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This week we started looking at music and the beneficial aspects of it within education. It was mentioned how some practitioners don’t see music as being an important part of the curriculum. It was also said that some teachers express that they are too scared to teach it because they see themselves as not good at it. They feel because they are not a musical person that they can not successfully teach a music lesson.As teachers, we should make sure that every child gets a fair experience of music. They might not be exposed to any kind of music at home and school is an opportunity to experience new things. Music and playing an instrument might be an exciting new activity for a child.The most basic music lesson is still a music lesson. Even if a teacher feels they are not musically minded, there is still wide range of music lessons they can teach without feeling uncomfortable. I feel that music as a lesson, can be created to be extremely fun for the pupils or can be intertwined within other aspects of the curriculum. You can use music within a literacy or art lesson quite easily.

In the music workshop we focused on how music can have an impact on feelings and emotions. We listened to a song and were to create in a story in story-board style which is inspired by the song. My group imagined the song as a chase and adventure between a bear and a family. This was an extremely creative task for all involved and could easily be completed within a primary school. This lesson made me realise the images that music can create in your head and the impact music can have on your imagination. This activity included music linking with writing and literacy, proving that is is easy for music to be linked with other curricular areas and how beneficial musical education can be (Safford and Barrs, 2005).

In drama we participated in our peers micro-teaching presentations and activities. Completing and participating in these micro-teaching activities was a great way to conclude everything that we have learned over the past few weeks. Micro-teaching was hugely beneficial as a learner and as a teacher as we were able to revise all the drama conventions, in different contexts, that we have been focusing on throughout the weeks. After the last micro-teaching presentation, we then learned one last convention: role on the wall. I have never experienced this drama convention before (or I can’t remember it) even though I have complete higher and advanced higher drama. Role on the wall involved drawing an outline of a figure and writing inside the drawing what the pupils imagine the character thinks of themselves. Around the edges of the future you are to write what other characters think of that certain character. We completed this exercise base on a children’s book.

Safford, K. and Barrs, M. (2005) Creativity and Literacy: Many Routes to Meaning [Online] Available: https://clpe.org.uk/sites/default/files/Many%20routes%20to%20meaning%20childrens%20language%20and%20literacy%20learning%20in%20creative%20arts%20work_0.pdf [Accessed: 08 October 2019].

Unfortunately, the cohort missed the lecture today due to a lack of communication within the cohort.

In the art workshop today we returned to the images of the Scottish highlands that we created last week and added words to it. We were to add words of what the image made us feel and think. I chose to use a black felt tip pen and just let my brain do the work. I felt my way of doing things was a lot more simple than fellow students as I do not see myself as very imaginative. One of my fellow pupils wrote poems around their art work, some wrote song lyrics, some wrote quotes from famous Scottish people and the list goes on. Although I possibly did not stretch my level of creativity I feel that this activity was successful in proving that art/the arts can be used as cross-curricular activities as this activity had benefits to literacy.

The drama workshop today consisted of my groups micro-teaching task. My group chose to focus our presentation on ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. My group focused our presentation on four drama conventions: improvisation, hot-seating, monologue and flash forward. This was an interesting experience for all of my group as it was the first time we have had the opportunity to teach a class throughout our time in university. For me, teaching my first drama lesson was the first time I have experienced first-hand the feeling of teaching a topic within the expressive arts. I really enjoyed having the support of the group as it was slightly intimidating having to teach a presentation aimed at primary school children to a group of adults. I appreciated how well my peers participated with the activities my group prepared for this task. On reflection, I think that my group had correctly estimated how long each activity should be as we managed to complete our presentation in the time allotted to us. The class of my peers seemed to be really engaged with our presentation.

