Tag: Integrated Arts in Education

In today’s lecture, we discussed the importance of drama in schools. A key point in the lecture was that drama helps to build the confidence of the teacher and the learners. As I have previously mentioned, this is one of the four capacities of the curriculum and so it is vital that children do become confident individuals (Scottish Executive, 2004). We also discussed that drama allows escapism, pupils can escape problems they may be having and step into someone else’s shoes, imagining what they may be feeling. In addition to this, pupils could channel their emotions and thoughts through the role they are playing in a drama, this is an important aspect of the expressive arts benchmarks as the Experiences and Outcomes state: “Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through drama” (2017). A further main idea from the lecture was that drama as well as the other performing arts promote and measure emotional growth, where the curriculum does not. It was discussed that the curriculum often places focus on growth in the likes of literacy and numeracy rather than emotional growth. However, performing arts allow emotional development. Cybele Raver (2003) emphasises that emotional development matters just as much as academic preparedness as emotionally well-adjusted children have a better chance of success in the early years of school.

 

In our drama input we had our microteaching task. As I mentioned in last week’s blog I was incredibly nervous for this task however it went much better than I thought it would. We used the story “3 little pigs” as it was a story we knew most people would be familiar with. We began with summarising the story before going on to our first convention, teacher in role. I lead this convention and was surprised by my own confidence when doing so despite my inhibitions. We then used a further three conventions: flashback, hot seat and thought tunnel. The participation from the class was greater than we had expected and so this helped settle our nerves. Overall, this task went very well and we received positive feedback from the class. This task has helped me reflect on how I might teach drama in the future and having had some experience in teaching drama I am now looking forward to teaching the subject, something I never thought I would say a matter of weeks ago!

 

After lunch, in our music input, we had a very unique learning experience. The Pupils of the Greenmill Primary School String Orchestra were teaching us how to play their instruments. In pairs, we sat with one pupils who taught us how to play their instrument, I was learning cello. Firstly, we were shown how to hold the instrument before learning the correct way to hold the bow. To help us do so we played a variety of games such as heads, shoulders, knees and toes as well as balancing a hula hoop crisp on top of the bow whilst maintaining the correct bow hold – I found this rather difficult. We then moved on to learning some notes. We began with the notes D and A playing tunes with these notes before learning the ‘Cheeky Monkey’ song using the notes D, F, F# and G. This was difficult as it involved placing our fingers in the correct position as well as the bow.

 

Overall, this was an incredibly interactive day. Both classes helped me to improve my confidence when performing the arts and as a result have changed my view on teaching the arts in the future.

 

REFERENCE LIST

 

Cybele Raver, C (2003) Young Children’s Emotional Development and School Readiness [Online] Available: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/C_Raver/publication/242095521_Young_Children’s_Emotional_Development_and_School_Readiness/links/54183f160cf203f155ada1d5/Young-Childrens-Emotional-Development-and-School-Readiness.pdf [Accessed 7 November 2017].

 

Scottish Executive (2004) A Curriculum for Excellence: The Curriculum Review Group. [Online] Available: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/26800/0023690.pdf  [Accessed 7 November 2017].

 

Scottish Government (2017). Curriculum for Excellence: Expressive Arts. [Online]. Accessible: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo. [Accessed: 7 November 2017].

 

DANCE

In the dance workshop, we used the theme of Halloween throughout. We began with a warmup to the Michael Jackson song, “Thriller”. We then separated into our groups from last week and rehearsed our dance routine. We were encouraged to do so ourselves, taking responsibility for our own learning.

 

Next, we gathered as one group and created a dance move – relevant to the theme of Halloween – for each number from 0 to 9. We were then given a series of maths questions and had to create a dance using the previously created moves. Clearly, this demonstrates cross-curricular links which we have been exploring throughout the module. Before this module I was unaware that cross-curricular learning is one of the underpinning principles of Curriculum for Excellence (Learning Curve Education, 2009). However, this module has highlighted the importance of cross-curricular learning as well as ways in which I can link the expressive arts to other curriculum areas.

