Integrated arts serial day tasks Task 1 – Observing the learning environment. Within the school there are lots of displays throughout the classrooms and along the corridors of children’s creativity and imagination flowing through their work. This is very encouraging to see as it shows that in expressive arts is given a significant amount of time as well as academic subjects such as literacy and numeracy.

Many of the displays show a direct link to IDL and cross-curricular work. For example there were Autumn, Harvest, Viking, Circus and Egyptian displays to mention a few. In the gym hall there are Christmas displays going up for the hall to be decorated for the Christmas party. I have included some pictures below showing the varying displays.

Furthermore several classes have displays of photographs showing what the children have been doing. There are pictures of dance competitions, trips to Arran, mini beats hunts and outings. These pictures also have the children’s voice within them and ‘comic life’ is used from the computer to display them.

There is also ICT work displays for example symmetrical pictures, Christmas trees using the pages document, and clown faces which were all created on the computer. There were both 3D and 2D shape pictures. The 3D shapes had been made from paper nets and they were on the wall. Furthermore outside the primary two class there were 3 dimensional paper mache faces.

There are many labels in the form of speech bubbles explaining what the children have said about their work. Also the teachers put up the experience and outcomes beside some of the work.

The displays show that the children have a range of materials/media to work from such as paper A3 and A4, card, plain paper and paper mache. This is also very encouraging as it shows that the children are not being forced to follow a set of guidelines and that they can let their creativity flow in their own direction with the teacher being there as a facilitator.

Task 2 – Observing learning

Art Lesson

Learning Intention – Pupils will be able to create and design a Christmas card for a school competition.

Success Criteria –I can create a Christmas design

I can choose appropriate material.

I can create images and objects relating to Christmas using a variety of media.

This was a one off art lesson, where the children had an hour and a half to create a Christmas card for a school art competition.

The children were given a variety of resources: card, coloured paper, tissue paper, glue, felt tip pens, coloured pens, crayons, paint, sticky shapes, stars, glitter and small Christmas stencils.

The teacher used the smart board to show the children a sample of Christmas cards. There was then a discussion about what was effective and what wouldn’t be appropriate to put on the card.

The children decided on their own design and what media was the most appropriate for their card. Differentiation was shown by the teacher’s input as some children needed help to get started. It was an individual task.

Reflections

1. Resources were well organised and laid out before the lesson, this allowed the lesson to run smoothly and the children could start straight away. This shows that organisation is key.

2. The learning intentions and success criteria were discussed with the teacher and the children. The children came up with the success criteria and therefore it was relevant and the children fully understood what was expected to be successful.

3. I was impressed with the resulting Christmas cards. Most of the children managed to complete the card in the time frame given. They were very creative and the teacher was there as a guide and support.

Music lesson

Learning Intention – Pupils will be able to create a piece of music in groups relating to the theme of Hallowe’en

Success Criteria – I can choose and identify appropriate instruments that sound/relate to specific Hallowe’en words.

I can follow a music grid.

I can work in a group effectively.

This lesson was the second lesson on music grids. The children were doing a mini IDL topic on Hallowe’en. The children had to choose and identify instruments that they could use in their group for the words: fright, creepy, skeleton and witch. Once the instruments had been chosen the children had to work in a group and decide on the picture for the word and put the pictures on a music grid, practise and be ready to perform in front of peers.

Resources: Paper, pencils, rules, large range of instruments available in the music room.

The teacher discussed and demonstrated how to use a very simple music grid. The children had used music grids the year before and so had an idea of what to do.

The groups were mixed ability music groups, where some children were very confident using musical instruments and others were not.

Reflections

1. The teacher was well organised and knew exactly where the lesson was going and explained clearly to the children what was expected. Again the teacher and the children decided together on the success criteria thus ensuring all children knew what to do, the role they had to play and how to be successful.

2. The children were fully engaged with this task due to it relating to Hallowe’en the children were very enthusiastic about it. This shows the importance of IDL throughout the arts, as the lesson becomes meaningful to the children.

3. The children presented their music grid to their peers. They explained why they choose which instruments and then gave a performance using their grids to the class. Their peers provided feedback which was very positive and constructive. I think this was an excellent way for the children to present what they had been working on as they felt a sense of pride being able to show others their creative Hallowe’en music.

