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Blog 12 – 26th November 2019

Today was our final session of Integrated Arts! In our music workshop today we became a little bit festive by playing Last Christmas on the Ukulele. A Ukulele was introduced from Hawaii and has only got four strings which are G C E and A(Austin, 2019). The two strings at the top are stringed higher and the two at the bottom are stringed lower.

Within the music workshop we had a look at the different chords to play on the Ukulele and these were the chords of C, F, C7, Dm, Am and G. We also had a look at the different strumming patterns such as the shuffle strum where you just strummed down and up and also the country strum which is down down up down down up.

Once we had gained the knowledge of the Ukuleleand what chords where required to learn, we were then able to play along to Last Christmas. This would be a fun activity to use with children as you are keeping their learning fun and engaging therefore they will be willing to take part in more of the lessons ( Van’t Hault, 2012). I personally enjoyed this activity as it was fun to take part in and gain knowledge of another musical instrument I could use in the class for the future.

As it was our last week of dance, we pulled together all the groups routines and created a final dance with everyone. Here is a link to our final routine as a whole class!

Once we had watched the video, we individually evaluate our input to the dance in the video. We evaluated how well we performed, did we smile or could we have put more effort in for example. This gave us an opportunity to see what we could work better on if we were to do this task again.

When doing a task like this, it is  important to allow pupils to evaluate their own work by using the 2 stars and a wish programme for example. This allows pupils to critic 2 things they thought they done well and 1 thing they thought they could improve on. Evaluation like this can build motivation between learners as they can gain motivation into working harder and to also be able to give their peers some ideas and next steps they could use if they teacher decides to encourage teamwork evaluation (Iversen et al, 2015).

Overall, I have really enjoyed partcipating in the Integreated Arts Module. I have gained so many new techniques and skills required to teach the arts in Primary Education. As a student teacher, I will continue to develop the skills required to be successful in teaching the arts and I look forward to doing so in the future in my own classroom!

 

REFERENCES

Austin(2019) Ukulele Explained: All you Need to Know. [Online] Available: https://consordini.com/ukulele-explained-all-you-need-to-know/ [Accessed: 26th November 2019].

Iversen, A.M. Pederson, A.S. Krogh, L and Jensen, A.A. (2015) Learning, Leading and Letting go of Control: Learner-Led Approaches in Education. Journal of Sage Open. [Abstract, Online] Vol.5(4), pg. 1-11. Available: https://journals.sagepub.com/dor/pdf/10.1177/2158244015608423 [Accessed: 26th November  2019].

Van’t Hault, J. (2012) Kids Drawing- How to Encourage Creativity, Skills and Confidence [Online] Available: https://artfulparent.com/how-to-encourage-drawing-skills-confidence-creativity-in-young-children/ [Accessed: 26th November 2019]

Blog 11- 19th November 2019

 

 

Creative dance allows teachers to introduce new ways pupils can be creative through dance by doing things such as creating their own dance routine or evaluating their routine and establishing what they could do better for next time (Watts et al, 2007). Creative dance is beneficial in education as it increases pupils confidence and their ability to work with others in groups.

My role in creative dance as a student teacher is to ensure that pupils have a safe learning environment where they can build on or increase their creativity in an environment they are comfortable in (Smith, 1996). It is also important to value that each pupils learning process is different from others therefore we should allow them to work on creative dance at their own pace (Smith et al, 2005). As a group we had an opportunity to create a lesson plan for pupils to teach dance in a creative way.

Continuing with creative dance, we had a little refresher of our own dance routines we created in the dance workshops. In groups we came up with our own warm up game and ours was called magic rocks. Magic rocks is a game for pupils to use their imagination and bring it to life (Sharp, 2001). The teacher calls magic rocks and the pupils curl up in a ball on the floor. Then the teacher would say magic rocks become and say elves for example and then the pupils would use their imagination to walk about the room as if they were elves.

We then went on to progressing our routine by adding in a start and end position and also a change of position and levels. This gave a group an opportunity to use our collaboration skills to come up with some new ideas to make our dance come alive! Once each group had completed their changes to their routines we pieced together every groups small section and started working on the dance as a whole.

Within music today, we were also able to test our creativity as individuals. We were looking at tuned percussion such as the glockenspiel. As the lesson went on we were progressing well as were able to complete rhythms for letter notes C through to A which is also known as a Pentatonic Scale.

