Week Two

Our second week into the Integrated Arts module further explored the notion of creativity and how creativity is present in everyone- even those that claim they cannot draw. During our visual arts workshop we discussed how as future teachers we could encourage creativity. Many children in a classroom may be reluctant to create something due to feeling self-conscious and insecure within their abilities. To explore this concept further we looked at a book called “The Dot” in which it described a stubborn and reluctant child that was adamant she could not draw. It describes how a teacher encourages even her smallest contributions (which was making a dot) and praised her efforts. This book was interesting as it touches on how to approach children that may be unwilling to draw and create. As a teacher it is not always effective to praise the outcome, but to praise the efforts (Dweck, 2007). Relating back to the book, the teacher doesn’t acknowledge the fact that the child had drawn nothing but a dot, she understands that this attempt, albeit small, was the child’s contribution. Dismissing the child’s efforts would be ill teaching as it could result in a child developing further negative attitudes towards the arts. This was interesting to read as it made me understand the power of encouragement and praising efforts rather than outcomes as it made the child want to try harder and explore more. This is the essential part of praising efforts, as children won’t strive for work that they consider “good” they will strive for innovation and creativity, to explore different methods as that is where the praise comes from.

The key lesson from today’s workshop was that everyone can draw (if you can write, you can draw) it was as simple as that. In order to test this theory, I coated my hands in black ink and made random imprints on a sheet of white paper using different positions of my hand. This resulted in sporadic irregular markings, which I later developed. Taking a pen, I closely examined each shape and created a small visual. This really allowed me to test my imagination as it was difficult seeing a shape where there was just a black smudge. It encouraged me to test my creativity and gave me a sense of satisfaction as I was able to turn what was originally nothing but an unconscious marking, into a conscious creative outcome. It was helpful having a starting point with the ink makings rather than just drawing on a white paper. This tested a quote from the book “make a mark and see where it takes you”. It was interesting to see how different people’s minds work, as other people had very different drawings in comparison. Whilst making the art works, we had aprons on, and Diarmuid make a point in noting the importance of providing children with an apron or any set of overalls that would cover their uniforms. The aprons provide a sense of protection and this allows children to not hold back and immerse themselves within the materials without fear that they will ruin their clothes. This baught me back to the point that Diarmuid made last week, to have a tolerance for mess, I understood that in some situations this phrase was to be taken literally. It is okay for children to make a mess, as this is their way of exploring and experimenting with new materials. It is the role of a teacher to not discourage mess, children that are sat neatly at tables and not making mess, are children that are not creating, these children are not experimenting, these children are just drawing, and there is a very big difference between drawing and creating.

   

During the Drama input we explored the importance of visual thinking within Drama. This is when visual aids such as pictures can provide a sense of inspiration for a drama piece. In today’s workshop our visual was a painting of a tenement in Glasgow. It was created by a Scottish artist Avril Paton in 1993 called “Windows in the West “. The conventions we explored when acting out a scenario was still image and thought tracking. In groups we decided to act out a scene during the World War 2, where a mother gets a call that her husband has just died at war, leaving her widowed and her three young kids without a father. During this scene we stayed in our position just after the phone call and I stepped out of the scene and explained to the rest of the class what was going through the wife’s mind. I felt more comfortable doing this as the concept of acting was still new to me. I find giving children that may be shy and uncomfortable the option of carrying out this role may be effective as it gives them a choice. It allows them to still be a part of the drama yet have a shorter role in acting. This allows children to immerse themselves slowly into the expressive environment, which they may feel more comfortable with.

Role play develops vital skills in young children as it helps develop their communication skills. In drama most of the activities are groups based, allowing children to learn and create in a diverse range of groups. Working in groups also allows children to develop their collaboration skills as they must create ideas and scripts they all agree on. It encourages children to become more confident as they take on roles that may be different to their actual personalities, allowing them to explore and create as drama cultivates an environment that can spark imagination. Drama is also a great way to inform children about important topics such as the World War, for example our group explored a wife’s reaction to her husband’s death during that time. This provide a great learning opportunity that allows children to experience what life was like during that period and how many people lived.

