During this week session, we were very lucky to have the chance to visit Kevlingrove Art Gallery and Museums. I have visited this museum plenty of time as a child, however I had not been in a very long time and I was unaware what the gallery had to offer. On arrival we were lucky to have a guide, who gave us a brief workshop that would be available for children all over Scotland. We were informed that the gallery hold various workshops and trips for schools all over Scotland for free of charge which are very informative and often link into topic and IDL learning from the Vikings to Ancient Egypt.

After taking part in the mini session, we then headed up to the gallery and looked at some painting and had the amazing opportunity to look at the painting we have worked with previously Avril Paton’s Windows in the West.

It really was amazing to see the painting in real life. We spoke about the painting and how this could be an amazing tool for literacy and story writing. We discussed many activities we could give children just by putting a photo of a painting up on the board. One activity we discussed would be to give each child a tenement block, and asking them to create a story by focusing on one flat and what’s going on in the window. Before now I would have never of thought of using a visual art piece to inspire writing. Now I know this is an effective way to get children speaking about a painting, and then writing it down on paper.

During our visit we also got to look at the Ancient Egypt section of the museum. We spoke about how this can be a great insight to mathematics and numbers by taking a look at the numerals displayed in the museum. I learned that we really can use art as a stimulus for many areas in the curriculum.

On reflection, I felt very lucky to been of able to explore the gallery and museum, and gain new knowledge about the things that they do on a daily basis for children and even adults. It was a great experience and I would bring my class to experience this great place.

“Learning need not take place solely within educational buildings. The outdoor environment has massive potential for learning. We are extremely fortunate to have such rich urban and rural environments on our doorsteps and our children and young people’s learning experiences can be enhanced by maximising the potential of the outdoors ( Keith Brown MSP, 2010).

As an educator I think it is crucial that we inform children that learning does not only take place inside the classroom, and that it takes place every day and especially outdoors. Adams (2008) explains that ” children are learning all the time, in any environment where they find themselves – learning does not only take place in the classroom”. 

During university, we have had lots of opportunities to experience outdoor learning. However, when in placement, I often do not see the children going outdoors often enough. I think it is important that we take children outdoors, as they can learn from what ever environment they are in. Teachers often worry about children being outdoors, and this is a perfect example of the fear of the unknown. Teachers often like the classroom as it is a controlled environment, however outdoor there are greater risks such as children falling and hurting themselves or the boundaries of where the children are allowed to wander off too.

As a future teacher, I think it is important that we take children outdoors as there are huge benefits. When reflecting on outdoor learning, I decided to incorporate this into my concrete poetry. I took my piece of work outside into the garden, and dance around it, and whenever I felt a certain way, I used this feeling to create bursts of colour and visual art! Many different type of dance can take place outside. In a matter of fact, dance outdoors is probably more effective than indoors due to the space and fresh air. This session was useful in highlighting the benefit of being outdoors.

Adams, E. (2008) Art and Design Education and the Built Environment. In Coutts, G. and Jokela, T. (Eds) Art. Community and Environment: Educational Perspectives. Bristol: Intellect.

Learning and Teaching Scotland (2010) The Curriculum for Excellence Through Outdoor Learning. [Online]. Available : https://education.gov.scot/Documents/cfe-through-outdoor-learning.pdf [Accessed : 1st March 2018]

Adams, E. (2008) Art and Design Education and the Built Environment. In Coutts, G. and Jokela, T. (Eds) Art, Community and Environment: Education Perspectives. Bristol: Intellect.

This week’s workshop was based on Stem to Steam, a concept I had never heard of before. Before the workshop, I decided to research Stem to Steam using the materials on moodle. Prior to the session I learned that Steam is an educational framework which brings reality into the classroom. It connects the different subjects together in the way they would relate to the outside world and every day life. Steam stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM, 2018). Steam connects all of the different subjects together in a way which they would relate to one another. Steam will help children produce skills which they will need to flourish in the 21st centaury.