We then took part in an improvisation task where we were to play notes and rhythms to the song Hit the Road Jack. Improvisation allows pupil to be confident in trying things with no music and they are just making up a rhythm they think works best (Shevock, 2018).

This sort of task would allow teachers to allow pupils to make mistakes and to encourage them to explore their own ways of playing the rhythms. They should also value pupils uniqueness as not everyone’s outcome will be the same (Williams, 2017).

Overall, both music and dance this week have encouraged creativity within teaching of the arts. It is also important as a student teachers we encourage pupils to take the opportunities to be as creative as they can be and always encourage pupils not to be frightened to perform or present their work to others!

REFERENCES

Sharp, C, (2001) Developing Young Children’s Creativity Through the Arts: what does Research Have to Offer. [Online] Available: https://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/44420/44420.pdf [Accessed: 19th November 2019].

Shefock, D.J. (2018) The Evidence of Confident Music Improvising. Journal of Research Studies in Music Education. [Abstract, Online] Available: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1321103X17751935 [Accessed: 19th November 2019].

Smith, D.B. Frotz, J. Ito, H. Kohorst, J and Vascimini, E. (2015) Expressive Arts as a Means of Increasing Well-being in Children. [Online] Available: https://scholarworks.com/umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&content=utpp. [Accessed: 19th November  2019].

Smith, M.K. (1996) Fostering Creativity in the Early Childhood Classroom. Early Childhood Education Journal. [Abstract, Online] Vol.24, pg. 77-82. Available: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02353284#citeas [Accessed: 19th November 2019].

Watts, R. Cox, S. McAuliffe, D and Heme, S. (2007) Teaching Art and Design 3-11. (Reaching the Standards). London: Continuum International Publishing.

Williams, M.K. (2017) John Dewey in the 21st Century. Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education. [Online] Vol 9(1), pg. 91-100. Available: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1158258.pdf [Accessed: 19th November 2019].

 

Blog 10 – 12th November 2019

Creative partnerships allows members of staff to work together to communicate the specialist skill they may have that everyone could use in their teaching. Within schools, these creative partnerships can be staff members or non-staff members such as parents or guardians and they can also be visiting specialists. By using creative partnerships such as parents allows them to talk to pupils about maybe their career for example, which introduces pupils to the skills and needs required for this particular area of work. It also encourages parental engagement with the class as they are a contributor to the pupils learning.

Creative partnerships are beneficial in education as they allow teachers feel more confident in their work as they don’t have as much pressure on teaching the Arts alone as they have other people there to help them in areas they may feel weak in. It also allows the pupils to get a more broadened experience with the Arts in school as many professionals are coming together to produce an effective lesson.

To keep our energy up within the dance workshop we had a cardio warm up to get our bodies moving. We did the warm up to highland music which correlated with our topic of Scotland. As teachers, we should always ensure that our pupils are warmed up before doing any dancing. This can be things such as playing a game or a routine warm up. By playing games such as the bean game, it allows pupils to run around the hall getting them warmed up and then you shout out different kinds of beans and they have to do the action that corresponds with it. For example, baked bean would be the pupils sitting on the floor and spinning round as if they are in the microwave getting cooked. This is a fun activity for kids to take part in as it allows them to have fun whilst warming up too.

Adding on to our dance routine, we had a look at some pictures from places in Scotland. Our task was to use the images such as the Flying Scotsman, Fingals Cave and the Duke of Wellington Statue at George Square and come up with a dance move that we thought portrayed what they image was. Our group worked on the Flying Scotsman and Fingal’s Cave. The moves we used for the train were moving are arms around at our hips to portray the train moving on the tracks and for the cave we used tip-toeing to represent the quietness of inside the cave. This activity would give pupils the opportunity to work together to create their own dance moves which they thought would represent the photograph (Watts et al, 2007). By doing an activity like this, pupils will get more involved as the dance moves would be their own ideas (Halliday et al, 2018).

Figurenotes is a website online that helps pupils learn about rhythm in music. The website shows the music as it should be played. For example, if the note was to be 4 beats long the image on the sheet music would run on longer than normal. It is a useful website for all age groups and those pupils with ASN, to be interacting with music notation. By using figurenotes, it allows pupils to gain knowledge in how notation works and they can progress from the figurenote notation to musical notation which is good for when they enter secondary school.