Reference

Dweck, C. 2007. The Perils and Promises of Praise. Educational. Leadership. 65(2), pp.34-39.

Integrated Arts, Week One

The Expressive Arts play a vital role in the development of creativity in the classroom as it aids in the development of divergent thinking (Dixon & Chalmers, 1990). It optimizes children’s creative potential by providing them with a medium such as visual art or drama with which they can express their emotions and thoughts.  One of reasons the expressive arts is vital in the development of creativity is it cultivates and nurtures imagination (Jalongo, 1990). Imagination goes hand in hand with creativity, and as such elements of the Expressive Arts can encourage children to access and develop their imagination in a creative and effective manner.

It is important to first understand and value the expressive arts before one can teach it. In our first lecture, Diarmuid put a great emphasis on the significance of being able to teach the expressive arts in the most effective way possible. The key points that were reiterated by Diarmuid was to have a tolerance for ambiguity and a tolerance for mess. At first, I wasn’t sure what exactly he meant by this, but later during the visual arts input I gathered a general understanding of the term. He also emphasised that if there was anything to take from today’s lecture, it was to have an open mind and “go with the flow”.

This mindset was greatly tested later during the day in our first drama workshop with Andrew. In the drama lesson we were to act as villagers that had suffered an invasion from a dragon. Initially I found it hard to take it seriously and stay in character, but as the workshop went on and Andrew informed us how beneficial drama can be in a classroom as it allows children to release energy in a controlled environment and allows them to take on rolls that may be different to their actual personality. Andrew introduced multiple conventions that can be used when teaching a drama class. We explored thought tunnels when expressing our views on the dragon. A thought tunnel is when children line up in two lines parallel to each other. Someone representing the character of the dragon walks in the middle of the two lines and as they do so, children on the outside say one word that comes to their mind about the dragon. This was an effective convention to use at the start of the lesson as we were able to get our initial opinions out on the dragon, and many had the same negative opinion.

The second convention we explored was freeze frame, this is when a short scene is acted out and at an important part the characters freeze and hold their positions. In groups we had to act as if we had just seen the dragon and freeze our initial reactions. I found this incredibly difficult as I was unable to hold a genuine reaction. I found this activity uncomfortable as I felt exposed when told to hold my reaction to the dragon. I understand there may be children in a class that may feel like this and that it is not necessary to tell them off for not reacting in the same way as everyone else. It is important as a teacher to first create an environment that children feel safe and confident to express themselves, and some children may require a longer time to come to that point. It is the role of a teacher to encourage any form of participation.

The final convention that we explored in the drama workshop was hot seating. This is when, a character sits on a chair and the rest of the class can ask questions about the character. This is a great convention as it allows children to take lead and take the narrative in their own hands by answering the questions how they wish. It also allows the rest of the children to clarify aspects of the story they may be unclear with and therefore gain a better understanding. The hot seating in this case Andrew took the role of the dragon and as a class we were able to ask him an array of questions such as “why are you invading our village?”. This is good as you can get a different perspective of story, before we all had bad view of dragon as a threat but after hot setting a different angle was shown of a dragon that was just scared and changed our perception of the dragon from a threat to a victim. This was good as it showed the power of hot seating in drama.

In the visual art workshop, we viewed children’s art work ranging from early years to primary six. The art works consisted of self-portraits, landscapes, and abstract. Every art work conveying a different story in each painting. It was refreshing seeing an array of paintings, collages and sketchbook that children had created. It made me understand that art is not all about drawing, it is about creating, it is about inventing, some children’s art work was based solely on their imagination, as they put together a story that words couldn’t convey. These children’s art works screamed individuality, as no two art works even remotely resembled another. Each painting, each sketch, each doodle, it exposed an element of the creator’s personality, it expressed their ideas, something that is so unique and personal was laid out before me. It was interesting to note that the young children’s work was more daring and carefree, whereas the older children art work tended to come across as calculated and worked out. This conveyed to me that younger children were more confident within their ability to create, whereas older children developed a sense of self-doubt and shyness to create to their full potential. I understood this to be a role that a teacher could play in preventing, as teachers it is vital to appreciate and value a child’s work from an early age, even when their work may seem in-cohesive and invaluable. It is not my job as a teacher to make sense of a child’s scribbles, it is my job to encourage the nonsense scribbles and nurture the child’s confidence and enthusiasm to create. That is what matters. The worst thing I can do as a future teacher is dismiss a child’s art work and not pay attention to it. As this send the message that I do not value their work, which can have detrimental effects to a child’s confidence.