When watching a clip on steam happening in the classroom, it was interesting to see how the teachers and the children linked together arts with more “tricky” subjects such as engineering and maths. Having a more hands on approach allows the children to explore these subjects in a different way. Learning about steam has taught me that integration is key in learning and concepts have to connect and relate to children to allow them to learn and make sense of them.

During today’s workshop, we got to explore further into Stem and Steam. I think it is great that schools are trying to take a more arts based approached to learning. As a future educator, and in my future placements, I will think of Steam and incorporate into my planning and classroom life to make sure children are getting the best possible opportunities to develop skills to become people who can function in the 21st century.

STEM + ARTS = STEAM

STEAM, (2018) Stem to Steam. [Online] Available: http://stemtosteam.org/ [Accessed 1stFebruary 2018]

During the integrated arts module, I learned all about learning through print and printmaking. This was intresting for me, as I had never took part in any print making before. We looked at Avril Paton’s famous Glasgweigan painting, “Window’s in the West”.

The Science Leadership Academy (2017) explains that “Printmaking is an art that consists of etching a design into a surface (wood, acrylic, styrofoam, etc.), covering it in ink, and pressing paper on top”.

Prior to today’s session, I explored a resource on moodle which was “Exploring Printmaking” by Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The resource explains that print making can be used to explore and experiment visual art. It explains that print making can be adapted to different stages and ability, and can also can be used in any area of the curriculum. The resource informed me that print making can produce and develop many different skills such as team work, problem solving and communication skills such as talking and listening. As it is a hands on approach, it can help children develop their fine motor skills. Print making is also fantastic for helping children to develop their literacy skills. It will encourage talking and listening, as pupils will explore one another’s works, and share ideas and concepts behind the piece of work they have created.

Before reading this resources, I would have not have tried print making in the classroom. However, after all of the information I have read and learned about, I think it is a great activity that could be implement through all areas of the curriculum and into the classroom. The resource was very helpful in giving top tips such as before, after and during tips to get the classroom set up which has made me feel confident for carrying out a lesson. It also gives a list of recourses that can be used too, which is useful.

After exploring the resource and carrying out more print making in the workshop, I feel that I would be confident enough to take this lesson into the classroom and during the 5 week placement.  I managed to add more work to my creative poetry piece linked to my evocative object, allowing my thoughts, feelings and emotions to flow through the visual arts to express myself. I wanted to also link something special to me into my creative poetry. I wanted to incorporate dance, something that my Granda and I done together. I decided to dance in paint, and then dance over my picture expressing myself through dance, something close to my heart.

Science Leadership Academy, (2017). Printmaking. [Online] Available: https://scienceleadership.org/blog/printmaking-11 [Accessed: 30th January 2018]

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, (n.d.) Exploring Printmaking. [Online] Available: file:///C:/Users/Suzanne/Downloads/ignite-teacher-resource-printmaking%20(1).pdf [Accessed 30th January 2018]

“A filmmaking technique where illusion of motion is created frame-by-frame. The word comes from the Latin word, ‘anima’ meaning ‘life’ or ‘soul’”

This week session was based on animation. It was interesting to see how animation gives children many opportunity’s such as developing visual literacy skills. This is a great way to develop literacy. Showing children something as simple as clip can encourage children to write. I have learned that literacy can be taught using visual resources such as film, animation, photographs and picture books.

Other skills that animation will help develop critical observation skills, encourage collaboration and co-operation skills and build problem skills. In developing animation skills pupils have the opportunity to develop sequence and order concepts, demonstrate spatial sense in relation to self and environment, describe and object in relation to another using positional language, use language effectively to describe concepts, work collaboration  in small groups and engage n construction meaning.

Animation can be used across curriculum as a creative medium for pupils to explore and simulate a wide range of ideas.

On the first week of the arts module, we were asked to think about an evocative object. At first, I was unsure what the term evocative meant so spent a bit of time researching the term. I soon found out that evocative meant that something brings strong images, memories, or feelings to mind. Linking this word evocative and its meaning to an object was not challenging at all. The first thing that sprung to my mind was my late Grandad’s chain which I wear almost every day. 