Our task was to play the glockenspiel using the figurenote notation to songs such as Twinkle Twinkle and Super Trooper. I felt that figurenotes was easier to use to read the notation which is beneficial for pupils in the early years level. It also allows pupils to go at their own pace, therefore they can progress from figurenotes when they are ready to and they feel comfortable doing so. By using figurenotes to teach pupils music allows teachers to progress pupils musical notation knowledge step by step and at a pace they are comfortable with.

Here is me using the figurenotes notation to play Twinkle Twinkle!

 

Overall, creative partnerships are important and should be included in education. It is important that we allow opportunity for creative partnerships in our teaching of the arts as it gives pupils new experiences and opportunities they may never have had before. Also to allow pupils the opportunity to test their creativity by taking control of their own learning for example, as this enhances their confidence in education!

 

REFERENCES

Halliday, A.J. Kern, M.L. Garrett, D.R and Turnbull, D.A. (2018) The Student Voice in Wellbeing: A Case Study of Participatory Action Research in Positive Education. Journal of Educational Action Research. [Online] Vol.27(12), pg. 173-196. Available: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09650792.2018.1436079.  [Accessed: 12TH November 2019].

Watts, R. Cox, S. McAuliffe, D and Heme, S. (2007) Teaching Art and Design 3-11. (Reaching the Standards). London: Continuum International Publishing.

Blog 9- 5th November 2019

We had a lovely visit from pupils from a local primary school at University. The pupils came in to teach us about music and their thoughts on it. This was opportunity for our activity be pupil led as they were teaching us what we were to do in the class. Using pupil led activities allows pupils to feel a sense of worth and confidence, as they are taking resposibilty for their own learning (Jeffrey and Craft, 2010).

When talking about music with the pupils, it was amazing to hear so much positivity about their passions for music. They had told us that they all wanted to continue with their music learning in class as they were really enjoying it. They are able to gain knowledge on  things such as the different sounds instruments make and the different orchestral families (Chau and Rifgoriate, 2010). It is a great opportunity for pupils to develop their knowledge for their future if they are planning on continuing with their music.

As a student teacher, it was amazing to see the variety of ways you could use music to help teach other curricular areas such as math. By using music in math you could allow pupils to do things such as adding a minim and a crochet together for example and asking them to identify how many beats there are all together. Music opens a wide variety of cross curricular links that allow teachers to use music in any curricular area to benefit pupils learning (Watts et al, 2007).

By using dance to introduce pupils to learning allows them to be more engaged and confident in the work they produce (Fegley, 2010). In today’s session of dance we looked at how teachers can introduce pupils to dance through learning in subjects such as maths and topic for example.

Introducing dance with topic work, allows pupils to gain an understanding of different world cultures and it also ties in nicely with music as pupils are able to hear the variety of music from all over the world. Dance is also beneficial for maths, as it can be used a strategy to engage those students who may not get on the best at maths. For example, we had played a maths game where we had to come up with a dance move for every number from 0-10 and then once we had created them someone would just shout a random number between 0-10 and we would have to relay the dance move.

That activity allows pupils to be involved in their learning and be engaged in the lesson. It also opens up another strategy to use with pupils who aren’t very good at engaging with the class as pupils are able to work together and come up with great ideas and gain self-confidence from being able to participate in creating dance moves.

During today’s session we were taught about the ten basic dance skills pupils need to know in order to create any routine. These basic steps were roll, twist, slide, hop, jump,turn, gesture,kick, balance and reach. As a group, we used these 10 basic steps to create a routine to a Scottish song. We focussed on the topic of Scotland.

I really enjoyed this activity as we were able to work together as a group which developed collaboration skills and we brought together a little routine that we were happy with using our 10 basic skills.

Overall, I have gained knowledge on how it is important for teachers to allow their pupils to be involved in their own learning by doing things such as child led lessons. This allows pupils to feel like they have contributed to their learning and will be engaged in their learning if they are in control of it from time to time.

 

REFERENCES

Chau, C and Rifgoriate, T. (2010) The Influence of Music in the Development of Children. [Online] Available: http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=psycdsp.  [Accessed: 5th November 2019].

Fegley, L.E. (2010) The Impact of Dance in Student Learning: Within the Classroom and Across the Curriculum. [Online] Available: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/718b/18945b4cbfdf1c94bc001e5238cf3535f04f.pdf.  [Accessed: 5th November 2019].

