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].