 

Then, we were given ‘spooky’ pictures relating to the theme (ghost, zombie, haunted house etcetera). Back in our groups, we made up a dance move for this picture. Finally, we joined as a class one last time to blend together each group’s ‘spooky’ dance move as well as our group dances we have worked on for the last two weeks.

 

Last week I felt nervous to perform a dance – even in my small group. However, this week I realised that attitudes like this are easily recognised by pupils and so let go of my inhibitions. This class was enjoyable and could easily be replicated in the primary school.

 

DRAMA

In our drama workshop, we explored a further 5 drama conventions: vox pop, role on the wall, thought tracking, voice in head and mime. We used these techniques to act out the story called “The Tunnel” by Anthony Browne.

Vox pop: Is the teacher acting as as reporter and interviewing characters.

Role on the wall: Drawing a silhouette of a character and writing what you think of them on the outside and what they think of themselves on the inside.

Thought tracking: Allows children to express their thoughts on a character.

Voice in head: A character pausing during a drama to discuss their thoughts on themselves or another character at that particular moment, allowing the audience to further understand the characters.

Mime: Working in silence whilst acting out a scene to create more drama.

We also discussed the importance of giving children time to answer a question and not answer the question for them immediately. “The most difficult role for me, as the teacher, was to step back and not interfere with their creative process” (Cone, 2009). I think I will also find this to be a difficulty of mine in schools. In order to overcome this, I will develop strategies to prevent me from impacting children’s creativity.

 

Overall, from today’s inputs I feel my confidence is developing in teaching the arts – particularly dance – as this is the expressive art I have been most apprehensive about teaching.

 

Reference List

Learning Curve Education (2009) Interdisciplinary Learning: Primary Schools. [Online] Available: http://www.curriculum-for-excellence.co.uk/_pt/images/stories/CPDMaterials/Guide%20Interdisciplinary%20Learning%20Primary.pdf  [Accessed 24 October 2017].

 

Purcell Cone, T. (2009) ‘Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances’. Journal of Dance Education. Vol. 9:3, pp. 81-89.

In our drama workshop, we began by discussing our own experiences with drama as a learner and our thoughts on teaching the subject as future teachers. The general consensus was negative and most people found the thought of teaching drama daunting. However, we were open to learning and improving our confidence.

We explored techniques including teacher in role and freeze frame. I found the first technique – teacher in role – very useful. This is when the teacher can use a prop such as a hat to show the pupils that they are no longer a teacher as such but now an actor. We related the techniques to a story of a dragon flying above a village and acted out our adaptations of a particular scene using the freeze frame technique. Having looked over the Curriculum for Excellence: Expressive Arts experiences and outcomes it was clear to see how the class how the workshop could be replicated in a classroom and tie in with relevant framework. For example, “I enjoy creating, choosing and accepting roles, using movement, expression and voice” EXA 1-12a.

 

During our morning lecture, we were given a copy of the watercolour painting ‘Windows in the West’ by the Scottish artist – Avril Paton. In our visual art input, we used this painting and a piece of polystyrene to copy a section of the paining. Next, we folded four different colours of A4 paper, covered our polystyrene tracing in paint before printing it on to each sheet of coloured paper. Once complete, we altered our original copy by removing sections of the polystyrene. We then used a second colour and reprinted onto each sheet of paper again. The fact that everybody’s drawing was different could reflect on Eisner’s (2002) 10 Lessons the Arts Teach. One lesson would be that the arts celebrate a variety of perspectives and the other being that there is no wrong answer, only a number of solutions. Below are pictures of Avril Paton’s “Windows in the West” as well as the process of creating my prints.

I found this activity enjoyable but think if it was to be replicated in a classroom environment it would best be covered over multiple lessons as it is messy and would be difficult for primary school aged children to do in a single lesson.

 

 

REFERENCES

Eisner, E. W. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind. London: Yale University Press.

 

Scottish Government (2017). Curriculum for Excellence: Expressive Arts. [Online]. Accessible: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf [Accessed: 5 October 2017].