Watts, R. Cox, S. McAuliffe, D. Heme, S. (2007) Teaching Art and Design 3-11. (Reaching the Standards). London: Continuum International Publishing.

 

Blog 8 – 29th October 2019

Creativity can involve a cluster of skills such as imagination, play, communication and critical thinking for example. Creativity allows pupils imagination to be broadened as it encourages them to bring their visions of creativity to life. It also gives an opportunity for class teachers to talk about the different forms of arts from all over the world like different artists work for example and this allows pupils to gain a better understanding of the world they live in and what their impact on it could be (Gabora, 2017).  Creativity doesn’t have to just be introduced through the arts for pupils, it can also be used throughout the whole curriculum by finding new and engaging ways to teach different subjects(Watts et al, 2007).

A creative process has many stages for pupils and it different for every single person (Taylor,2014). The creative process allows pupils to work at their own pace rather than trying to keep up with everyone else. This is important as it allows pupils to express themselves in many different forms of the arts when they are ready to do so (Smith et al, 2015).

Creativity can develop pupils emotional state as they are able to express themselves freely and this then builds confidence in their work (Edsys, 2017). It can also develop play as pupils are able to play about with material or resources until they find the correct one for them.

Today’s art session was based on reflecting on images we were given on emotional learning cards and using the Rod Taylor Model to determine what was going on in the picture. Our picture was based on the two boats side by side in the water as above. As a group we answered questions based on the mood, form, process and content of the picture. One question we answered for example was based on the mood section. the question was “Does the picture convey feelings about life and nature?”, our response was yes as it relates to mental health and emphasises the need of help and support.

This is a good activity to use with children as they can create their own thoughts on what they see in the picture. As teachers, we should allow pupils to tell us what they see rather than us telling them, as it allows their imagination to come to life. From this activity they are able to imagine what is going on without actually being there (Vygotsky,2004).

We also had a look at how the website Charanga is an opportunity for creativity in music. Charanga is an online resource that allows teachers to gain access to music lessons week to week for all year groups. This is a great opportunity for teachers to keep lessons age appropriate and engaging for the pupils therefore they will most likely participate in the lesson more (Van’t Hault, 2012).

Charanaga is beneficial for classroom teaching as it allows pupils to create their own music as a whole class. This opens up a huge opportunity for those who already play instruments in the class to bring their talents together to play a piece of music for example. It also allows pupils to build up on their musical knowledge for example notation,  which gives them a better understanding of music for when they leave for Secondary school.

I really enjoyed using charanaga today as it was a website I had never used before and it was good to see the variety of ways you could teach pupils music which are very fun and engaging. It is definitely a website all age groups could use as there is something for everyone within in and I would definitely recommend using it in the classroom for the future.

Overall, from today’s session I have gained the knowledge that no pupils creativity will ever be the same and to value uniqueness within your class. Creativity prepares pupils for a better future as it allows them to gain various other skills such as communication, collaboration and teamwork which is beneficial for the world of work. As teachers, it is important that we are passionate about creativity and embrace it in our classrooms!

 

REFERENCES

Edsys (2017) Role and Importance of Creativity in the Classroom. [Online] Available: https://www.edsys.in/creativity-in-classroom/ [Accessed: 29th October 2019].

Gabora, L. (2017) What Creativity Really is- and why Schools Needs It. [Online] Available: https://theconservation.com/what-creativity-really-is-and-why-schools-need-it-81889. [Accessed: 29th October 2019].

Taylor, J. (2014) The Five Stages of Creative Process. [Online] Available: https://www.jamestaylor.me/creative-process-five-stages/ [Accessed: 29th October 2019].

Smith, D.B. Frotz, J. Ito, H. Kohorst, J and Vascimini, E. (2015) Expressive Arts as a Means of Increasing Well-being in Children. [Online] Available: https://scholarworks.com/umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&content=utpp. [Accessed: 29th October 2019].

Van’t Hault, J. (2012) Kids Drawing- How to Encourage Creativity, Skills and Confidence [Online] Available: https://artfulparent.com/how-to-encourage-drawing-skills-confidence-creativity-in-young-children/ [Accessed: 29th October 2019].

Vygotsky, L.S. (2004) Imagination and Creativity in Childhood. Journal of Russians and East European Psychology. [Online] Vol.42(1), pg. 7-97. Available: http://lchc.uscd.edu/MCA/Mail/xmxamail.2007_08.dir/att-0149/LSV_1967_2004_._Imagination_and_creativity_in_childhood.pdf [Accessed: 29th October 2019].

