In today’s lecture we learned about Room 13, “a social enterprise model of art education embedded in a number of primary and secondary schools in Scotland. Learner’s manage their own learning and have creative autonomy in determining the subject, media and direction of their work.” (Adams et al, 2008, p11) Children are often denied the chance of being individual. Whole classes are given the same artwork to do but they all end up looking the exact same and people think they have been successful. This is not success and it is not what Curriculum for Excellence is about. “What education should therefore be aspiring towards is what Atkinson and Dash (2005) have called ‘a critical based arts practice’ which consists of a ‘fusion of the practical with the critical whereby art practice is critical practice’ where critical ideas are given visual form’.” (McAuliffe, 2013) A school who uses Room 13 raised money by taking their own school photos instead of getting a company in. This meant that all the money was kept in the school and could be put in to creating Room 13.
We watched a film that was produced for Channel 4 that showed a schools ‘Room 13’. The children were working all over the floor, it looked messy, but it was an organised mess, they knew exactly where everything was kept. The children were free, having fun and being creative.
Our visual arts workshop was linked to Room 13 in that we were free to be as creative as we liked, and everyone’s artwork was different. If you give children choice you will get difference. We discussed why we paint with small brushes and thought it may be because they are like pencils, they are easy to handle and create less mess. However, a lot of pressure comes with using a paintbrush to do art, it is too formal, and children feel less confident in what they are creating. Therefore, we used a range of materials to create our own paintbrushes which would be good to do with children to remove the pressure that surrounds them.
We then created a Scottish Highland scene which was described to us in text by the lecturer. We took notes on what the lecturer was telling us about the scene and then painted what we thought it would look like.
Everyone had a different perception of what the picture would look like and everyone’s paintings looked original. This activity would give children the freedom and opportunity to use their imagination and create a unique painting instead of mimicking what the teacher has done. Through art and design, learners have rich opportunities to be creative and to experience inspiration and enjoyment. (https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf, p.3)
We used history and events from the past in our drama workshop while exploring new drama conventions. “Through drama, learners have rich opportunities to be creative and to experience inspiration and enjoyment.” (https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf, p.7) We were shown a picture of happy German soldiers in Auschwitz during World War 2, we discussed the history around this time and the events that took place e.g. the Holocaust.
During our first role play we used mime and monologue. Mime is acting with no speaking, you must have good body language and facial expressions so that it can de understood what you are trying to portray in your drama. We acted out a Jewish mother and child trying to go shopping and being asked to leave. You could see the shopkeeper was angry and that the mother was feeling defeated and upset from their body language and facial expressions. We then used monologue where one person spoke within the drama explaining how they were feeling. The mother in our drama wished that she could shop where she wanted and worried for her daughter’s future. After that we acted out a drama using voices in the head around the Grenfell Tower incident. Voices in the head is where two people within a drama step out and give conflicting opinions. My group were a family who had survived the accident, the parents were relieved to finally be living somewhere safe, but their children just wanted to be back in their own room. Einstein said “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” (http://www.wearecca.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Benefits-of-Drama-Education.pdf) We used our imagination in today’s workshop, creating our own role play. The concept of Room 13 related to our drama workshop as we were able to take charge of the scenarios we created and use our imagination as far as possible.
References
[online] Curriculum for Excellence: Expressive Arts Experiences and Outcomes Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf Accessed on: 14th December 2019].
Drama Education Network (2005) [online] The Benefits of Drama Education Available: http://www.wearecca.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Benefits-of-Drama-Education.pdf [Accessed on: 14th December 2019].
McAuliffe, D (2013) Art and Design Education. In T. Bryce and W. Humes (et al eds.) Scottish Education (4th Edition): Referendum, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
