Monthly Archives: September 2017

Perfection

Leave a comment

My memories of painting in my primary setting is sitting beside a friend and wishing my painting looked as good as theirs. As children grow they become more self-consious and concerned that their creation is accurate enough (McAuliffe, 2007) or that it’s not “perfect”. This word “perfect” is a word that I hate to hear in a classroom setting as no-one is perfect. We all have a different view point and imagination which means all our creations will be different in some way although this does not mean that any art creation is worse than another.

During a seminar on the 26.09.2017 we were given the opportunity to use various resources to create our own paintbrush. This was an example of paintbrushes that had been previously made.

Children throughout their lives compare constantly with their peers be this outside the school or in the classroom. As an educator it is our responsibility to help children achieve the best they can and to always motivate them to succeed. Enthusiasm is a must for teaching art in a classroom (Lancaster, 1990). Painting in the classroom setting usually starts by handing out paintbrushes however children can make their own paintbrushes. This not only adds a personal touch but means that all the marks that child makes will be different from their peers.

The Curriculum for Excellence (2004) provides a framework so every child can have equal educational opportunities. Using the CfE outcomes a lesson on children making their own paintbrushes can be devised. Giving children a variety of tools and resources allows them to let their creativity flow.

This was the first stage in creating my paintbrush. I tied wool onto the top of a stick.

 

This was my end result. My inspiration came from a memory of visiting an enchanted forest experience. If I was creating a lesson I would use this outcome from the CfE (2004):
I have the opportunity to choose and explore a range of media and technologies to create images and objects, discovering their effects and suitability for specific tasks. EXA 1-02a

We need to as educators teach children that its okay to not know what the outcome will be and it’s okay to be different (Talllis, 2017).

After we made our paintbrushes we were given the opportunity to use them to create a painting. I did not know how mine was going to turn out.
From top left to right; Painting stage 1, Painting end result.
From bottom left to right; Resource palette, My colour palette.

Another part of the arts is music. My experience of creating and discovering music throughout my primary and secondary education is neither positive or negative. I was given various opportunities to play many different instruments but never filled with confidence that I was playing them correctly. My favourite instrument to play is the keyboard, when I have time I enjoy trying to learn new songs and styles of music.

During our seminar we had the chance to play 3 different songs on the glockenspiel however we did not use conventional notation. We used Figurenotes (2017). Figurenotes (2017) are a type of musical notation that use colour and shape to show all the information that conventional notation would.

Top: Glockenspeil.
Bottom: Twinkle Twinkle written in Figurenotes (2017).

I found Figurenotes (2017) a really easy and enjoyable way of reading and playing music. I could understand how it could motivate and encourage children to want to participate in music lessons. I loved how it helps children progress to reading conventional notation and it restores my confidence that I would be able to teach music in an educational environment.

In relation to the CfE (2004) a lesson could be made to encourage children to attempt to play various instruments and create various rhythms using Figurenotes (2017).

This was my first attempt at playing Frere Jacques using Figurenotes (2017).

References:

Figurenotes. (2017) An intuitive way of reading music. [Online] Available: https://www.figurenotes.org/ [Accessed: 28 September 2017].

Lancaster, J. (1990) Art in the Primary School. London: Routledge.

McAuliffe, D. (2007) Fondation and Primary Settings. In Teaching Art and Design 3-11. (Edited by Sue Cox, Robert Watts, Judy Grahame, Steve Herne and Diarmuid McAuliffe) London: Continuum.

Scottish Government. (2004) Curriculum for Excellence: Expressive Arts. [Online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf [Accessed: 28 September 2017].

Thomas Tallis School. (2017) The TALLIS Habits Pedagogy Wheel. [Online] Available: http://www.thomastallisschool.com/tallis-pedagogy-wheel-guide.html [Accessed: 28 September 2017].

 

 

 

 

Our Environment – learning log

Leave a comment

Since I was born I have always lived in the north of Glasgow. Over the past few years the area has been developing and changing to suit the needs of its community. Many tenement buildings have been or are in the process of being demolished in order to build houses that have driveways or private gardens. A ten minute walk from my house would have took me to the Red Road Flats, these high rise flats were originally built to help the problems with unhygienic overcrowding in the local area however in 2015 all of these high rise flats were demolished. Most of the houses are semi-detached and located within small streets and cul-de-sacs. As there are three primary schools, a nursery and a secondary school all within a 5 mile radius to my house the majority of the roads have traffic calming measures and operate a 30mph speed limit. Stobhill hospital is the closest hospital which offers minor injuries and an out of hours GP service. There is a catholic church and a church of Scotland within walking distance. The church of Scotland has many social activities on throughout the week, such as; a community café and a community garden. There is one community centre which within it has a public library, the centre offers fitness classes such as Zumba and dance to a variety of ages.

Barmulloch is an area that suffers from a high rate of social deprivation and a lack of green space (Central Scotland Green Network, 2013). In 2013 money was offered to the area that would allow for regeneration. There is one large green space in which there is a pond, wildlife trail, childrens park and basketball/football area although this is here the park is not well lit which puts many people off from walking in it.Within my area only 3 bus services are available and unless you drive or are willing to walk this is the main transport link to the city centre. This can quite often cause problems in the winter months as the small streets are not gritted leading to bus delays and cancellations. Car parking is becoming an issue as more and more households have 2 or more cars. This can cause the air to become quite polluted. According to Air Quality in Scotland (2017) the air quality in my postcode is at level 3 which is classed as low.

The closest supermarket is Asda Robroyston which is roughly a 25 minute walk. This Asda is open 24 hours. The local shops consist of a hair dressers, two Chinese take-away restaurants, three Indian take-away restaurants, a Spar, a Post-Office, a C0-Op, a pharmacy and a butchers. These shops offer jobs to the local community and some take on pupils that wish to go on work placement in their secondary school years.