 

For me, this week really highlighted how uniformed art lessons were for me during my time at primary school. When the teacher taught an art lesson, the usually put an image by an artist up on the board and we were pretty much to copy it as best as we could. This ended up with everybody’s end product looking very much the same. No individuality. The entire class was to use the same utensils, the same techniques and the same colour palette. Although, some individuals work would look better than others, sheerly for the fact they were better at art.The advice from Diarmuid was to have art lessons pupil lead but as a teacher, keep it controlled. You want the children to express themselves via their interpretation of the art topic of that lesson. I do not want my class to have extremely similar looking art work. I want the children to have fun with what they are doing and not feel like they can only draw in a certain way or paint with a certain colour.You do not want to end up having a uniformed art lesson. Art is art. Art is not copying someone else’s work.

In the lecture we discussed Room 13 and its approach to art and creativity. Room 13 is a room within a Scottish school that has a specialised resident art teach who’s purpose is to be in the school to aid children on their creative journey. This project has been going on since 1994. Room 13 encourages ambition and aspiration at every stage and age. They have a proven record of keeping children engaged and have a reputation of addressing some of the problems facing young people in society today (Room 13, 2012).  I would love for this to be introduced and acted upon in as many schools as possible throughout Scotland as I feel as it is beneficial for all children involved. This approach encourages creativity within the school as a whole.

In the drama workshop we discussed how drama classes and improvisations can be used to teach difficult societal issues. Using drama to highlight current issues in society is a fun way for children to learn about serious issues. This was extremely helpful as it showed everyone that we can use drama as a tool to teach controversial topics. Drama is more likely to keep the pupils engaged and interested comparatively to a teacher standing in front of the pupils talking at them (Kokx, 2017).

In the art workshop we various used materials to create our own, unique, paintbrushes. We were to use our paintbrushes to paint our interpretation of an image of the Scottish Highlands which was described to us by Diarmuid. This was a successful activity in regards to every individuals painting and paintbrush being completely different. Every person in the room was given the same brief and set of instructions but ended up with a completely different finished product. This activity demonstrated how being given the opportunity to create our own paintbrush can lead to every person having a different creative journey. If this were to be done in a classroom of primary pupils, I am confident that they would enjoy this activity and that the array of creativity within each child would come to surface. Materials for this task would be easily accessible and inexpensive as they would most likely be available in the school and materials could also be found outside that could be used to create the paintbrush.

 

Room 13 (2012) About Room 13 [Online] Available: http://room13international.org/about/ [Accessed 28 October]

Kokx, K. (2017) Effects of Musical Theater Education on the Self Esteem of Middle School Students. Ed.D. Dissertations, Concordia University – Portland.

The first input was interesting. We were given part of a text and we were to draw over it. We were to draw what the words were saying.

I genuinely found this quite difficult. The article I was given was academically advanced which added to the difficulty, I have never been the type of person that was very good at drawing or even liked to draw. I always preferred colouring in.  As the article was an academic article I found it quite difficult to even think of what to draw. Looking back at how I was feeling during this lecture, I am under the impression I was thinking too much into what I was doing rather than just doing it. I eventually got some drawings down on the page, as did everyone else.

I am confident this exercise could be used in a classroom and could be quite successful within a lesson, obviously with an easier bit of text. Instead of an article, a book, song lyrics or poems could even be used. The pupils would be able to turn the words and information they see in front of them into visual images. For some individuals it  is easier to visualise something as an image rather than to just look at a bunch of words. It could also be a fun activity for the pupils to participate in, something different than usual. This activity showed me that art can be taught and experienced through literacy.

The art workshop today consisted of using black paint and black pens. This activity was heavily influenced by lesson number three of the ten lesson that the arts teach by Elliot Eisner (2002). Eisner says that children see and interpret the arts in different ways and that they can have multiple different perspectives on one single piece of art. In this activity, we were to put the black paint on our hands, make marks on the paper with our fingers and hands. We were then to focus on the shapes we had created with our hands/fingers and then we were to add details of what we imagined them to be. Every person seemed to have different interpretations of what even a thumb print looked like. This activity proved, even in adults, that every person will have different interpretations of similar things. This workshop made me realise how no two sheets of paper will look the same, even when given the same brief. This task could easily be completed within a primary school. As long as you, as a teacher, prepared for the possible mess it could create. Preparing for this activity could include have news paper pages placed on desks under the paper in which they were painting on, to avoid paint getting on the desks. Also, to make sure that all the pupils had aprons on so that they paint would not get onto their school uniform.