A drawing that caught my eye out of all the art works was that of a young child’s. Looking at the picture I don’t know what it is of, it is a series of random likes and shapes. However, the reason that this drawing drew me in because in the random and sporadic lines, it exudes a child’s enthusiasm. The heavy lines are a symbol of a child’s pure emotions that have not been filtered. The chaotic markings radiate with confidence and determination, all key qualities that a teacher should nurture and develop in a child. I know that if I had asked the child to explain what the pointing was about, I would have received the most exciting and interesting story that was as unique and creative as the child.

 

References

Dixon, G & Chalmers, F (1990) The Expressive Arts in Education, Childhood Education, 67:1. Available: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00094056.1990.10521568?needAccess=true&instName=University+of+the+West+of+Scotland&journalCode=uced20 

Jalongo, M (1990) The Child’s Right to the Expressive Arts: Nurturing the Imagination as Well as the Intellect, Childhood Education Available: https://doi.org/10.1080/00094056.1990.10522518 

energy

Energy

As we are all aware, we only have a finite amount of natural resources, and as such we are running out of them faster than we can produce them. Although this is a fact that is well known, as teachers we need to get this across to children and reinforce that we as humans have a responsibility to do something about it. This links to another theme that we explored, climate change. When we burn Fossil fuels, they generate high quantities of carbon dioxide, this can lead to a change in the climate as carbon emissions trap heat in the atmosphere.

Our first impute for todays theame was a very different approach from the rest. In today’s workshop we had a debate on whether renewable energy such as windmills were harmful to the environment or not. Todays class was very student led, we were given a guideline on what to research and were provided with articles on Moodle. I found this approach effective in terms of being more involving and retaining more information as I was actively looking for it myself. I feel I can implement this in teaching as children learn better when they are interested and involved with the lesson. By making lessons more child led and there being little input of the teacher gives children a sense of responsibility and in-dependency. After researching, the class was divided into two and each side chose whether they were for or against windmills. We choose for. As someone who doesn’t really talk much in class, I targeted my focus on the research aspect of the debate and wrote down many strong points that I felt argued our case well. Having my friends in my group made all the difference, as one of them volunteered me to speak in the debate. If this was two years ago I wold have strongly rejected the offer, however this course has constantly pushed my level of comfort by putting me in scenarios that make me uncomfortable and stressed. However, I have tried to mend my thinking by telling myself the more practice I get at speaking out loud, the better it will make me as a person and more importantly as a teacher. So, I said yes. Thinking about this from a teacher’s perspective I understand the strength of friends and having them in the same group, as they can encourage children that may not be comfortable in these situations and give them the confidence they lack. However, I also understand the advantages of mixing children up, it encourages them to bond over a common aim, and get along with people that they may not get on with and listen to their opinions. Participating in this debate developed a lot of my skills, research skills, collaborative skills, and my speaking skills, all skills that are highlighted in the General Teaching Standards. Curriculum for Excellence wants us as teachers to create confident individuals, and by incorporating small activities like these tests their abilities and encourages them to step outside their comfort zone in a safe and familiar environment. (Curriculum for Excellence 2016)