Dance

Today’s dance lesson showed us that the teacher’s role is to be there to create opportunities and experiences so the children can develop their dance and thus their creativity which will enable the children’s ideas to flourish. As Crone (2011, p.18) emphasises ‘The vision of the dance belongs to the child.’ It was made clear  through the activities that we as teachers who tend to want to be in control of the lesson, need to be there as a facilitator and a guide to help the children lead the dance to where they want to take it. Crone (2011) further goes on to state that we as teachers are there to help the children but without taking over the activity or dance. Subsequently, using stimuli, for example christmas visual aids  gives the children an idea  of where to start  and it was a good way to make the dance relevant and hopefully foster an interest from the children. A starting point was created for us the students but then we took the dance in our own direction.

In the dance workshop this week, Zara set us the challenge to come up with a range of different activities to lead the class as if it was our own primary class. Some of the challenges were: warm ups/stretches, Christmas themed games, Christmas themed visual stimuli and 10 core skills. We were split into groups of about five where  we presented our ideas to the class. The first group had the warm up games where we played reindeer tig relating the game to Christmas making it interesting and hopefully spark enthusiasm from the learners. This is a good way of using interdisciplinary learning (IDL) to capture the children’s interest and keep the dance meaningful and relevant to the learner’s life. As Harris (2016) points out there is an important place for IDL within the curriculum and in particular the expressive arts and he agrees that this is the way to make lessons more meaningful. The next group then presented their stretches and stretched from our head to our chest. As a teacher I must make sure that the learners realise the importance of warming up the muscles is vital and something that must be carried out at the start of an active lesson. Again this proves the importance of IDL and it relates to the science experiences and outcomes SCN 2-12a ‘By investigating some body systems and potential problems… I can make informed decisions to help me to maintain my health and wellbeing.’ Scottish Executive (2004, p.270). Then we looked at the 10 core skills relating to dance. Finally the visual stimuli activity which was then my group’s task. We drew pictures of a present, christmas tree, fire place, elf and stocking then, we split the class into five groups and gave a picture to each group for them to make up a gesture or dance move relating to that picture. This would be the stimuli that was discussed in the afore mentioned paragraph. I thought this was an excellent idea to get everyone involved and it was very enjoyable as the Scottish Executive (2004, p.63) dance provides the children many varying ‘rich opportunities to be creative and to experience inspiration and enjoyment.’  I hopefully would be able to bring inspiration to the learners that I would be teaching both on placement and throughout my teaching career using dance and I now feel I have s pleathera of ideas to use .

Drama

The final part of or workshop today was the micro teaching lessons. There were three groups presenting today and my group was one of them.

• Group one (Gruffalo)
• Group two (Money Scenario)
• Group three (Three Little Pigs)

Our group was group  ‘The Three Little Pigs.’ For our lesson we used the drama conventions: Voice in the head, Hot seating, Flashback and Teacher in role. For the voice in the head we asked the groups to come up with a presentation where one of the characters would step out of the scene and explain their feelings about the situation. We gave the groups 2 minutes to come up with this. After this, we did hot seating with the class, asking them to chose a wolf to sit on the hot seat  question him about his role within the story, interrogating him as to why he is causing so much terror to the pigs. The flashback convention was a very well executed aspect of our teaching where the class were given a time frame of 2 minutes to come up with a scenario that happened before the houses were blown down, either from the pigs or the wolf’s point of view. Fleming (2012) asserts that children who would not normally experience these situations in life but by using this drama convention they can take on the role of someone else’s situation and for a short period can experience this. This would hopefully allow the child to grasp a small understanding of what people feel and think about possible outcomes and consequences from situations. Hopefully this would develop an understanding and compassion of why things happen. This would be good to use in the class for situations such as bullying, loneliness and fear to mention but a few. Finally the teacher in role which was also very effective as the teacher in role stayed in character the whole time and made it engaging for the students to be involved with.

I am now becoming more confident in presenting to my peers as at the start of this module this was a daunting thought however, this module has rekindled my self-esteem and now I would be confident to teach this in my class.

References

Cone, T. (2011) Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances. London: Routledge.

Fleming, M. (2012) The Arts in Education: An introduction to aesthetics, theory and pedagogy. London: Routledge.

Scottish Executive, (2004) CfE – Curriculum For Excellence, Literacy Across Learning. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive.

Art

Today was different from a normal visual arts workshop. In this workshop we listened to everyone in the class tell of their experience of the arts while on placement. This was an interesting way to hear how art can be taught in school and the variety of different ways was quite amazing. However some students had experienced no arts while on placement due to reasons such as time constraints or it was not the day for arts as at the moment we are only in for one set day.