Watts, R. Cox, S. McAuliffe, D and Heme, S. (2007) Teaching Art and Design 3-11. (Reaching the Standards). London: Continuum International Publishing.

Blog 7- 22nd October 2019

Norway has very different aspects of culture compared to Scotland. From today’s session we were identifying the contrast between Scotland and Norway. There are two different written languages depending on where you come from in Norway. In the earlier years, the Danish ruled Norway and some of the citizens wanted to keep the old language however some wanted a new language hence why there is now two spoken languages in Norway.

Relating to schools, we established that the Norwegian classroom teaching isn’t as interactive as it is here in Scotland. Scotland has a lot of outdoor learning encouraged throughout its teaching, however Norway students don’t have the same opportunity and they have discussed that this is an aspect of learning that needs to continue to be introduced.

It was discussed today that the arts isn’t as effective in Norway is it is here in Scotland. Pupils have stated that the teachers are not as creative as they just give them pictures to look at and copy to draw it. Music and drama is also combined together therefore pupils aren’t getting the benefit of both subjects as an individual subject. This has a negative impact on pupils learning as they aren’t getting the opportunity to have a well-rounded education as they haven’t had a good chance to learn about the Arts.

Within the Arts workshop, we were looking at different variations of environmental Art. We worked in a group of five which allowed us to gain collaboration skills as we were working as a team. Our task was to create a powerful message using only what was in front of us outside. Within our group we used natural materials such as rocks, ripples in the water and leaves etc. Our message was to focus on the statement on breaking down barriers. This lesson is a great opportunity as it allows pupils to be creative and make a powerful statement by using materials that are round about them (Watts et al, 2007). By encouraging outdoor learning, it allows pupils to feel free to be creative in a different environment and to also acknowledge the art they have around them on a daily basis (Waite, 2010).

 

Today we started to gain a better understanding of the app GarageBand. GarageBand is an app that allows you to play around with various sounds and instruments such as piano or the drums for example. Garageband would be beneficial in education as it allows pupils to create their own piece of music by using the various sounds and instruments there is to offer. Pupils can decide which instrument they want to use and what sounds work well with it. Throughout this session, it was quite hard to try and get the grasp of the app as there was just so much to choose from however with a better understanding of the app now I feel that I would be able to use Garageband in the future.

In relation to pupils, I feel that pupils would need to have guidance on how to use the app as it can be quite confusing to navigate therefore pupils would be frustrated if they didn’t know what to do. Headphones would also be required when using Garageband in the class as it can become quite noisy and therefore some pupils would begin to get annoyed by all the noises or the class could just become chaotic. By using an activity like this allows pupils to engage with the Arts but in a more active and enjoyable way. It is important as teachers that we maintain pupils focus when completing this activity though as many pupils can go off the topic due to there being so many options on the app which could cause distractions from the task.

Using Garageband on the Ipad’s allows pupils to follow what the teacher is directing them to look at. Ipad’s are also beneficial as they have various opportunities to things such as record yourself or create your own sounds (Ruisamki et al, 2013). This gives pupils the opportunity to be creative in the own way and allows them to develop play as they are able to use the Ipad to control different sounds (Sharp, 2001).

Overall, it is important that we embrace different cultures into our arts lessons as they have various things that we may do differently therefore it is a great opportunity for pupils to get to understand about other places in our world. As teachers, we must ensure that our pupils are able to be involved in outdoor learning to look at the Art we have outside in our environment. In order to do so though we must make sure that as the lesson goes on that we find ways to keep pupils on task!

 

REFERENCES

Waite, S. (2010) Teaching and Learning Outside the Classroom: personal values, alternative pedagogies and standards. International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education [Abstract, Online] Vol. 39, Pg 65-82. Available: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03004270903206141 [Accessed: 22nd October 2019].

Watts, R. Cox, S. McAuliffe, D. Heme, S. (2007) Teaching Art and Design 3-11. (Reaching the Standards). London: Continuum International Publishing.

Ruisamki, H. Juvonen, A and Lehtonen, K. (2013) The Ipad and music in the new Learning Environment. The European Journal of Social and Behavioural Sciences. [Abstract, Online] Available: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/157586743.pdf [Accessed: 22nd October 2019].

