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Using Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI)
For assistance in implementing the new arts curriculum, teachers can look at two
places on TKI – Unwrapping
the Arts (http://www.tki.org.nz/e/arts/visarts/visarts_home.php) and The
Arts Online (http://www.tki.org.nz/r/arts/artspd/index_e.php).
Unwrapping the Arts
Click here to go straight to Unwrapping the Arts. You can find Unwrapping the Arts from wherever you are in TKI. Select the Arts kete from the Communities menu
www.tki.org.nz/e/community/ and then select Unwrapping the Arts. This site hosts a tremendous number of useful and practical ideas for classroom teachers. Choose one of the disciplines and explore your options. Many of the learning examples described for each discipline are "unwrapped" as teaching units of work. These units have been published to suit classes working at levels 1 to 5. Each unit has relevant bibliographies and web references, which have hyperlinks to sound bytes and video clips. Links to relevant exemplars of children's work can be found by selecting the assessment kete,
also from the communities menu. Unwrapping the Arts is continually being updated.
A drama learning example
A unit of work based on the television kidult drama series Being Eve is one example of online material available to teachers. This light-hearted drama series, which is about making sense of the world, also gently pokes fun at it and provides a refreshingly New Zealand view of teenage life. The unit focuses on both the Communicating and Interpreting and the Understanding Drama in Context strands at levels 4 and 5.
The resource uses up-to-the-minute technology. It contains photographs, short video clips, and interviews with the director, production team, and cast of the show and provides information for detailed study of camera placement, lighting, casting, scenery, and costume. It also links to other curriculum areas, including health and physical education, social studies, and media studies.
The Arts Online
Click here to go straight to The Arts Online, You can also find The Arts Online by selecting the logo from the Arts community news page in the Arts kete,
www.tki.org.nz/r/arts/artspd/index_e.php This site features important information for schools wanting online
assistance for professional development. It contains guidelines and advice about planning and assessment, case studies of innovative and exciting ways in which schools are using the new document, and background readings.
The Arts Online is particularly aimed at remote and small schools. Teachers can discuss topics of their choice with specialists or share ideas online and get personal responses through the online forum.
I've found that it's made me focus on specific aspects of the arts curriculum rather than doing what I'm sure most of us do when we receive these things Æ open it up and glance through it and think, "I must read that sometime." Then, over the years, you just dip in and out of it. Actually having an online guide that directs you to look at specific parts of the document is a very helpful way of making sure that you do what you've said you will do.
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Bu Windsor, a teacher at Aoraki/Mt Cook School,
explains how The Arts Online has helped her
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Bridget, a teacher on a sheep station, talks to Merryn Dunmill, National Coordinator for the Arts–Music:
Bridget
I'm sitting here with my notebook and the resources mentioned in the forum - Kiwi Kidsongs 10 and the CD of the New Zealand national anthem Æ wanting to look at practical ways of developing lessons. I'm musically illiterate and tend to improvise when it comes to music. My students, four boys and three girls, are aged from five to eleven years. One seven-year-old tends to carry the school during waiata and when we have visitors, though all the children love to sing. Our school also has many wonderful musical instruments, including an electronic keyboard, guitars, and flutes, which have yet to be utilised. How can I provide my students with quality music lessons?
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Merryn
For a teacher like you, who has no real background training in music but has a brilliant ear, there's so much you can (and do) do. That's great, and the kids are lucky because your enthusiasm and love for singing are obvious. The Starters and Strategies resource picks up on what the ear hears strongly in the music. "Aotearoa", for example, has a funky little repeating rhythm. So, there you have the first easy idea after the children have listened to the song (the Practical Knowledge strand). When the music stops, ask the children what they remember. You'll be amazed Æ they'll remember lots that you can then develop through more questioning. They could try playing the rhythm as an ostinato (repeated throughout) like a backing track. Or they might use some different sound sources; even stones and sticks from Papa-tū-ā-nuku sound wonderful if she is happy for you to use them! Go back to the song many more times to learn the words, or why not take the song and do your own version?... |
Bridget
Incredible! I was just listening to "Aotearoa" for the first time when your response came up. And I'd just decided, "Hey, I can do something with that!" Awesome! Thanks a lot .... |
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Pasifika Teachers Professional Development
I enjoyed stepping outside my comfort zone to have a go.
I've got more confidence in dance and how to use it with other curriculum areas.
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These were just two of the many positive comments made by teachers who have taken part in the Pasifika Teachers Professional Development contract, which focuses on using significant Pasifika artists to inspire and enthuse teachers to work with the new curriculum.
Last year, the contract involved over fifty Pasifika teachers from schools in South and Central West Auckland. The aim was to develop teachers' existing skills in one or more discipline areas and, at the same time, to enhance their ability in planning more meaningful arts experiences using a Pacific context.
This year the contract will work with teachers from Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin.
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