This week has been a very interesting experience in Integrated Arts. The lecture has taught me that literacy can be expressed through drawing as well as writing. Using the extract from Fleming (2012), we used an illustration to symbolise the key points from the extract. For me, the chapters main point was for people to have insight into the value of art and explain that art is more about ‘showing’ rather than ‘telling’. This has inspired me to teach differently and change the tedious way of teaching literacy in the future. In my opinion, blending image and text together would benefit children because I believe that using art in a literacy context could relieve a child of ‘normal’ literacy teachings. This is essential in making school an enjoyable environment for children.
The workshop has allowed us to look at the stages of children’s drawings throughout primary years. We specifically looked at 3 stages from McAuliffe, (2007): The scribbling stage (2-4 years), the pre-schematic stage (4-7 years) and the gang stage (9-12 years). From analysing each stage, it could be seen that there was a drastic difference in each.
From the scribbling stage, we could determine that the drawings were not as refined. The drawings were messier and you could tell that the children were not afraid to scribble. It could be said that this stage may have more imagination. For example, one child from the scribbling stage drew a fire truck with a ladder that had squiggly lines rather that straight, which showed this particular boy had used his imagination to create this picture rather than copying another.
As the children move the pre-schematic stage, it can be seen that the drawings are becoming neater and more refined. Details that have been added would not have been seen in the scribbling stage. The drawings tend to be that of realism, such as landscapes. It should be pointed out that the pre-schematic stage is when the child makes a transition from early level to primary school. It could be argued that change in the drawings could be caused by primary school teachers, where children’s art work could be more ‘controlled’. In this case, ‘nurture’ could take over ‘nature’.
In the gang stage, the drawings become even more detailed but most still remain in realism. In my opinion, there is a lot more plagiarism happening in this particular stage which makes work less imaginative for children, which can be referred to an instrumental learning. In the gang stage, it is possible that the children study pop culture and famous artists such as Picasso and Andy Warhol. Instead of creating their own drawings, they are influenced by these artists which can result in lack of creativity.
In conclusion, I have learned that allowing children to create their own drawings is essential in keeping creativity alive and making art more enjoyable. I have also learned that art is not about ‘accuracy’ and drawings should have imagination rather than plagiarism. Reflecting as an aspiring teacher, I know that my attitudes towards teaching arts have changed forever and I would love to teach art in a more creative way in the future.
References:
Fleming, M. (2012) The Arts in Education: An introduction to aesthetics, theory and pedagogy. London: Routledge.
McAuliffe, D. (2007) Foundation 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.
