Regularly playing an instrument has been identified as changing the shape and power of your brain and develops your cognitive skills. Research has suggested that both listening to and playing a musical instrument can increase your memory.
In today’s session, we had the pleasure of having a workshop with several primary 6 and primary 7 pupils from Greenmill Primary School in East Ayrshire. These pupils take part in the ‘String Project’ and play as an orchestra at many events. They only ever practice for about 50 minutes every week as no outwith school lessons are required. These children were so talented and dedicated to their instrument at such a young age.
Playing a musical instrument provides children with discipline as they must remain quiet and focus during performances. This project, I believe, is beneficial to the children as it gives them a head start in developing useful skills which they can use in the future.
During the session, after we had listened to the children play a piece of music we were then allocated a ‘buddy’ to show us how to properly hold our chosen instrument. At this point, the pupils from Greenmill became the teachers and we became the students. I was not aware of the amount the child had to learn in order to play their instrument correctly. Not just the physical music playing side but also the correct sitting position, the way in which to hold the bow and also timing being a key component. Learning all of this in a short period of time each week stimulates the child’s brain in order for them to be able to retain a large amount of information in the future.
Reflecting on this input, I found it to be extremely rewarding. It highlighted the importance of working at the same level as the students and being aware of the challenges they may face and how to address these as a teacher. Also, after talking to the children it became aware that the ‘String Project’ did not just develop their music skills but also it benefited them both academically and socially by giving them better concentration and confidence.
Below is a video of the orchestra showing their talents.
The lecture today began with discussing the importance of creative partnerships within schools and how they contribute to developing a better understanding of integrated arts. Creative partnerships are described as creating strong partnerships with a range of organisations helps to deliver a more personalised learning experience for every child and young person. Furthermore, it is vitally important that parents/carers have the option to become more involved. This is beneficial as parents become more involved in all decisions affecting their child’s education and learning. Their support can play a vital role at all stages of education.
Activities that encompass creative partnerships can help to support the children who struggle with attainment, social interaction and behaviour issues.
The practical session today was our last dance input of this module. It was laid out as if we were about to perform in front of an audience as you would with children. We practised all of our dance routines and started off with our warm-up. It is important when teaching children about dance that we first warm-up our bodies to avoid injuries. This session was when we brought each groups individual routines together with the routine we learned as a class. Throughout the weeks, we always referred back to dance being creative which was outlined to us by Cone (2009). It is essential that the idea of the dance should always remain the child’s’. Creative dance should be fun, safe, meaningful and most importantly, child led.
“one of the most powerful experiences dance educators can offer children is the opportunity to create a dance that reflects their ideas” (Cone, 2009, n.p)
Below is the clip of my own class performing the routine.
Dance is an aspect of Expressive Arts which is a crucial way of representing creativity due to its freedom of movement but also has several health benefits linked to it such as the ability to aid fine motor skills, provides children with daily exercise which they might not get at home and can bring a class together socially through partner work. This all contributes to the development of the individual learner.
References
Purcell Cone, T. (2009) ‘Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances’. Journal of Dance Education. Vol. 9:3, pp. 81-89.
This music workshop was led by Julie and the aim of this session was to reinforce that music matters and that every child, no matter if they can read music, can play along to ‘the beat’.
Above is the Pentatonic Scale which consists of 8 keynotes to play any tune, rhythm or song.
We looked at several music notes and their meaning to gain some understanding when we moved onto to reading/ playing a piece of music. We were shown a piece of music which did not have the typical symbols on it but instead squares and circles to represent one beat notes and two beat notes. We played through a variation of patterns using those two symbols. This was an easy way of playing a piece of music and would be an excellent technique to use with primary children. This made reading music very clear and children would understand it easily as it using shapes they are aware of instead of musical notes. We practised this using any form of ‘beater’ against the floor before moving onto a glockenspiel.
The beaters I used to play the glockenspiel.
It is essential to reinforce that music really does matter and plays a significant role in a child’s education. According to the Curriculum for Excellence, they believe that ‘through music, learners have rich opportunities to be creative and to experience inspiration and enjoyment. Performing and creating music will be the prominent activities for all learners. I feel that through this session I gained many tasks and activities which I can take into a school in order to create an engaging music lesson.
Below is a short clip of myself playing a freestyle rhythm to the song ‘Hit the road Jack’.
References
2016, E. S. (2016) Corporate zone home [Online]. Available: https://education.gov.scot/ [Accessed 7 Jan 2017].
In today’s session, we looked at drama within the current curriculum and how research shows that many primary teachers lack confidence and subject knowledge in terms of teaching drama to a class.
“Drama means different things for different people” (Kitson and Spiby, 1997)
We continued to discuss the previously stated story of The Lonely Dragon. In this session, we concentrated on the theme of being misunderstood. This is a good theme to incorporate into a drama lesson and link to a circle time to get the children to open up about their feelings and understand how others may be feeling in the class. We used several role-playing techniques, including freeze frame, a thought tunnel and teacher in role. A freeze frame is useful as it gets the children to think about how the character is feeling and thinking at that point.
The Teacher in Role focus allows the teacher to work with the children from inside the drama and enables them to structure the children’s contributions. Furthermore, this allows the teacher to challenge ideas through questioning within a story. The aim of Teacher in Role is to establish appropriate atmospheres, set particular language contexts and also to support appropriate understanding and empathy.
Below is a clip of Jonothan Neelands in role as Cordelia.