After the drama workshop, I noticed improvements confidence-wise in everyone. Everyone that participated seemed a lot more confident in performing. My desire is for the pupils in my class to grow in confidence day by day, activity by activity. Drama is a subject that helps to build confidence and self-esteem all the children have an opportunity to work in groups, speak independently by expressing opinions and ideas and present themselves in a play or by improvisation (Bytdrama, 2018).

 

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

Bytdrama (2018) Benefits of Drama [Online] Available: https://www.bytdrama.com/benefits-of-drama/ [Accessed 28 October 2019]

Before my return to university for the year, I wondered what the module “integrated arts” would include. Would it purely be about art? Drawing and painting type of art that is. Will it include all of ‘the arts’? Drama, music and art.

10th of September came around very fast and this was my first day of the integrated arts module. The first day of the module was not unlike most other first days in a new class. We, as a cohort, were introduced to the module and what it would include. It would include all of the arts, like I hoped. Drama, music, dance and art.

Diarmuid explained that we would need to “build a tolerance for ambiguity” to be successful at teaching the arts. This essentially means we need to open to more than one interpretation of the same thing. This also means, as a future educator, I need to open to things not always going exactly to plan and that I should be prepared for things to be unpredictable within the arts. Tolerance is an essential skill to have as a teacher, to be constantly prepared for the unknown. You can never predict how a day will go in the classroom, you can never predict any interruptions that may happen throughout the day or the week.  Diarmuid also stated that we needed to develop a tolerance for mess. Developing both of these is essential. The arts its not as straight forward as maths or literacy. Maths and literacy usually include only one correct answer whereas the arts is down to an individuals interpretation of whats in front of them. You can improvise within the arts and every individual could have a different idea.

We had two workshops on this day: a drama workshop which was very practical and an art workshop in which we reflected upon works of art that children had created.

As a teacher, it is of paramount importance to make sure we value every pupil’s work and efforts by showing interest in their work to make sure there is no discouragement of their creativity (McAuliffe, 2007).  This was spoke about through both our drama and art inputs. Encouraging pupils not only proves creativity but has also been to aid attainment in other subjects. Encouragement within school has helped to improve literacy with advancing creative writing skills (Safford and Barrs, 2005). Pupils need encouragement to have self-confidence and belief in their own ability.

I am looking forward to learn more about how to teach the expressive arts in primary schools. I also look forward to observing the benefits that children will experience through the expressive arts. Personally, I was not exposed to the expressive arts in my primary school experience although this differed in high school.

 

McAuliffe, D. (2007) Foundation and Primary Settings. In Teaching Art and Design 3-11. London: Continuum.

Safford, K. and Barrs, M. (2005) Creativity and Literacy: Many Routes to Meaning. [Online] Available: https://clpe.org.uk/sites/default/files/Many%20routes%20to%20meaning%20childrens%20language%20and%20literacy%20learning%20in%20creative%20arts%20work_0.pdf [Accessed: 28 October 2019].

This week we focused on interdependence, which Collins (2019) describes as groups of people or things that relying on each other.
https://youtu.be/4FdwZK6pL1M

In session one we visited two cattle farms that have very different processes of producing milk. Strandhead Farm never let the cows outside and kept them all together in large groups.

Keeping the cows indoors allowed the farmers to be more in control of the cow’s diets by tracking their eating habits using a robotic machine that fed them. This machine collected data on the different groups and what diet would benefit the cow to produce the most milk.

