means for every student to learn

I think there are so many interesting points made by Dee Dickinson especially those about the arts improving student’s attitude, discipline and even academic skills. This is something I think I would like to research more, even if it is only to argue the importance of the arts in the next friendly staff room debate. I also agree with the part about developing students independent and collaborative work, often during my lessons students will work independently, with a partner or as group. Dee also mentions that the arts are the same in every language that cut across racial, cultural, social, educational, and economic barriers and enhance cultural appreciation and awareness, I know this to be very true as I have worked on many different pieces with music from around the world which has sparked an interest with the students and their own curiosity has lead to further research.

Continuing my research and browsing the net I came across a post about the arts in the Washington Post which I found very interesting. Some are challenging the curriculum and pushing to change STEM into STEAM, I did not know this was happening and to be honest had never even thought about it until now, I intend to research this further. Valerie Strauss a reporter for the Washington post wrote this on January 22 2013.

You don’t find school reformers talking much about how we need to train more teachers in the arts, given the current obsession with science, math, technology and engineering (STEM), but here’s a list of skills that young people learn from studying the arts. They serve as a reminder that the arts — while important to study for their intrinsic value — also promote skills seen as important in academic and life success. (That’s why some people talk about changing the current national emphasis on STEM to STEAM.)

Lisa Phillips an author, blog journalist, arts and leadership educator, speaker and business owner talks about the benefits of arts in her books.

1. Creativity – Being able to think on your feet, approach tasks from different perspectives and think ‘outside of the box’ will distinguish your child from others. In an arts program, your child will be asked to recite a monologue in 6 different ways, create a painting that represents a memory, or compose a new rhythm to enhance a piece of music. If children have practice thinking creatively, it will come naturally to them now and in their future career.

2. Confidence – The skills developed through theatre, not only train you how to convincingly deliver a message, but also build the confidence you need to take command of the stage. Theatre training gives children practice stepping out of their comfort zone and allows them to make mistakes and learn from them in rehearsal. This process gives children the confidence to perform in front of large audiences.

3. Problem Solving – Artistic creations are born through the solving of problems. How do I turn this clay into a sculpture? How do I portray a particular emotion through dance? How will my character react in this situation? Without even realizing it kids that participate in the arts are consistently being challenged to solve problems. All this practice problem solving develops children’s skills in reasoning and understanding. This will help develop important problem-solving skills necessary for success in any career.

4. Perseverance – When a child picks up a violin for the first time, she/he knows that playing Bach right away is not an option; however, when that child practices, learns the skills and techniques and doesn’t give up, that Bach concerto is that much closer. In an increasingly competitive world, where people are being asked to continually develop new skills, perseverance is essential to achieving success.

5. Focus – The ability to focus is a key skill developed through ensemble work. Keeping a balance between listening and contributing involves a great deal of concentration and focus. It requires each participant to not only think about their role, but how their role contributes to the big picture of what is being created. Recent research has shown that participation in the arts improves children’s abilities to concentrate and focus in other aspects of their lives.

6. Non-Verbal Communication – Through experiences in theatre and dance education, children learn to breakdown the mechanics of body language. They experience different ways of moving and how those movements communicate different emotions. They are then coached in performance skills to ensure they are portraying their character effectively to the audience.

7. Receiving Constructive Feedback – Receiving constructive feedback about a performance or visual art piece is a regular part of any arts instruction. Children learn that feedback is part of learning and it is not something to be offended by or to be taken personally. It is something helpful. The goal is the improvement of skills and evaluation is incorporated at every step of the process. Each arts discipline has built in parameters to ensure that critique is a valuable experience and greatly contributes to the success of the final piece.

8. Collaboration – Most arts disciplines are collaborative in nature. Through the arts, children practice working together, sharing responsibility, and compromising with others to accomplish a common goal. When a child has a part to play in a music ensemble, or a theatre or dance production, they begin to understand that their contribution is necessary for the success of the group. Through these experiences children gain confidence and start to learn that their contributions have value even if they don’t have the biggest role.

9. Dedication – When kids get to practice following through with artistic endeavours that result in a finished product or performance, they learn to associate dedication with a feeling of accomplishment. They practice developing healthy work habits of being on time for rehearsals and performances, respecting the contributions of others, and putting effort into the success of the final piece. In the performing arts, the reward for dedication is the warm feeling of an audience’s applause that comes rushing over you, making all your efforts worthwhile.

10. Accountability – When children practice creating something collaboratively they get used to the idea that their actions affect other people. They learn that when they are not prepared or on-time, that other people suffer. Through the arts, children also learn that it is important to admit that you made a mistake and take responsibility for it. Because mistakes are a regular part of the process of learning in the arts, children begin to see that mistakes happen. We acknowledge them, learn from them and move on.

Problem solving, perseverance and focus, these are all things I believe students apply when taking part in the arts. When I am teaching dance I will always leave a section of time for the students to create their own work, this can be frustrating for them but ensures they are developing their confidence, problem solving skills, perseverance and focus. I though what Valerie Strauss said about Children learn that feedback is part of learning and it is not something to be offended by or to be taken personally was a very important point to make. Through teaching dance and drama I know I am constantly giving feedback throughout the lesson and my students are grateful for it. For new students feedback  on areas to improve may be a little upsetting or make them feel downhearted but as the lessons progress t hey understand it is a natural part of the learning process and welcome it with open arms.

So far I have only found three pieces of literature on the topic of the importance of the arts for teenager but I have so many new lines of inquiry and many more questions I feel I need to research.