Today we learned about the importance of music and had our first dance session.

In the lecture we spoke about ‘why music matters’. The class was shown a video of why music can improve a child’s ability within the curriculum. According to the video clip shown, music is more important to the child’s education than first thought. I was interested to find that college-age musicians are emotionally healthier than non- musicians. To me, this proves that music plays a very important role and shows it can make our lives healthier and happier. As an aspiring teacher, my thought is that musical experiences should be given to children in the classroom, school and community. In my opinion, it is unacceptable for a teacher to refuse to teach music in their classroom in the 21st century. There is significant proof that music has many advantages for children’s cognitive development, therefore every educator should consider the role of music in the classroom.

I was very excited to find out what the dance workshop entailed. I have danced in previous years and find it relaxing and fun. We did a variety of starters to ease us into the lesson which I thought was beneficial. It was obvious that some people were nervous and the starters relaxed them. One example starter we participated in was to get into one large line and move around the room in any way we pleased. The front of the line lead the group and created a dance move that the music playing made them feel. For example, when a rock song came on, a person may play the guitar. This starter was enjoyable and very beneficial in making everyone feel comfortable in the workshop.

In dance we worked on a variety of different exercises in teams. For example, I worked in a group with 6 others to create a body template and label where bones, muscles and organs should be placed on the body. Overall, my group struggled with bone placement but did fairly well.

At the beginning I was confused how this exercise linked to dance, but we then went on to speak about how it important to stretch muscles before a dance session. I found out that it was important to stretch from head to toes as this gave the most effective stretch. We focused on each body part solely and stretched for 8-10 seconds on each one. This is a fantastic lesson that can be taught to the younger ages in primary schools and then children can create their own stretches in later years.

The last exercise we completed in dance was creating a movement for each element in dance: spin, hop, slide, gesture, balance, jump, roll, reach, twist and turn. This was very helpful because these 10 elements can be taught within schools for children to create and understand dance.

 

The music workshop consisted of theory rather than practical. Firstly, we looked at an article by Susan Hallam to understand the importance of music and how to link music with other curricular areas. We split into small groups and focused on a particular part of my reading, my group’s extract being ‘creativity’.

In Scotland today, ‘creativity’ has a high profile in education and is a big part of Scottish Government policy and Scotland’s education values, as stated by Education Scotland (2013). For instance, Bloom’s taxonomy (2009) is a hierarchical model that is used within schools throughout Scotland to develop higher order thinking skills. Bloom’s taxonomy places creativity at the top of the hierarchical model which shows that it is therefore important within Scottish schools’ curriculum. It was interesting to find out those who play a musical instrument are generally more creative than those who are non-instrument players or participated in visual arts. It was also interesting to find out that the more interaction a child has with music, the more creative they will be.

Reflecting on the idea of creativity, my group was then asked to create a music lesson plan that used a lot of creativity. My group came up with the idea of linking the weather and music together by creating musical instruments and comparing them to weather sounds. This was helpful because it allowed me to put the workshop into a teaching mindset and create future lesson plans.

Today has increased my knowledge of dance immensely and has made me more confident in my teaching abilities and has given me an abundance of ideas to teach to future pupils. Music has also allowed me to think in a teaching mindset and create lesson plans which prepares me for the future. This lesson has also allowed me to link dance and music together in that music is incredibly important for both. For music and dance to be successful, teachers should reflect on their practice and creativeness in order for the child to have a rich experience in these subjects.

References:

[Accessed: 17 October 2017]

Churches, A. (2009) Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy. [Online] Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/…/3/Blooms-digital-taxonomy.pdf [Accessed: 17 October 2017].

Hallam, S. (2010) The power of music: Its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people. International Journal of Music Education, Vol 28(3), pp.269-289.

 

 

 

In today’s workshops we focused on music and art. In music we created our own sounds and tunes on the app Garageband. This was a fantastic application that allows you to collaborate sounds to create your own personal tune.

At the beginning, I struggled with creating my own tune. Apart from music in integrated arts, I had not participated in music in over 6 years. I had not used Garageband before but was very glad to do so. I believe that Garageband is a fantastic app to introduce into the classroom because it allows children to be creative and explore different types of sound. When creating my tune, I decided to use 4 different sounds: piano, guitar, bass and sound effects of rain falling. I also used a video of Lego men which influenced the sounds I used, such as using a cartoon ‘boing’ sound effect when they were fighting with swords which was very amusing.

Overall, I was surprised at what I was able to achieve in such little time on Garageband which improved my confidence in music. I also think that Garageband is a fantastic tool to improve a child’s confidence if they struggle with music like myself. We also looked at different music sites that would be very helpful within the classroom.

In the Art workshop we looked at different colouring books which focus on allowing the person to use their imagination.

These particular colouring books were very interesting because I was very intrigued by the nature of the books. As a child, I know that I would have loved these books as they were more appealing than the average colouring book due to their complete originality. It is an exercise that is good for imagination and to allow children to understand what the meaning of colouring is. According to Gombrich (1977), the psychological effects of colour include calming and stimulating properties. I agree with this statement as I find colouring very therapeutic and calming.