While on placement I have seen an art lesson on designing a Christmas card for a competition. The children were told to draw a Christmas scene of their choice such as a Christmas tress, snow, santa, presents and they were given a variety of materials: pens, pencils, tissue paper, cotton wool, glue etc. The children could decorate and design this however they wanted to letting their creative side flow through.

The discussion on art also gave me an understanding that giving children a template is no way to encourage creativity. It limits the children in what they can achieve. It does not allow for individual expression.

I gained a great deal from the discussion today as I have come away with a few ideas that I could use as ideas for arts’ lessons whilst on placement.

As Harris (2016) recognises  there is a significant place for more integrated arts relating to other curricular areas and topics within the programme of the arts and points out that this is a good way of integrating and linking the arts by making the lessons meaningful. I have seen  this on placement as  interdisciplinary art work relating to bonfire night was done where the children were finishing off fire picture using tissue paper, shiny paper and chalk. They were very effective and amazingly all showed the children’s individual creative side, as Cone (2011, p.89) emphasises that children’s creative side should be allowed to flourish and they should be given every available chance to be ‘creators of their own ideas’ and as a teacher this ‘is one of the most powerful lessons we can teach.’

Music

Today in the music workshop we were learning  to follow rhythms and pulse and we used drum sticks to help. The syllables of the words were the number of beats that we were to tap out for example cir-cle to show this shape would has two half beats relating to a quaver  and square had one beat relating to a crotchet. This was a very interactive, simple and fun way of learning the beats within music. I can see this would be a good starter activity for the children to introduce them to musical notation then leading onto words with more syllables making it more challenging for the children before then introducing them to the proper musical notation of crotchets and quavers etc.

We then moved on to use the glockenspiels and played simple tunes such as ‘Hot Crossed Buns’ and used proper musical notations to do so. We worked on the first 5 notes of the chromatic scale; C,D,E,F,G. I felt quite confident in this as I play the piano and know the notes and rhythms so was able to pick this up straight away. Then we moved on to slightly more difficult pieces that were faster and pitched differently. As Hallam (2010, p.281) states that through music there are many ‘opportunities to be able to co-ordinate rhythmically also seem important for the acquisition of literacy skills.’ Therefore learning to play an instrument also develops a child’s co-ordinationand fine motor skills, there are many other benefits for example phonological  awareness and this was evident today when we had to work out how may syllables were in a word (ibid.).

I would certainly use this type of presentation in my own practice as a teacher. It would take time to build up to reading music notation but over the  several weeks and months  I’m sure the children would manage with encouragement and praise and those who struggled could work on the syllablic words for longer thus showing differentiation. I am sure the children would gain get a sense of pride from being able to play even a simple tune as I did.

References

Cone, T. (2011) Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances. London: Routledge.

Hallam, S (2010) International Journal of Music Education The power of music: Its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people [Online] Available http://ijm.sagepub.com/content/28/3/269 [Accessed 14 November 2017] Sage

Music

Today’s workshop was not of the ordinary as we had a primary 6/7 class from Greenmill Primary School in to teach us how to play instruments such as the cello, violin, double bass and viola. I was paired with a pupil who was learning to play the cello. This took me back to my primary school days as I used to play the cello in school. I did enjoy learning to play the instrument however I didn’t continue to play as I started to learn the piano and still play the piano and go to lessons today. We started off by playing simple games to get us used to holding the instrument and then continued on with activities to learn the notes. I was surprised  how I had forgotten the notes however once  we were playing the games  it quickly came back to me and it refreshed my mind of what the notes were. The pupil also showed me how to hold the bow correctly and used his technique of our fingers looking like a rabbit when holding the bow to make it easier.

At Greenmill Primary the whole of the Primary 6/7 class get a weekly lesson on string instruments. This allows every child to be included and not feel left out, even if they have no experience of playing any instrument. I thought this was very impressive as when I was at school there was a handful of children allowed to learn an instrument and it wasn’t available for everyone. The importance of a child learning a musical instrument benefits other areas of their learning as Bloomfield (2000, p.77) states ‘providing children with access to a broad spectrum of instruments will extent their aural vocabulary and foster the thrill of sound, especially through sound combinations.’ From the music workshop I now see the significance of learning from music for the learner. We leaned that music  can develop literacy, numeracy, intellectual development, creativity,social and personal skills,and health and well being. Furthermore learning to play an instrument obviously develops a child’s confident and self-esteem as this was evident today as the P6/7 class were extremely happy and confident to show us their skills. The children therefore will develop the main outcomes from Curriculum for Excellence of being successful learners, confident individuals and effective contributors through learning an instrument,( Scottish Executive, 2004).

