Integrated arts is based on classroom content standards being taught whilst teaching them through the form of arts (Riley, 2014). Many teachers don’t use the variety of resources the arts brings to the classroom purely based on the fact that they may not be educated enough in the extra-curricular subjects related to the arts. The arts open teacher’s horizons to subjects such as music, drama, dance and visual arts.
Integrated arts benefits children’s learning. It enhances pupils learning processes. It developed multiple skills such as communication, creativity and critical thinking. Art allows pupils to express their feelings through a different format without actually having to talk to and adult about it (McAuliffe, 2007). It allows pupils to take part in a lesson which is more engaging and fun whilst learning.
The first session we looked at today was based on Visual Arts. Visual arts allow pupils as mentioned before to engage with their own thoughts and feelings and place that into the world of imagination and drawing. Within today’s session, we had a look at pupils work from over different primary school stages such as early, first and second level.
You could tell by some of the pictures the different thought processes children had went through and the resources they may have used to create the final product. Looking at a specific picture of what looks like to be a group of flowers. It enticed me to continue to look at it as the pupil had put in a lot of detail to the painting. I established from looking at it that the painting had been completed with a thick brush and possibly completed by an early level learner as the painting has splatter marks on it and looked very rushed. The pupil went into great detail with picture and the black coloured paper made it stand out really clearly and highlighted exactly what it was we were looking at.
Here is the picture we were looking at in today’s session:
This workshop highlighted the huge differences in resources then compared to the present day. Children nowadays are used to the different forms of technology that is present within our contemporary world. Things such as ICT are now allowing pupils to draw or paint on an electrical device such as a laptop and they are quite up to speed with the evolving of technologies compared to the adults (McAuliffe, 2007).
We also had a drama session later on in the afternoon. Drama is an important subject within the curriculum as it broadens pupils’ skills. They can gain skills such as creativity, communication and teamwork for example (Farmer, 2019). From a young age, children are already introduced to drama through role play either within their home or when they are in nursery.
We looked at a story called “The Lonely Dragon”. The lonely dragon story allowed us to then be introduced to the variety of drama conventions that we could use if we were to use this resource within the classroom. These drama conventions included Teacher in Role, Improvisation, Thought Tunnel and Freeze frame. These were very good conventions to use for this type of story as it would create many different outcomes as not every group of pupils would come up with the same scenario.
Drama allows pupils to express their emotions and feelings whilst being in a supportive environment of their classroom. Pupils also begin to feel confident in themselves when taking part in drama, allowing them to open up their imagination and individuality (Appleyard, 2018). A disadvantage of drama however, would be for those pupils who are possibly shy or less confident. Sometimes drama isn’t for everyone but I do agree that it should be used within the classroom as it is just as an important subject as the rest of the curriculum and it boosts pupils confidence as well as their learning.
Overall, from this week’s sessions I have gathered a more in depth knowledge of how important drama and art are within education. The sessions have broaden my thoughts on how there are many different ways you can involve everyone within the class however not everyone will like drama and art but it was good to see the variety of resources you could use to make sure everyone was included.
As teachers we should always try and embrace the arts as it is just as important a subject as other curricular areas such as Maths or English. The arts allow pupils to broaden their learning processes and open their horizons to new opportunities.
References
Appleyard, V. (2018) Positive Effects of Drama Programs in Education. [Online] Available: https://evolvetreatment.com/blog/positive-effects-drama-programs/. [Accessed: 10th September 2019].
Farmer, D. (2019) Why Teach Drama to Primary School Children? [Online] Available: https://dramaresource.com/why-teach-drama-to-primary-school-children/. [Accessed: 10th September 2019]
Riley, S. (2014) WHAT IS ARTS INTEGRATION? HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW. [Online] Available: https://educationcloset.com/2014/04/03/infographic-what-is-arts-integration/. [Accessed:10th September 2019]
Watts, R. Cox, S. McAuliffe, D. Heme, S. (2007) Teaching Art and Design 3-11. (Reaching the Standards). London: Continuum International Publishing.