Sharp, C, (2001) Developing Young Children’s Creativity Through the Arts: what does Research Have to Offer. [Online] Available: https://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/44420/44420.pdf [Accessed: 22nd October 2019].

Blog 6 – 15th October 2019

When teaching pupils about the pulse or rhythm in music is it important that they know the full meaning of what these words mean. A pulse is a steady beat which is played throughout the rhythm and rhythm can be described as long or short sounds within the music. To teach these terms to pupils, teachers should find more age appropriate ways to explain these terms to them. For example, as humans we all have a pulse and this is created by our heart beat therefore we could teach pupils about pulse by feeling their own in their bodies.

Within the music workshop, we looked at various rhythm patterns . Our first activity was to use shape syllables such as square and circle to clap out the rhythm. This allows pupils to create cross-curricular links with numeracy by involving shapes and it develops thir co-ordination by clapping out the rhythm whilst saying the shape name aloud. By allowing the pupils to join in with the clapping, they gain a sense of involvement and will enjoy joining in with music in the future (Bergmark and Western, 2018).

 

         cir-cle                                  square

 

Rhythm allows teachers to develop pupils skills as they are able to learn more than just music through musical activities. They are also gain literacy skills by learning the letter names on certain instruments, numeracy from counting how many beats there are and possibly history by learning where all the musical terms came from for example (Tervaniemi et al, 2018).

Using our creativity, we were introduced to printing within our art workshop today.

 

We were given the task to complete a print by using something that is making a statement. Our group chose to do make our statement based on embracing Mental Health. The statement we chose to use was “There is Strength in Your Softness”. This gave a powerful statement to those suffering from mental health to always remember that they are stronger than they feel. Here is our final product:

 

This activity was really fun to take part in as it was very satisfying to see how your print turned out in the end. The activity would be beneficial for teachers to do in class as it breaks up the routine of any basic art lesson and is something a bit more fun and creative. It also allows pupils to create their own statement on something that is meaningful to them. There is also cross curricular links with this activity as it allows pupils to develop their literacy skills through writing on their press( Watts et al, 2007).

Overall, I have gained knowledge on both rhythym and printing. By allowing pupils to experiment with music, it allows them to develop better knowledge of music before leaving Primary School for Secondary School. As teachers, it is aso important that we break the rountine in our planning and do something fun with our pupils by involving the Arts!

REFERENCES

Bergmark, U and Western, S. (2018) Student participation within teacher education: emphasising democratic values, engagement and learning for a future profession. Journal of Higher Education Research and Development. [Abstract, Online] Vol.37(7), pg 1352-1365. Available: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2018.1484708 [Accessed: 15th October 2019].

Tervaniemi, M. Tao, S and Huotilainen, M. (2018) Promises of Music in Education? [Online] Available: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2018.00074/full [Accessed: 15th October 2019].

Watts, R. Cox, S. McAuliffe, D. Heme, S. (2007) Teaching Art and Design 3-11. (Reaching the Standards). London: Continuum International Publishing.

Blog 5- 8th October 2019

Music is an important Expressive Arts subject as it influences the mind and the body. Music matters to pupils as it allows them to express feelings they cannot say aloud for example. Music creates more colour in the classroom as pupils are desperate to take part in music lessons and bring their imaginations to life through the use of musical instruments.

Music benefits pupils as they develop various skills as well as the ones they learn through music. These can be things such as teamwork by co-operating with others when using instruments and confidence to play aloud. It also opens up many new opportunities for pupils such as joining a band or starting lessons on a specific instrument within school (Barrett et al, 2019).

We interpreted our emotions into our music workshop today. By listening to various songs we were asked to note down the different emotions we were feeling when listening to the music. For example, here are some related pieces of music that show the feelings we felt during this activity.

Canon in D represented a calm and relaxing emotion.

Summer created a very excited emotion as if we were at a party.

This activity highlighted that music allows pupils to feel different emotions and feelings and every pupil will have different opinions on different types of music.

We had another activity to listen to a piece of music and create a story line from it. Our group chose to have our character to be chased by a bee as the music got faster at certain bits therefore this was representing our character running away from the bee. We used a story board to show our final product of our ideas in regards to the music we were listening to.

This activity would be a great lesson to do with pupils as it tested our creativity by allowing us to make our own story based on what we were hearing in the music. The activity would require pupils to work together to use all their ideas and express their thoughts on other people’s work ( Iversen et al, 2015). My only advice is that if you are going to use this activity with pupils is to allow them to have more squares than 8 to develop there story as the piece of music was quite long and we felt we could have developed our storyboard better.

