Today we had a guest speaker (Isobel Laird – South Lanarkshire Council) who took us for our morning lecture and for our Art workshop. With her, we learned to use multi-modal approaches while creating art. We used continuous line drawing, watercolours, poster paints, scissors, glue and a ripping technique to create unique pieces of art. I learned that it is good to try things in different ways. I associate paper with carefulness and exactness, as it was always drilled into me to stay in the lines when colouring and to be careful not to stain or rip the page. Pulling away from that and realising it’s okay to rip paper, and even the idea of destroying something (i.e. ripping) to create something else, is a valuable skill that I will carry into the classroom. It’s apparent to me now that the Arts are not a subject where you can avoid mess, and if it’s unavoidable, it may as well be embraced!

Later, in Drama (with Andrew Killen), we learned some new processes/methodologies/concepts, which we are going to go into further next week (and are appropriate for all Primary year groups). We discussed these concepts and tried them, both in the style of being a teacher and being a student. I found this really useful because it helped me get in the shoes of the child and determined areas where I could improve as a teacher, because I could see what needed to be changed from the child’s perspective. This has also helped me greatly as a learner because, as stated in previous blog posts, I have little experience with Drama; learning terminology has been beneficial to me as it helps me consider ideas for the construction of a Drama class.

FOR NEXT WEEK:

I have downloaded Fleming (2012) The Arts in Education to read and will discuss my views and interpretations in a video in a later post.

Fleming, M.(2012) The Arts in Education: An Introduction to Aesthetics, Theory and Pedagogy. London; Routledge

Image found: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Arts-Education-introduction-aesthetics-pedagogy/dp/0415620295

Today, we had Dance Class. After working on our routine we have now collaborated with other groups to make a larger dance with each group’s individual routines blending into the next group’s. What I’ve taken away from this is that children can slowly build up confidence and understand group work skills can be collaborated, like a network of ‘skill’ blocks, which (when everyone engages and contributes) results in a well-earned end goal. Children may then have a further understanding of individual departments (a group) contributing to one ideal(a larger group, a company), which is an intrinsic skill for later life. This was also useful for me as a learner because I got to learn how dances can be put together, from simple steps. This helped give me ideas as a teacher on how to create a dance with a class that was made of the children’s ideas and contributions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsE5p8LgHs8

Our group’s stimulus: 

The finished routine for the whole class: 

Later in our Art class, we learned to be resourceful as teachers (which should trickle down to the children and teach them to be resourceful). We learned about making paint brushes with unusual material. This not only saves resources and money, but also challenges us as teachers to be imaginative (a skill that is prevalent in the Arts). Diarmuid described a scene and we were to paint it without seeing any images. This gets us in the mind-frame of the child and lets us express our creativity through imagination. This also stops merit being given to children who are gifted at copying, and instead merit is given to effort and creativity, as there are no correct or wrong answers.

I documented my progression with the picture as it is good for development to see a beginning, a middle and an end. I also documented my ‘paint palette’, as it’s good to see the tools someone has available to them to really appreciate the outcome of the work. That is to say, if someone made a fantastic piece of art from very few materials, it shows resourcefulness and adaptability.

For next week: 

I have purchased this book to have a read over and hopefully become more acquainted with Drama, as this isn’t something I ever took in school. We have another Drama input next week so I plan to read some portions of this as ‘homework’ to be better prepared and possibly have questions.

Ackroyd, J. and Boulton, J. Drama Lessons for Five to Eleven-Year-Olds. (2008) 6th ed. New York: Routledge

WHAT WAS LEARNED: We had our first experience of drama this week, discussing “The Lonely Dragon”. We discovered that, even when only given a title, children can make a story by themselves. This ties in to the fact that the Arts (especially drama) are best delivered by a teacher who is mediating, not dictating. This means that there are less rules to follow for the children, and therefore more room for self expression.

During our dance section of this week’s class, we learned about the cross-curricular availability of dance and integrated the current Hallowe’en theme. This brings relevance and fun for children and may make them less embarrassed because of the less serious nature.

IMPACT ON MY VIEWS:

I haven’t had any drama or dance experience, apart from two mandatory drama classes during S1 in Secondary School. I had negative views about both dance and drama, but I now feel that if i had had inputs (not including extra-curricular roles for the school plays) in Primary School, my views may be different. I can see the benefit (confidence and co-ordination) from starting drama and dance lessons from an early age and I wish that my Primary School could have offered these.

FURTHER ACTION:

Having last week read the Cone article, I feel that I could benefit from attempting mock dance and drama lesson plans. I would then bounce my ideas off of my colleagues in University and then, later on Serial Days, perhaps ask the teacher I’m shadowing for his/her opinion. Collecting feedback from peers is something I understand as very important so that I can obtain a rounded vision and understand different approaches and methodologies.

Image found at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Childrens_Nativity_Play_2007.jpg