Our last input of energy was again a much different approach. As a class we were divided into two sections. My section was given a sheet with instructions that showed how to make a car out of very basic materials such as card, wooden sticks and cardboard. The instructions only showed how to make the car, however, our job was to make the car move without touching it, we were given additional materials such as rubber bands, balloons and paper clips. I enjoyed this activity, mainly because it was straightforward and clear on what we had to do. The instruction was concise and there were small pictures on the side as a reference, which proved very helpful at times when we were unsure. The element of a visual aid in a classroom id very effective as it provides children with a rough outline and guide. The second part of the activity was where we were able to use our initiative and creativity. We were able to successfully get the car to move using rubber bands and paper clips. After, both groups were accumulated together, and we discussed to one another our process. Instantly I could see the difference just by looking at their cars, everyone’s car in the other group was differnet, were as in my group we all the same structure, and people and gained on this by adding small decorations. I later learned that both groups were given the same task, make the car move with out touching it. However, where my groups had instructions on how to build the car, the second group were given none and were just given a random assortment of materials and told to build their own. This process of freedom and ability to use intuition and creativity is known as “Tinkering”.

After critically analysing both methods of practice I learned the benefits to both processes in a classroom. Since my group were given instructions, and set resources, it allowed us to be calmer and more relaxed as everyone knew what they were doing. There was also no pressure to create your own car. However, this may also cause concerns in a classroom, and some children may find it frustrating following instructions and may find the concept of instructions limiting as they cannot explore much. The solution for this would be to work with a pencil for so that no mistakes would be made before going on to something more concreate like a pen. Another reason why this method is effective in a classroom is because everyone is making the same product, no on has drastically different outcomes and this therefore eliminates the factor of competition. Assessment and experiences and outcomes are easier to manage as everyone has had the same experience of building a car. Through the guidelines of the CfE as future teacher I can monitor the skills that children are developing in using tools, equipment and materials.

 

The tinkering approach allows a sense of freedom but still in forcing rough guidelines. This method invites a divergent process in which there is no set plan and ideas that are constantly changing and developing. It encourages innovation, which develops skills such as curiosity, problem solving and the ability to take initiative. In a classroom I feel this approach may be well reflected

Natural Disaters

Our input for the past few weeks has been on natural disasters. I found this topic quite hard as I was unsure where I drew the line in terms of severity and graphics when it came to teaching it to children. I was unsure how children would react to such disasters as they entailed a lot of death and destruction.

In our first input, as a class we discussed our concerns about teaching the topic, and I realised that a lot of my peers shared my concerns. The workshop however did touch upon the sensitivity and if or if not a focus should be placed on the element of death in disasters. As a class we had mixed opinions, some thought that children were too young and it would be too inappropriate. I personally feel that it depends on the class, and how mature they are. I feel even a small amount of focus should be placed on the element of death as this as it a reality, natural disasters occur all around the world, and although I do feel that as future teachers we should emphasise that these disasters occurring in Scotland are highly unlikely, but they do occur in other places around the world. This would calm any fears and nerves that children may have if they think that these disasters were a possibility.

In our workshops we done a series of experiments that mimicked disasters. This was very interactive activity as we were handling material and visually seeing the reactions that occurred. As a future teacher I would definitely include an experiment when planning this lesson due to the fact that it encompasses a lot of different elements and many skills can be obtained. For example, one of the experiments carried out was a volcano erupting,  and in order to build it vinegar had to mixed with two more ingredients before it could be mixed with the baking soda for the reaction to occur successfully.  This would require children to be attentive and follow instruction in a chronological order. Furthermore, during the experiment ingredients need to be measured so this effectively brings in an element of mathematics, as children are having to accurately measure the ingredients using the measuring tubes. Overall I feel children would interact with this experiment because it is interesting and fun to see the “volcano” erupt.