At drama, we linked back to the micro-teaching however this week we were just participating in other groups presentations. One particular groups presentation I liked was based on the movie “Inside Out”. Which highlights the importance of our emotions in our and how we chose to deal with them. This group worked really well together to ensure their presentation was fun and engaging for pupils as they kept it relevant to things pupils would enjoy( Van’t Hault, 2012).

This activity also linked in with our new drama convention.

  • Role in the wall –  Which you draw an outline of a body. Inside of the body represents the characters feelings and the outside represents others feelings.

This links with Inside Out as teachers are able to teach their pupils about mental health and emotions or feelings with pupils in a fun and engaging way, where they don’t actually realise they are learning about emotions.

Overall, from today’s session I have gained knowledge on the importance of music and why it should be encouraged within education. Music allows pupils to develop as an individual by gaining various skills such as confidence from being able to take part in music when they maybe haven’t before. As I progress through teaching, I was definitely ensure that music is encouraged within my teaching to further develop my pupils as individuals.

 

REFERENCES

Barrett, M.S. Flynn, L.M. Brown, J.E and Welch, G.F. (2019)Beliefs and Values About Music in Early Childhood Education and Care: Perspectives From Practitioners.  Journal of Front Psychol [Abstract, Online] Vol. 10. Available: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6492529/ [Accessed: 8th October 2019].

Iversen, A.M. Pederson, A.S. Krogh, L and Jensen, A.A. (2015) Learning, Leading and Letting go of Control: Learner-Led Approaches in Education. Journal of Sage Open. [Abstract, Online] Vol.5(4), pg. 1-11. Available: https://journals.sagepub.com/dor/pdf/10.1177/2158244015608423 [Accessed: 8th October 2019].

Van’t Hault, J. (2012) Kids Drawing- How to Encourage Creativity, Skills and Confidence [Online] Available: https://artfulparent.com/how-to-encourage-drawing-skills-confidence-creativity-in-young-children/ [Accessed: 8th October 2019]

Blog 4- 1st October 2019

Within our art workshop, we revisited our painting from last week. However today’s session added a little more creativity to it. Our task was to look at our image we had created and to free write over the top of it using Scottish poetry. For my picture, I used the poem called “My Heart in the Highlands”. This poem explains all the things the poet loved about the highlands and how each part of the Highlands meant something to them. Here is my picture:

We used different resources within the image to create a different texture from the paint. Therefore we used resources such as chalk and pencils to create another texture on the picture. This activity allows pupils to use creative writing as well as using art to create a piece of work. Therefore the pupil is developing more than just imagination and they are linking with other curricular areas such as Literacy (Watts et al, 2007).

Within Drama today, we took part in the  micro-teaching activities. This was to allow us to come up with a presentation we could used within the classroom for our pupils and introduce drama conventions we could use. Our group created a presentation on the children’s Book “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”. This was beneficial as it was a book that everyone would be sure of and it had a lot of opportunities for our peers to create various scenes using the new drama conventions we had just created.

My peers used conventions such as :

  • Mime: To show how the characters would look as they walk through the mud.
  • Monologue: To describe how the characters felt when they saw the Bear in the cave.
  • Voices in Head: To show the difference in feelings between the family and the bear.

At the end of our session, our peers gave us some great feedback. They highlighted that we used a great book that all pupils would enjoy working with and would allow them to develop their own imagination skills by creating different approaches to the book. I felt as an individual this session allowed me to gain great communication skills as I was able to work well with others to create our presentation and present it to my peers (Ahamadi and Besancon, 2017).

Overall, I learned from today’ sessions that both drama and art are important subjects within the curriculum and should be valued as beneficial as the rest of the subjects. Both subjects allow pupils to gain a number of skills outwith the ones they are being taught in class such as communication, critical thinking and collaboration.

REFERENCES

Ahmadi, N and Besancon, M. (2017) Creativity as a Stepping Stone Towards Developing Other Competencies in Classrooms. Journal of Education Research International. [Online] Vol 2017, pg. 1-7. Available: http://downloads.hindawi.co/journals/edri/2017/135746.pdf [Accessed: 1st October 2019].