References
2016, D. F. (2014) Teacher in role [Online]. Available: http://dramaresource.com/teacher-in-role/ [Accessed 8 Jan 2017].
Kitson, N. and Spiby, I. (1997) Drama 7-11: Developing primary teaching skills. New York: Routledge.
During the session, we were fortunate enough to be joined by guest speaker Isobel Laird who works for South Lanarkshire Council. Isobel brought with her several pieces of children’s artwork to show us from various age groups in primary schools. We then as a year group discussed each image in depth to see what everyone took from the picture. After all, art is a way of expressing our individual creativity, therefore, one person might take a very different vibe/meaning from the piece of artwork than their peers and that’s ok. Furthermore, Isobel discussed why art and design are critical within the Curriculum for Excellence.
Encouragement of representation and ones’ ability to express their personal creativity is an essential part of a child’s mental growth, as discussed by Duffy (2006) as playing a pivotal role in cognitive development. Furthermore, Duffy states that “it is through symbolic representation that children acquire the facility for abstract thought.” (Duffy, 2006, p.10)
The practical aspect of this session was implemented by Isobel. She explained to us what we were to do in a step by step formation. This means that a stimulus or idea was provided and we used our own creativity to create a piece of artwork. This step by step formation, I believe is an excellent way of relaying instructions to children as they are provided with clear, simple instructions instead of a vast amount of information in one go. Also, this type of relaying information to the children allows for less ‘copying’ of the teacher and more room for allowing for a creative process and the development of the individual learner.
The whole class was given the same materials and we had a variety of watercolours and acrylic paint to complete our artwork. This lesson was valuable for us as future teachers, as we all felt that it provided us with great insight into how we can engage pupils during art while allowing for them to express themselves creatively.
Continuous Line Drawing In Order To Create A Washing Line
The Paint We Used To Fill In Our Washing Lines
After completing our washing lines, we were then each given a picture of a wall to use as a stimulus. All of the pictures which were given were different, some were red, some were black and white and some were wooden which reinforced the importance of all of our images being completely different based on our own personal creativity. The class was very engaged throughout this task and focused on making their own wall ‘just right’. This highlighted to me to fear some children may feel when it comes to art and design.
When children do not fully engage with the Arts due to the fear of making mistakes and being ridiculed, further barriers can be created which the teacher must address. According to McAuliffe (2007, p.27), “as children become more aware of others’ art they can be particularly self-conscious about their work and their own ability in art and design.” This, therefore, makes it essential that teachers have a high level of confidence in both the child’s ability and their own with reference to the subject area of Expressive Arts. When a teacher has confidence in their own art knowledge and abilities, it will ensure that the children will receive a more satisfactory means of support.
My Own Wall Using A Stimulus
We then created a collage by combining our washing line, wall and another piece of paper which we used watercolours to cover in order to make a background. We were not given any instructions when it came to completing our background. This allowed for us to use our creativity to produce an expressive piece. It was interesting to witness how many people went with the classic ‘rainbow’ look or simple vertical stripes for their background. This may have come from many years at primary school being told that that was looked the nicest. This lesson was very useful as it was delivered through a child learner approach which enabled us to understand the art class from a child’s perspective.
Background
My Finished Piece Of Artwork
References
Duffy, B. (2006) Supporting Creativity and Imagination in the Early Years. United Kingdom: Open University Press.
McAuliffe, D. (2007) Foundation and Primary Settings. In: Cox, S., Watts, R., Grahame, J., Herne, S. & McAuliffe, D. (2007) Teaching Art and Design 3-11. London: Continuum.
In today’s society, especially within the classroom, it is essential to use stimulus for inspiration, for creativity and to ensure a child-centred approach.
The challenge that teachers face nowadays, is that children are more interested in the content contained in their phones instead of their surroundings. It is crucially important that when teaching children art, we use a living artist, as well as known artists from centuries before, as a stimulus to ensure that the teaching points are relevant to the children. This aspect is important as the Curriculum for Excellence ensures that every teaching point is relatable to the children and leave a meaningful experience.
‘the underlying assumption is that all works of art can be approached from each of the following four perspectives: Form; Content; Process; Mood.’ (Rod Taylor)
Having received information on the importance of using a stimulus while teaching art, we then proceeded to create our own expression of an image that was only verbally described to us. Using the Rod Taylor model of assessment allowed us to evaluate the artwork, not just on first appearances, but consider aspects such as process and mood together with the ability to engage the imagination in order to explore new prospects (Eisner, 2002).
I believe that children will find this particular activity engaging and will help them to develop their own creativity. By having the children complete a practical task such as this, it is an efficient method of teaching art. As stated by Abrahams and Millar (2009): “many say that they believe it leads to better learning: we are more likely to understand and remember things we have done than things we have just been told.”
Below are some pictures that were taken during myself and fellow students undertaking this task. As you can see, we were not allowed ‘typical’ paint brushes, instead, we used hand-made ones from sticks, cotton wool, thread and many other objects used to convey the different textures that can be created using various drawing instruments. This aspect also adhered to every person’s painting being unique.
This was the paint brush I used to create my painting. It was created by wrapping felt around a stick and securing it with a piece of thread.
The piece of paper which I used as a mixing station in order to create a variety of colours.
The beginningThis was my final product.
This is an image of a fellow student’s painting. As you can see, having received the same description the outcome and final image is very different as we used our own creativity and imagination.
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