This week in we participated in music and visual arts, both workshops that I thoroughly enjoyed. Both classes were very practical and hands on which I appreciated as it allowed us to learn and experience the art forms through practice.
The music workshop focused on our learning of beats and rhythms by looking at note names and values. Due to having previously studied music before I was aware of the musical concepts discussed, however it was beneficial as they were referred to in a way that young people might pick up easier, such as referring to a crotchet as a ‘square’ and a quaver as a ‘circle’. This was done because the word square has 1 syllable and therefore we played 1 beat, whereas the word circle has 2 syllables so we played 2 beats. Although these may sound like simple ideas, they were ideas that I had not thought of before and therefore I found them useful to learn as they would be beneficial when putting music into practice with a class. We continued on to the practical side of the workshop by using beaters and drumsticks to sound out different rhythms by hitting them off the ground. If teaching this to a primary school class I would be mindful of giving out instructions before handing out instruments as the children may fidget with them and become distracted. I would also encourage them to participate by marching, clapping the rhythm and then using the instrument, this way they understand what the rhythm is supposed to sound like before getting a hold of beaters. Before handing out instruments I would also do a ‘fist of five’ to ensure that all learners are ready to move on to the next stage of learning.
Art this week was also very practical as it involved print making. We were given the task of coming up with a poster on a world issue and base the design on the works of Bob and Roberta Smith. I focused my poster on climate change as this is a current issue that I feel strongly about. In order to create the poster, we had to write out our phrase out onto an a4 piece of paper and then carve it into a piece of polystyrene, choose ink and coloured paper that contrast each other and then roll the ink on the polystyrene to allow it to print. I think that by doing a task similar to this one would be a really effective lesson to do within a class, especially with middle or upper school levels as part of the task could be fiddly and younger pupils might struggle with the literacy side of it. However, it is important to acknowledge what age and stage pupils are at when adapting lessons to their capabilities (Penny et al, 2002). Therefore, in order to adapt this task to a younger audience, it could involve drawings rather than writing but may require help from teachers, assistants or older pupils when it comes to the carving. The task also required a lot of space and had the potential to become very messy so this would be important to take into consideration. In relation to Room 13, this task was very personal and creative, therefore if implementing it in a class I would encourage child led learning and creativity by letting the pupils research an issue, design their poster, pick the colours they want to use and allow them to print it themselves. This could be done over a number of lessons.
undertake a task at a level appropriate to their capabilities
I have identified that the two workshops connect through the use of literacy, for example, in music we used syllables when learning notes and values, and in art we used our literacy skills to write out slogans for our posters. It could also be argued that maths and social issues were also explored in these lessons as we counted beats and understood note values in music and looked at current global issues in art. Therefore, it could be argued that both lessons incorporated a range of subjects into the work, which is supported by the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). The CfE ensures that “connections between all aspects of learning” should be maintained and supported (Scottish Government, 2008). Therefore this was shown through the overlaps of topics within different learning areas, such as art, literacy and social studies.
In reflection, I think that this week has been my favourite input of the module so far. I enjoyed that both workshops were so practical and could see the tasks we were doing succeeding in a class, therefore it helped with ideas on how I would implement a similar lesson. In relation to art, I can feel myself becoming more confident and open minded to the subject as I have never enjoyed art lessons previously yet I am beginning to enjoy participating. As for music, I enjoy the subject and feel confident when participating in the class, however, the language used this week highlighted to me how important terminology and can be and how simplified language may be easier for pupils to use to adapt to music. In order to improve, I need to try and remember the new terminology and relate it to a level that younger pupils can effectively understand. It also emphasised the idea that noise within a classroom is not always a negative, especially when focusing on music, and in this case a noisy classroom can be seen as a productive classroom (Daubney, 2017).
References-
Daubney, A. (2017) Teaching Primary Music. California: Sage Publications Ltd.
Penny et al. (2002) Teaching arts in primary schools. Learning Matters Ltd: Exeter.
Scottish Government. (2008) Curriculum for excellence building the curriculum a framework for learning and teaching. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/btc3.pdf [Accessed: 15 October 2019.]