Watts, R. Cox, S. McAuliffe, D and Heme, S. (2007) Teaching Art and Design 3-11. (Reaching the Standards). London: Continuum International Publishing.

 

 

Blog 3 – 24th September 2019

Our focus within the lecture today was based on Room 13 which has been running since 1994. Room 13 is based on the 13th Room in an old abandoned school where pupils created art however although that school no longer exists, the practices are still being continued. Room 13 allows pupils to determine their own learning as the product of their work will be more richer (Halliday et al, 2018). Room 13 allowed pupils to gain critical thinking whilst doing art work as they are having to select the correct resources to bring their vision in their head alive on paper.  Room 13 highlights the importance of never allowing two pupils to create the same picture as you are denying their individuality and minimising their own success to create their own image (Williams, 2017).

During the Art workshop, we created our own paintbrushes individually. We use small paintbrushes within art lessons as they are easier to handle, less messy and they are all the same therefore pupils aren’t pressured into having a better picture. This takes pupils away from the standard paintbrush expectations. By creating our own paintbrush, it tested our imagination and critical thinking skills as it was so important we used the correct materials as we had to use our paintbrushes to create a picture. Here is my paintbrush:

When creating our picture with our paintbrush, we were only given primary colours. It is important when doing a task like this to not use paint pallets as it prevents teachers from avoiding Art in the classroom because they have to clean up the mess therefore if there is no paint pallets there is no mess and this then takes away the issue for teachers.

Our task was to create a Scottish Highlands painting with our paintbrushes. We were asked to listen to a short passage and then create our own version of the passage with our imagination of what the passage would look like on the paper. For example we were told things such as :

  • It was green, hilly and beautiful
  • There was trees
  • The upper third of the picture is the cloudy blue sky
  • There were mountains to the left
  • A loch running towards the left
  • The ground was very dark and rusty

Here is the start of my painting which was my interpretation of the passage:

This activity was a problem based activity as we didn’t have to ask to re-hear the story as we used our own imaginations to create our own pictures on what we thought the Highland passage would look like. I would definitely try this activity in the class as it develops play as pupils are able to play about with resources and materials they think are beneficial for their picture and brings the passage to life by using their own imaginations (Sharp, 2001).

Our drama workshops were based on History controversy. We worked on our new drama conventions such as:

  • Mime – Acting out a scene without speaking
  • Monologue- When one person speaks within the drama and explains how they are feeling
  • Voices in Head- When two people speak. One person explains how they feel about something and the other explains how they feel with a contrasting opinion.

                                                             

The first history image we were to portray was based on WW2 and the treatment of the Jewish people. Within our short scene, our group created the picture of a Jewish person walking into a shop. We used the monologue drama convention to indicate how the Jewish person felt when they were forcefully kicked out the shop for being Jewish.

The second scene we created was based on the disaster that occurred at Grenfell Tower when it was burnt down. We created the scene of a family having different opinions by using the voices in head drama convention to indicate that the kids wanted to stay there with all the toys and their friends however the Mum and Dad wanted out the tower as soon as possible to keep their family safe.

By completing this activity within the classroom, pupils are able to develop an understanding of what happened in our world by creating role play about injustices people have faced across the world (Gabora, 2017). It also them to identify the impact they can have on certain peoples lives.

Overall, it is crucial that as teachers we never expect pupils work to look the same as everyone’s imaginations are different and unique. Also to ensure that you don’t show pupils what to do but to tell them so that they can come up with their own ideas rather than someone elses .

 

REFERENCES

 

Gabora, L. (2017) What Creativity Really is- and why Schools Needs It. [Online] Available: https://theconservation.com/what-creativity-really-is-and-why-schools-need-it-81889. [Accessed: 24th September 2019].

Halliday, A.J. Kern, M.L. Garrett, D.R and Turnbull, D.A. (2018) The Student Voice in Wellbeing: A Case Study of Participatory Action Research in Positive Education. Journal of Educational Action Research. [Online] Vol.27(12), pg. 173-196. Available: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09650792.2018.1436079. [Accessed:24th September 2019].

Sharp, C, (2001) Developing Young Children’s Creativity Through the Arts: what does Research Have to Offer. [Online] Available: https://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/44420/44420.pdf [Accessed: 24th September 2019].

Williams, M.K. (2017) John Dewey in the 21st Century. Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education. [Online] Vol 9(1), pg. 91-100. Available: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1158258.pdf [Accessed: 24th September  2019].