Carol Crees- How does music help baby's brain, language, social and emotional

This is a great watch on the development of the brain in the early stages of a child's life. Carol Crees focuses on the engagement and involvement that a child needs from 0-3 years. 

Music contributes to sight, sound, movement and emotion. This all adds to brain growth and development. When you cuddle, play and sing to a child and they are engaged, brain growth occurs.

She touches upon the importance of music, play, touch and movement to develop the neuron networks in a child's brain. 

New books!

A few books that I ordered have arrived... I have a lot to read in the Easter holidays! 

I am particularly looking forward to reading, 'Learning through Movement in the Early Years.' Sharon Tredgett, the author, has over 25 years of experience in Early years learning. The book focuses on the links movement has on the brain and the benefits it brings during a child's early years. It also touches upon the fact that movement can support two key factors of learning; early years writing and different ways boys and girls learn through movement.

Sharon Tredgett believes: Movement in the early years is vital as it impacts massively on the brain, laying the foundation for learning and that movement is important for motor and sensory growth. 

I am looking forward to finding out more :)

Brainstorm on my Final Artefact

I am stressing a little over my final artefact, so I decided to brainstormed my ideas so I could start getting on with it! I feel like it is going to take a lot of time to prepare and therefore I want to get cracking with this as soon as possible to avoid any stress!! 

Is anyone else struggling with ideas? Has anyone got any other different strategies for their final artefact? 

I would love to discuss with other BAPP Arts students :) ideas are more than welcome!! 

Growth mindset

I believe, when I hit the age of 16, I developed a fixed mindset. I gained the highest female results at GCSE level at my school and thought, 'wow, I can't do any better.' I now know, you can always improve, always learn and it's only you who can change it.

Working as a teaching assistant, and hopefully developing my skills into teaching from September 2016 on wards, it is vital to make sure all children 'try.' There is no such word as 'can't.' Children, in my opinion, should never be nervous about making mistakes as this is how we grow and learn. It is all about 'having a go'. This will help educate and develop these young people's minds.

At the school where I am currently working they have 5 rules to become an 'Independent learner'. These are:

• Have a go
• Persevere
• Ask a friend
• Help yourself ( to resources) 
• Make your work go from 'Good to Great'

These simple rules were constructed by the children and staff together. They are very apparent at the school and when considering them closely I actually realised that these are Lifelong skills for learning.

I also realised that throughout school my achievement was praised rather than my effort. ( Hence my belief that I couldn't do any better at GCSEs).This has been proven by Carol Dweck's work on Growth Mindset.

I love this video below. Give it a watch...

Positive Classroom= Positive Learning

I have never understood why teachers in Early Years or KS1 shout/ raise their voices to get the children's attention in the classroom. From day one at my school, I was taught to do several things to save your voice and stress! They are the following:

• Sing- Children absolutely love to join in with a familiar song. Once they hear me start to sing they immediately stop, listen and join in.I can  instantly gain their attention.
• Clap a Rhythm- Again, instead of raising my voice and shouting to fight to get attention, I clap a simple rhythm. Immediately children stop, look and join in giving their undivided attention to me.
• Rhyme- I say '1,2,3 and look at me.' They learn to reply, '1,2 looking at you' so they know they give me their attention.
• Give me 5- After saying this the children know to do good listening, good looking, no talking, hands still and good sitting (as shown below in the picture!)
• Movement-  After doing either of the points above to gain silence. I start to do easy movements and they copy me.

A great link to look at is the following link (Tips)

So the questions I am extremely interested in are:

1. Why does singing/ rhythm/ movement immediately engage young children?
2. Why does shouting not have the same effect?
3. Is shouting by a teacher/ practitioner really necessary in an Early Years classroom?

I know from experience, using the above techniques certainly make my life easier and less stressful! Here are some great call and response ...

Keep focused!

My thoughts of the day...







It will all be worth it :)

Attitudinal Survey...

I have discussed different approaches for my survey with various co-workers at school. I decided in order to receive unbiased data, an attitudinal survey would be the best option. It is completely anonymous and you simply have to tick an answer on a scale point from 1-5. This will determine how confident practitioners are at delivering music and movement to young children.

I have handed them out to the Nursery staff and the Early Years coordinator today. I will be collecting them in two days time. I explained that I needed honest answers and that I am extremely grateful to all those who have taken the time to help and support me. (I am going to deliver a tin of chocolates to show my gratitude!)

I felt it was extremely important for them to be truthful and I feel that because I stressed it was completely anonymous and there will be no judgement, I should get accurate data.

Feedback from Module 2

After reading my feedback from module 2 my line of inquiry is now:

Could Music and Movement be used to play a more significant role in Early Years Development and learning?