We were asked to bring in our evocative object and share this with the class. Sharing the meaning of my evocative object made me feel very emotional and a  strong feeling of sadness took over. Here lies a simple chain, but on the chain is a photo of my “Granda” Terry who passed away many years ago. Attached to the chain is my Granda’s ring in which he left behind for me to carry. On the back of the love heart shape photograph chain, lies a message stating “forever in our hearts, Terry”.  Every member of the family received 0ne of these chains when my Granda passed away. The idea was so that we could wear the chain close to our heart everyday. This object I will keep forever.

It was interesting to explore feelings through the arts, something that can be done in the primary classroom. In the up coming weeks, we will have the chance to create our own piece of art through exploring the feelings and emotions from our evocative object.

During this session, we were also to think about exploring “the unknown”.  Primary teachers often do not like exploring the unknown which can be a negative experience for the learners in the classroom. Being free and allowing the unknown to  take over to allow creations is very important and a skill that I must master as a future educator. We were given a bunch of pipe cleaners and told to create anything we want. By the end of this session, everyone ended up with a different model.

Turkle, S. Evocative Objects

Drama

This week’s drama session was very enjoyable. As previously stated myself and the group I was working with were able to create a lesson and micro teach this to our peers. This week we were participating in the opposite. We got to experience being in the learners seat and be taught by our peers.

Each group were very imaginative when planning their lessons. I acted out many different scenes while using many different conventions such as voice in the head, freeze frame, thought tracking and mime. Everyone In the class were beginning to take drama a lot more seriously. As a student teacher I think it is important that we take drama seriously as the children in our class will begin to take it seriously too. Drama can be very effective in letting children see different view points for example being in the shoes of a bully and this is why it must not be just a laugh.

I have really enjoyed the drama sessions in this module and I think it will really benefit me in my future career as a teacher.

Dance

It has been a while since we took part in dance in the university and this became a bit of a challenge! We were asked to think back and remember the moves that we had created in the previous class which was a bit of a struggle. As I feel confidence when it comes to choreography I managed to think of moves we could learn quickly and teach the rest of my group. We then came together as a class and again put all of our moves together

When dancing I really enjoy the shapes I can make with my body. I can express myself through movement and be imaginative with myself. I think dance is a type of creativity that is very important. As a student teacher, I am eager to teach dance in this years placement during my serial days. I think it is important that all children experience all of the creative arts for a chance to experience creativity.

Cross-Curricular

Both of these sessions linked today as in both sessions we were able to be imaginative and make up our own creativity such as our own dances and our own drama scenes.  During drama, we could have created up a completely random scene and then used this a stimulus for literacy and write a imaginative short story. This could also be applied to dance. We can complete a dance related to a theme such as remembrance day, and then link this to literacy by writing a story! These are all fun and creative way that the arts can be linked into the curriculum.

When I think back to primary school, I can slightly remember learning about the energy. When revisiting the topic, it brought many memetoies such as creating a circuit. I found this topic very enjoyable and as a student teacher I would feel fairly confident teaching this in the classroom.

Through out the lectures, study tasks and workshops I developed many new skills such as team working skills and communication skills. For many of the tasks we had to take part in, we had to work as a team and work in partnership. I sometimes find it challenging working in a team but as we have worked in teams a lot over this trimester I feel like my skill have developed well. I am now able to sit back and listen to everyone taking their thoughts into consideration, and I am also able to show my leadership skills in the team. I feel confident enough to report back to the class after having a class discussion. Another skill I think I have developed during this topic is my research skills. For one of the seminars we had to look through a number of academic sources that had information about wind turbines. We then had to sort this information using a table and work in teams to bring that information together. This was a really useful lesson to bring both team working and research together.

Mad a student teacher I would love to teach this topic in the classroom. There are lots of great activities to do with energy that the children would enjoy. As energy surrounds us in every day life, it is a relevant subject that must be taught.

It is evident that the school are encouraging sustainable development education throughout the year groups from primary 1 to 7. The have two eco councils that run on a Thursday afternoon which are named the eco hero’s and the garden council. It is also evident that the children are engaging with the eco education as there are many displays up on the walls.