Drama

Today’s drama workshop reinforced the point that the teacher needs to be able to show her own creative side and show that they are willing to take risks and step out to the unknown. A teacher needs to be confident when it comes to drama and show her willingness to participate and lead by example. As QCA (2004, p.56) states that  ‘Creative risk taking means putting your money where your educational mouth is.’ Furthermore drama participation is key as Baldwin (2009) points out it is always good for the teacher to join in with the drama and experience it first hand as this will provide a better understanding for both the students and the teacher. Children need to be encouraged to take risks and know that it is acceptable to make mistakes therefore hopefully making drama a subject that all children are willing to participate in as the fear of failure is put aside as there is not one correct answer. As teachers we need to reinforce the idea that we are not looking for drama experts that make no mistakes rather children who are willing to participate and take risks.

This week in drama we looked at micro teaching. We had  groups of  about 4 or 5 and  had to create our own lesson plans that involved a story of our choosing. Our lesson was to be around 2o minuets and had to include several drama conventions. Each team member had to be involved and participate.

This emphasised to me the importance of working as a team player. We developed skills of team work, organisation, research, listening to others, accepting that your own ideas aren’t the only viable ones. Furthermore we had a set time to prepare and therefore we were working under a time constraint. We chose the book  ‘The 3 Little Pigs,’  and we will present our micro teaching in two weeks time. It was good to work as a team and bounce ideas off of each other. Hopefully our micro teaching input will go well.

This week several other groups presented to us. I found it very enlightening to see the variety and scope of ideas that the other groups came up with in a short period of time. It has made me very aware of the amount of drama that can be used throughout different areas of the curriculum and in particular literacy as each group used a different book. Drama is one way of exploring imagination and entering into the story of a book. The class novel or a book that the children have been reading for fun or as a class would be an excellent way of including this in an arts lesson within the classroom. I think the children would find it very engaging and a fun way to develop their creative, drama and literacy skills.

I can’t say I’m looking forward to presenting in two weeks, however my confidence is gradually growing and presenting in front of my peers isn’t such a daunting task. I have learned a lot from my peers this week and this proves  that children can learn from each other and it doesn’t always have to be from the teacher.

References

Baldwin, P. (2009) School Improvement Through Drama A Creative whole class, whole school approach Network Continuum

Bloomfield, A. (2000) Teaching Integrated Arts in the Primary School. Oxon: David Fulton

QCA. (2004) Creativity: Find it, Promote it. London: QCA Publications.

Scottish Executive (2004) Curriculum for Excellence. Edinburgh

Music

Today’s first workshop was music. This week’s workshop was all about how using our voice in the classroom is an obvious essential part of teaching and therefore taking care of our voice is crucial in being an effective teacher. At the start of the class, Julie got us on our feet to do some vocal warmups, such as holding our breath for a duration of time and letting our breath out after. One of the warm ups we all put our hands on our rib cages to feel what happens when we breath in and out and how it changes when we do this. I  thought that this would be a good exercise in a class to contextualise the learning and relate it to using the organs in our body and how they work. Julie also showed us a very useful website called ChoonBaboon. This website showed us various range of various to warm up our vocals and our face muscles in order to use our voices.

This would be a fun way in order to warm up the children’s voices. I would definitely use this and other similar songs to introduce a music lesson with younger learners. It would be good way to introduce the lesson and get them focussed. As Fleming (2012, p 19) suggests the arts can ‘enthral, move, enlighten, inform, inspire, amuse, challenge, entertain or provoke.’ I would certainly agree that using these warm up activities above they did enthral, inspire, amuse, entertain and challenge me proving that the arts have many values.

Next we considered using the theme of fireworks to give a real life context for learning within music. As in the integrated arts as we have seen time and time again, they connect to other subject areas to form a creative process. Hallen (2010). First of all we were given a choice of instruments that would make a noise similar to bang, boom, pop, crackle and hiss. There was a grid up and we used pictures to represent the sounds and as a class we then played with a conductor leading us and directing us of when to play our instruments. This activity was so much fun and very simple. I think this could be used in lots of different stages in the school and I would differentiate the amount of instruments, how many beats could be used and the length of the notes within each stage and also in each class to provide challenge. There was a lot of trial and error, a lot of chatting about what worked together and what didn’t and how it could be improved. Therefore music certainly extends the children’s language and discussion skills using Blooms Taxonomy higher thinking skills of analysing, evaluating and creating. Furthermore Fleming (2012, p18) comments that the integrated arts ‘push the limits of language.’