My area could be deemed to be peri-urban however the green space that there is is not maintained to a high standard and there are areas of unruly woodland.

During this task I learned that within my area there is a lot more green space than I originally thought. It is important that children learn what is around them and therefore there are many ideas that could allow a child to do this. Using the Curriculum for Excellence ( Scottish Government, 2004) a lesson plan can be devised. As a teacher you could take your class on a walk though their urban environment and on their return to the classroom the children could draw out a map detailing what they have just seen and discuss it with their peers (SOC 1-07a). A follow up lesson could be a visit to a building within the urban environment such as the community centre to enable children to learn about what activities and events take place.

During last weeks seminar we were asked to take part in various activities. In a small group I participated in a sensory walk. This made me open my mind to the environment around my university. There is a lot of green space within the grounds of my university and I explored and found areas I had not been to before. While on the walk my group noticed various plants and wildlife.

A view from our sensory walk. We could smell the fresh air, see the trees and leaves move in the wind and hear the water moving in the river.
Leaf markings from rubbings we took of leaves found on university grounds.

 

References:

Air Quality in Scotland. (2017) Latest Pollution Map. [Online] Available: http://www.scottishairquality.co.uk/latest/?postcode=G21+3HY&postcode-submit.x=0&postcode-submit.y=0 [Accessed: 19 September 2017].

Central Scotland Green Network. (2013) Red Road and Barmulloch Greenspace Study. [Online] Available: http://www.centralscotlandgreennetwork.org/delivering/project-archive/red-road-and-barmulloch-greenspace-study [Accessed: 19 September 2017].

Scottish Government. (2004) Curriculum for Excellence: Social Studies. [Online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/social-studies-eo.pdf [Accessed:19 September 2017].

 

 

Making Marks Make Sense

Leave a comment

Children from an early age enjoy making marks (Matthews, 2003). Many theories have been comprised on children’s development however when talking about the arts eduction one theory is closely linked (McAuliffe, 2007). Work by Lowenfeld and Bittain (1987) describes 4 stages that can help educational practitioners engage and understand more about a child’s work. Although with times changing and children coming from various backgrounds and environments it is not as easy to simply put a child in a specific stage (McAuliffe, 2007). As we grow many of us loose touch with our imaginative and creative abilities however to a child a simple line on a piece of paper could be an intrepretation of their whole world, thoughts and feelings. That scribble that we may see as a mess could be a monster flying on a rocket ship to planet Mars.

Mark making in the early years (The scribble stage) . This drawing shows that the child has made rotational marks and that the pencil stays in contact throughout. The child is developing his fine and gross motor skills through art. The child is expressing something that comes naturally to him.

Being a creative person myself I find it upsetting that as adults many of us feel that drawings and creative pieces of work need to be “perfect” or represent something that we as adults understand and see in our lives.

As children develop they begin to focus on features and many have a fear of not being accurate (McAuliffe, 2007).

The gang stage. This child has focused on the many features and specific details on a fish. There is evidence of spatial perspective.

We also need to understand that as teachers we can incorporate the arts into various areas of the curriculum. Literacy and numeracy often take priority in educational environments however enabling children to engage in these subjects can be done by incorporating the arts into these areas. Giving children a story to read or a short passage from a piece of literature that they are studying and allowing them to doodle or draw both on or around that piece of writing allows children to interact with the document and express what they understand and feel without giving words the priority.

Interlinking literacy and art. This child has been multi modal and created a visual piece of work that has a short passage on it. Children can often express a theme related to literature through a drawing.

In most classrooms a child is asked to write a sentence and draw a picture about their sentence however what if as educators we allow children to express their understanding of literature through art.

A piece of literature that I annotated earlier in today’s lecture (19.09.17). Through doing this I understood how this could be beneficial in the classroom. Children can draw from the text feelings and themes and by literally drawing on the text they are more likely to engage and remember that piece of literature.

It is clear that the arts allow children to develop in all areas of the curriculum and no matter what sage of development a child is at there ‘mark making’ matters.

References:

Matthews, J. (2003) Drawing and Painting: Children and Visual Representation. 1st ed. London: SAGE publications.

McAuliffe, D. (2007) Fondation and Primary Settings. In Teaching Art and Design 3-11. (Edited by Sue Cox, Robert Watts, Judy Grahame, Steve Herne and Diarmuid McAuliffe) London: Continuum.

 

The Unknown

Leave a comment

Art is a way in which we can all express ourselves. We can express emotions, life events, circumstances and identity but it can also act as an outlet that allows us to explore who we really are.

The Tallis Habits Peadagogy Wheel (Thomas Tallis School, 2017) is a tool created by Thomas Tallis School. Previous to the integrated arts module I had never came across or heard of this tool. This tool enables educators to explore the arts across the curriculum and intertwine many of the curriculum areas. For me the tool provided me with confidence that I do not need to be afraid of the arts within an educational setting. That within the arts it is okay to not always know the outcome or the answer but to have an open mind towards uncertainty.

It is important that as educators we understand the importance of drawing and what it allows a child to do. Not only does drawing develop a childs fine motor skills but the marks they make are an interpretation of their world (Eisner, 2002). We must encourage mark making in the classroom just as much as we encourage handwriting.

References:

Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind. 1st ed. USA: Yale University Press

Thomas Tallis School. (2017) The TALLIS Habits Pedagogy Wheel. [Online] Available: http://www.thomastallisschool.com/tallis-pedagogy-wheel-guide.html [Accessed: 13 September 2017]