This farm was reliant on this machine to ensure all the cows had the diet they needed to produce lots of milk. This links in with interdependence as this farm is heavily dependent on technology to ensure that the cows get the right amount of food to make the most milk. The cows eat cereal within their diet to boost milk production. All the cows at this farm are artificially inseminated so never get to naturally have calves and when they give birth the calves are taken away immediately. This farm forced me to see the sad reality that some cow’s live. When it comes to milking the cows, it is very military operation, they all stand in line and wait their turn getting milked from a machine.

Although the farm insisted that this lifestyle was ‘happy and healthy’ for these cows and that this way of farming produces the best milk, I wanted to do my own research. Macintyre (2008) stated that studies have shown that cows who eat the outdoor grass and clover, produce more antioxidants and vitamins – for example they produce 33 percent more vitamin E- than cows that eat food that is processed. This meaning the milk production at Stranhead Farm may not be of the best quality. The General Teaching Council (2019) highlights the importance of having the ability to critically question and interrogate which was the skills I used when researching for fresh information before forming my overall opinion on this method of farming. Strengthening my knowledge is vital as when I have my own classroom It is incredibly important to use these skills so that I know the information I present to the children is unbiased and fully informative.
The Mossgiel Farm has been passed down three generations. It is an organic farm which is more sustainable than the first farm. Soil association (2019) highlights that if half of the farming industry in the EU were to go Organic by 2030, they would cut European Union’s greenhouse gas emissions by around 23%. The cows on this farm can roam more freely and are on a complete grass diet which as stated before produces a better quality of milk however the milk production is much slower than that of cows who have cereal in their diet.

This farm relied solely on individuals buying their milk as they do not produce enough to be major suppliers for stores. This links with interdependence as the farm is dependent on their regulars purchasing their milk to make profit. At milking time, the cows are separated into groups of personality bossy, mediocre and timid to make the milking procedure more comfortable for them. When a cow gives birth, the calf can stay with its mother and drink her milk. The farmer stated that only nine farms in Scotland operate this way.
This experience really benefited me as a student teacher by educating me about the different ways that the milk I drink is produced. A trip like this would be a great benefit for primary children. At the second farm a woman from the Royal Highland Education Trust spoke to us about her positive experiences taking children on trips like this and how important it is to be outdoors. These types of outdoor learning experiences educate children on where their food comes from and how animals are treated. Education Scotland (2019) states that outdoor learning allows children to make connections with the real world by learning in a more natural and relaxed environment. Reflecting on my pre-University experiences of outdoor learning and comparing them with the ones I have experienced in university thus far; I have a newfound appreciation for outdoor learning. I am becoming more aware of the importance of outdoor learning by doing my own research into policy and practise which signifies the endless benefits it has on children’s development and education. I know it deserves a critical place in the curriculum as it allows children to develop resilience, strengthen knowledge of the wider world around them, enhance problem solving skills and build confidence in a real-life context.

 

Education Scotland. (2019) Outdoor Learning Practical guidance, ideas and support for teachers and practitioners in Scotland. [Online] Available : https://education.gov.scot/improvement/documents/hwb24-ol-support.pdf [Accessed: 21 October 2019
General Teaching Council for Scotland. (2019) Overview of the Standards. Available: https://www.gtcs.org.uk/professional-standards/engaging-with-the-standards/overview-of-the-standards.aspx [Accessed: 21 October 2019].
Harper, C. (ed.) (2019) COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary [Online] Available: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/interdependence [Accessed 22 October 2019]
Macintyre, J. (2008) Cows That Eat Outdoor Produce Healthier Milk. The Independent. [Online] 21 October, non-paginated. Available: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/cows-that-eat-outdoors-produce-healthier-milk-835188.html [Accessed: 21 October 2019].
Soil Association. (2019) Why is organic better for the planet? [Online] Available: https://www.soilassociation.org/organic-living/why-organic/better-for-the-planet/ [Accessed: 21 October 2019].