In our second workshop we looked at Natural Disasters from a more social point. We looked at two contrasting countries, one developed and one developing and discussed how they reacted to similar disasters. I found this part of the workshop very informative as it gave an insight into the real world by providing real life cases (Japan and Haiti). By doing this, it solidified the fact that disasters do actually occur, and although it is a devastating process it is enlightening to see just how factors such as wealth, education and government can really help with the recovery of a country. The conclusion was that Japan was much more able to bounce back after the devastating earthquake that hit in 2011 mainly due to the fact that it was very prepared for such an incident to occur in the first place , so it already had measures in place to reduce the amount of damage and loss that would occur. (Scott- McKie 2016) . For example, having strong infrastructure that would be more able to bear the adverse conditions. Our last input to this topic was to deliver a presentation in groups in which we were to explain what we would do as future teachers to teach a particular disaster. In another groups presentation they explained how they implement a small activity to provide a visual element of the different types of infrastructure that Hati and japan had.  To mimic Japans infrastructure Legos blocks were used and piled up. For Hati’s  jenga cubes were used. Both material mimicking the sturdiness of the building found in the countries. This was a small but a very efficient activity as it provided a great visual element.

 

 

Preparing a lesson plan with six other individuals was not as hard and complicated as I originally thought. I was nervous because I wasn’t sure if we were all going to agree on the same thing, or if due to the large number, information would be miss-communicated. These fears were all eradicated when we scheduled a meeting to go over the plan, and whilst verbally speaking of what we would do, we ended up getting into the details of the lesson plan and immediately started documenting our work. Bouncing ideas of each other was great because someone always had something to add to it or adapt it for the better and it became clear to me that creating a lesson that is innovative, creative, interactive and educational was not as hard as I thought.  The GTC (2019) highlights the importance of working  collaboratively with our colleagues.  I also gained communication skills, as outwith university we remained in contact by creating a message group where we were able to ask question and finalise last details. This was key as it meant that everyone knew what they were doing and no one was doing more or less than what they should be. This helped a great deal as it took a lot of pressure of us individually. In order to even present our finding I had to research Tornado’s myself and strengthen the basic understanding that I had, this in turn allowed me to develop my research skills. The skills that I obtained both from participating in the experiments and micro teaching are essential to have as a future teacher as I will be able to pass them on to my students who will hopeful be able to take these skills too and more.

This was a short video that we included i our presentation that we thought would be effective as it was child friendly and very informative. the language was also at an appropriate level so that children could understand what was going on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

week 1-2

Introduction to Sustainable Development
The introduction input to sustainable development was refreshing in the sense that it didn’t tackle aims that were directly for children or how it could improve a classroom. This module touched on the environment and learning for sustainability, and although it doesn’t link to how it can benefit a child, it also extends wider to the benefits to the community and global community in terms of providing health benefits and better use of green space. In regard to today’s current events in which the Amazon Rainforest has made many appearances on the news and climate change has taken the attention of many leaders. This module allows us as learners to understand how to care for the environment on a minuscule scale that can have powerful impact if done as a community (recycling). In aspect of this module that I hadn’t quite expected was how it can be socially rewarding, I always took being Eco friendly to always having environmental impacts, but never experimented on how it can bring together a community.  As informative as this input was as a learner, links were still made  to how it relates to teaching and how children  must learn about the earth and understand how to care for it, because Climate change not only affects us but it will affect them too.

Diversity
A topic that is not only vital to acknowledge in a school environment but in all aspects of ones life. Diversity is the key to accepting change and embracing differences. In today’s input diversity was challenged in a classroom environment and how it could raise issues.
In order to assess the task in a different manner, Andrew suggested that as a class we acted out situations that could arise due to diversity within a classroom, and the stereotypes that surround minority groups. Hesitant and first and unsure of the medium, we discussed several stereotypes. Personally being of a ethical minority some of the stereotypes were target at my faith, and although feeling quite targeted I had to remind myself that this activity wasn’t about me. It was, as a class to understand that these enactments actually happen in many children’s life’s, and I can verify this as I myself have experienced several encounters that were based on stereotypes. I understood stereotypes were generally based on ignorance and lack of knowledge on ones faith or ethnicity, so looking at this from a teachers perspective, the clear solution  would be to to educate. Educate children from as early as primary one that not everyone is the same, we may come from different places, we may dress differently and eat different things, but that does not and should not mean that we must be treated different. Every child has the right to learn. No child is better or lesser due to their background and financial status. As teachers, in order to avoid discrimination in the classroom we must teach our children the beauty of diversity.

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