Paula quite rightly pointed out that I need more literature arguing against music and movement having an impact on long term intelligence, so this week I have been busy researching:

Hodges, D (1999)

Donald Hodges poses the question, 'Does Music really make you smarter?' He challenges this question. Initially, the idea that music could make you more intelligent was based on a very narrow research project in Georgia. It had been stated that 'music instruction might enhance learning' and therefore the Government got on the bandwagon and wanted to give a "Music Makes You Smarter" CD to every newborn child! they had hoped it would make the generation smarter which meant they would do better at school. 

Another study that took place required 36 college students which examined their spatial reasoning. There were 3 different studies and because the Mozart one came out on top, it was assumed that listening to Mozart made you more intelligent!

Both of these studies prove that many people are quick to assume and jump on the band wagon and follow what others are doing. Hodges gives a great example of this; In the 1970's people exaggerated the fact that music developed the right side of the brain. In fact we now know that music is in every part of the brain. However, in the 70's many people believed the right side of the brain would not develop properly, resulting in possible brain damage, if music was not integrated in their children's lives! Crazy hey!!

Hodges talks about the connection between musical experience and SATs results. this is something I touched upon in Module 2. I am currently working in a school with 40% pupils on pupil premium, it may be a case of them not being able to afford music lessons. Home environments where education is supported may be those families with a more fortunate background. Hence, there is no definite link between partaking in music lesson and results at school.

One thing that I found extremely interesting is when Hodges stated:

'Would it be reasonable to assume that the music faculty is smarter than the astrophysicists, the biochemists, the philosophers, or any other faculty group simply because they had heard more Mozart?'

Blaydes. J (2008)

Jean Blaydes asks the question, 'Does exercise make you smarter?' 

Blaydes has a similar argument to that of Hodges. Are physical education student brighter than students studying Science? It is not that it makes you more intelligent, however if you have the right nutrition, water, exercise and sleep to stimulate your brain then yes you are ready to work and study as your brain will be more active. 

There are many studies that show the link between exercise and improved student outcomes. Bales feels that more evidence is needed in Neuroscience to actually prove that exercise makes us smarter.

I agree that being physically active makes you feel better and gives you a positive experience... but does it actually affect intelligence and outcomes for children? I'm not sure now!

Bales. D (1998)

Bales believes that music moulds our brains into specific types of thinking. She uses the example of classical music. With classical music having more of an intricate structure, it has been said that babies can pick up and even recognise specific parts that they have listened to before. Bales states that:

'Researchers think the complexity of classical music is what primes the brain to solve spatial problems more quickly.'

I agree with Bales because there are so many other genres of music with different arrangements which could help build other music-related pathways in the babies brain. She believes it is important to expose your baby to many other types of music. 

There are two books that I have ordered to support my line of inquiry. The first is, 'The Art of Dance in Education' by Jacqueline M Smith- Autard, which is mentioned in Reader 7, and the second is, 'Learning through Movement in the Early Years' by Sharon Tredgett. I am intrigued to read these and will blog about them once they have been delivered!

It is very easy to see how, as a performer, I could produce a very biased project in favour of music and movement. It is vital to look at all the research and produce a balanced report.

Ethics and consent forms

After conversing with my headteacher, I managed to draft a template of my consent forms for my project. I used the template off 'My learning' website and adjusted it to suit the school. I felt it was important not to bombard parents with information and just to simplify the letter stating what is relevant. Both my headteacher and deputy headteacher have agreed to both consent forms and therefore I can hand them out first thing Monday morning!

Below are my consent forms...

Planning ahead and keeping on top of everything!

With having a full time job, trying to revise for my Numeracy Key skills tests and doing my final module with my degree, I was finding it very hard to find time to do anything. It all started to catch up on me until I decided to stop panicking and plan ahead.

Everyday, it is important to keep up with studying for this course and therefore, everyday straight after school I have allocated time in which I can do this. This will also help me reflect on the days events and log anything relevant into my reflective journal.

For me, the important thing is to not leave things until the last minute, I am determined to keep on top of everything. On the plus side, Easter holidays is around the corner which really gives me time to get a lot done!

Does anyone else have any good ideas for time keeping? It will all be worth it in the end!

Final Module and the last two months ...

So here we go... final module 3! After a really pressurised ending to module 2 whilst doing pantomime in Glasgow, I am determined to keep on track with this module!

Since being back from Pantomime in January I have had a very successful start to the year. I applied for the Schools direct Primary (salaried) course and I am very happy to say I was successful.
I also took my Literacy Key Skills test and passed that. I have my Numeracy one coming up very soon so fingers crossed for that one!

I am just so thrilled to be on track to becoming a Primary School teacher. This has made me even more determined to crack on with Module 3!