The Garden Area :

This school has put a lot of time and effort into their garden area and there are also a council which maintain the area. There is also a timetable of when the area gets used and when there are free slots allowing each class to rotate and have turns of outdoor learning. There are many resources that are in the garden area allowing the children to explore and get messy! Resources include plant beds, recycling bins, compost, water area, bug garden, huts, bird boxes, fruit and veg patches and a mud kitchen. These are all great resources which can all be linked with areas of the curriculum such as science and health and wellbeing.

Litter picking :

For one of the council sessions, the eco hero’s got to take part in a whole school litter pick. Sandy, the community safety officer, came into the school and equipped the children with litter pickers, hi-vis jackets, gloves and bin bags. The children had the opportunity to go around the school and pick up litter and discuss why this is an issue. A follow up task involved the children of creating posters informing children of the school and members of the public why not to drop litter in the school grounds. These posters got displayed around the school and on the school gates.

Recycling:

In each classroom, the children in the classroom and the teacher all have the chance to recyncle. There are recycle bins in each classroom and there are also recycle bins In the school canteen. When asked, most children were able to tell the difference between bins and also were able to answer the question “why do we recycle?”. Most children seemed fairly confident about the subject.

Play Area :

In this school, the space for play is very basic. They have a large concrete ground play area and one child mentioned that “there is not much to do but run around”. However, when I had the chance to look at the playground during lunch time, I found many children playing around the trees on the grass area. The children were breaking branches with the trees and also exploring for bugs. There was lots of opportunities for outdoor learning during free flow play. Here is a mapping of the school grounds :

Through out the school there is many posters of the eco code. This has been created by the children and when asked about it they were able to explain the poster and where confident enough to speak about how their school was an eco school.

Music

In today’s workshop, we had a great opportunity to learn how to play a string instrument. A group of children from a local primary school in Ayrshire came into the university and taught us a string instrument, something that they get the opportunity to do in school from primary 4 to primary 7. The project that the children take part in is named the String Project. The children get the opportunity to take part in a 45 minute session in school and are only primary school in Scotland that take part in the project. The children have the chance to enter competitions and work as a team. They learn to play together as a class, and this builds many different skills such as team building skills, confidence skils, oral awareness skills and many more. This allows the children to become confident indviduals, successful learner, responsible citizen and an effective contributor( Curriculum for Excellence, 2004).

Through out the session, we had the oppetrunity to learn many different music skills such as learning notes, how to hold a string instrument, how to hold a bow, and many different musical games. It was an enjoyable experience and I think the string project should be a national innovative. Here is a video of me playing the violin pizzicato.

Drama 

In this week’s drama workshop, we had the chance to have a microteaching session. This involved teaching our peers for around 15 minutes, and also taking part in our peers lessons. We had the chance to create our own lesson plan and implement this to the class. I found this task challenging as we had to work as a team to create the lesson plan, however in the end we worked as a team very well. Other skills I used throughout this task were team management skills, good organisation skills, time management skills, and creative skills.

When teaching the class I found this very daunting. I often find it easy to stand up in a primary school class, but not a university class. As we were teaching in a team we all split up things to say and we all took control. In the end our lesson was very effective and we got some great feedback.

When taking part in other people’s drama’s I am starting to become more confident. Having an audience can be off putting but I have learned to “just go for it” and have fun. I think I will use this technique when teaching drama in the class room.

Overall, I think it is important that we allow microteaching to happen in the classroom. In both workshops today, we had other people teach us and not a lecturer. In the classroom, the children can learn a lot from one another during music and drama. Other pupils who are more musically talented can always buddy up with someone who needs extra help, and during drama, we can put people in groups who will balance out one another and help one another. For example, a kid who is more confident with a kid who is more shy.

Education Scotland (2017) What is Curriculum for Excellence. [Online] Available : https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/What%20is%20Curriculum%20for%20Excellence? [ Accessed : 13th November 2017]