We also used our printed pictures from the week previously and photocopied the print paintings in black and white and in a smaller size. After this, we added to our painting with colour which brought creativity and new ideas of what the painting means.

It was interesting to add to our print paintings because it allowed me to think outside of the box. There are so many different ways that a drawing or painting can be changed which gives children a lot to think about.

In conclusion, I have found that the music resources in today’s music workshop have been very helpful in helping me to create future lesson plans. As I will find music a hard subject to teach within the classroom, it has given me confidence is knowing that there are numerous resources that can aid me in teaching. The art and music workshop have allowed me to understand that creativity is one of the most important factors in these subjects. Creativity in the arts is what makes them meaningful and enjoyable, therefore teachers have to consider their creativeness.

References:

Gombrich et al. (1977) Art and illusion: A study in the psychology of pictorial representation. (Vol. 5). London: Phaidon.

In today’s lecture we learned about the importance of print. It was interesting to discover that the first print created was The Bible and the first publisher in Europe was Johannes Gutenberg. It is important to learn about print as it is the reason we are literate and has allowed us to communicate effectively.

We analysed the popular painting ‘Windows in the West’ created by Avril Paton in 1993. The painting shows a tenement building with snow surrounding it which was influenced by the west of Glasgow. Using Rod Taylor’s (1992) process, form, content and mood model we can discover what the meaning of the painting is.

Process- Due to the size of the painting, it was impossible to paint standing up at the beginning. Initially, the artist had to paint on the floor which was very difficult and uncomfortable. It took 6 months to complete. The artist had left the snow to paint at the end but found that she could not imagine what snow looked like as she was now painting in the summer. She used Norwegian architecture books to aid her in remembering snow which was successful and she finished the painting soon after.

Form- The painting has been arranged in such a way that the building is in the centre. Although this is the case, the startling white snow surrounding the building draws my attention immediately. The contrast of the brown stony building and the white snow makes the snow important as well as the building itself.

Content- The artist observed this building directly every day. She lived in a flat opposite the building but lived in the basement therefore did not have a good view. She never thought about painting the building in a different view until one winter’s day when the snow sitting on the ledges so beautifully inspired her to do so.

Mood- The painting gives me a feeling of reminiscence. The snow in the painting reminds me of winter which is my favourite time of year and reminds me of exciting times, such as Christmas and New Year.

I believe Rod Taylor’s model is a fantastic way to teach within the classroom in the future. Sometimes articulation in the arts can be difficult therefore it can allow children to express what their painting entails through prompting from the particular questions of the process, form, content and mood model.

This particular painting has potential for influencing or using as a stimulus for drama and literacy teaching. A potential literacy teaching would be to examine each flat separately and create a story for each apartment. A potential drama teaching could be to use the painting as a stimulus and link to the literacy teaching, therefore acting out each story. Another idea would be to learn about the west of Glasgow’s culture and how they speak to create a scene possibly using the ‘Glaswegian’ accent.

In the Art workshop we were mark making and learning about colour theory. This particular workshop took me back to childhood and it was endearing to create these marks again as an adult. We took a section of the ‘Windows in the West’ painting and marked polystyrene with pens.

We used paint and rollers to cover the polystyrene in paint and then stuck to a coloured piece of paper. It was interesting to see the bright contrasting colours, such as blue and orange.

I believe that this particular task would be fantastic to teach in the class. Not only is it fun for children, but it can also be linked to a task in literacy.

Our second workshop was drama which I was very excited about. I have participated in drama in the past and was looking forward to applying it in a teaching context. As a teacher, drama can be scary because it can be less structured that other subjects, therefore it is hard to determine if the lesson will be successful. I think that it is important to teach drama in primary school because I believe it can improve children’s confidence and also teachers’ confidence in their teaching. It also pulls the teacher away from teaching in a monotonous way.

We looked at different conventions of drama, such as improvisation, thought tunnel, freeze frame, teacher in role and hot seating. These different conventions were very helpful to learn because it shows that drama isn’t always about reading from a script. We looked at the story of a dragon using these different conventions to explain how the villagers and dragon acted and felt. It was difficult to ‘pretend’ in the beginning because it is not something I am used to doing very often as an adult. As the lesson progressed, I felt that my confidence improved and I really enjoyed the experience.

In conclusion, I believe that today has given me a lot of new knowledge that I can take to the classroom in the future. I have also learned in the arts that monotonous teaching should be the minimum rather than ‘the norm’. Teachers should have confidence to teach without the use of a power point which can be seen as a ‘protective blanket’. Today has also been helpful in linking subjects together, such as literacy and art.

References:

Paton, A. (1993) Windows in the West. [Watercolour on paper 48” x 60”]. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow. Available: https://avrilpaton.co.uk/prints/windows-in-the-west [Accessed: 05 October 2017].

Taylor, R. (1992) Visual arts in education. London: The Falmer Press.

[Accessed: 05 October 2017]

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