Drama

The second workshop was drama. I am still growing more confident in my self esteem and performing in front of an audience. The focus this week was on Hallowe’en to contextualise the learning. The main drama conventions we looked at were;

• flash forward/ flash backwards
• narration
• slow motion

We started the session by being shown an old abandoned house in the local area, giving this a sense of reality. We were told the house was up for sale but there were rumours that it was haunted due to an incident that happened years ago. Andrew set the scene as he was the teacher in role and we had to act out a scene for an overnight stay at the house. We the used flash back / flash forward techniques to reflect and discuss past and future events. This would give the learners an opportunity to discuss the consequences of certain actions of possible past and future events. The narration gives the children a focus and a reason as to why such events are happening and gives time to understand what and why this is the case. I particularly enjoyed the slow motion as it gave me a chance to reflect and think about the situation and how I was reacting. This could be easily transferred  to the classroom situation if there was a problem in class and something needed discussed this would be a good way for the class to reflect on it by becoming part of it. Therefore it is as if the children are ‘Living through the given circumstance of the imagined situation as if these events were actually occurring to them.’ Neeldans, (2000, p3) And I would agree as I felt connected to the situation of the haunted house and had a better understanding of what was happening because I was taking part in it.  I feel I now have a wide range of drama conventions from this week and last week that I would be happy to include in my lesson as a trainee teacher.

Finally I was made very aware about the importance of the teacher’s voice. A teacher uses her voice constantly in the classroom be it to teach, direct, manage, sing , encourage or feed back. ‘The voice is essential to the teacher’s career.’ GTC (n.d, p6)  We considered different ways of getting the class to pay attention without having to raise my voice. It was suggested repeat clapping, repeat singing, raising hand and waiting for silence, saying rhyme or standing and waiting. I have noticed on my work experience that the teachers who are the loudest have the noisiest classes and the opposite is also true. Therefore as a trainee teacher I must try and find ways of managing the class without shouting and becoming an effective teacher.’ There is a lot of evidence in the teaching profession of voice problems and  teachers being at ‘risk of developing voice problems is complex,’ GTC (n.d, p6). Therefore I will need to protect my voice and not overuse it within the classroom setting and if I start this now as a trainee teacher hopefully my voice will last the duration of my teaching career without too many problems.

References

GTCS (n.d) Voice and the Teaching Profession [online] Available: http://www.gtcs.org.uk/web/FILES/FormUploads/voice-and-the-teaching-profession1652_214.pdf [Accessed: 6th November 2017]

Hallam, S (2010) The power of music: It’s impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people, International Journal of Music Education [Online] pp.269-289. Available: http://ijm.sage.pub.com/content/28/3/269 [Accessed: 29 October 2017]

Neelands, J. (2000) In the Hands of Living People. [Online] paper presented at : The National Drama Conference. York, UK, April, 2000 Available:  http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/109425/mod_resource/content/2/T2%20Neelands.pdf

Dance

Today’s workshop included both dance and drama. I didn’t feel nervous or apprehensive about the classes this week due to enjoying them last week and feeling that my self esteem and confidence had been boosted. I would hope that this would be the same with children that as we progress through drama and dance that they would become more confident and look forward to and enjoy these integrated art activities.

The first session was dance and Zara emphasised the importance of having a warmup activity to prepare your body for the session ahead, build up stamina and confidence. Today’s theme was Hallowe’en and we played zombie tig to tie in with this theme. Then we consolidated our dance from last week by practising it to remind ourselves of it and then we built onto it. Children need to have the basic moves of dance before moving on to the routine. Bloomfield (2000, p57)   This week Zara was being a facilitator and allowed us the opportunity to create our own dances. She was there to offer support and as Crone, (2011, p81) states that ‘Educators must be able to offer support with out undue interference,’ and she goes onto say that ‘The vision of the dance belongs to the children.’ Therefore as a teacher I must take this on board and realise the significance of being a guide and not dominating the children’s ideas and letting their own creative instincts be reflected.

In our groups we had to create another ten moves from the numbers zero to nine. Numeracy was incorporated here as we used one of our phone numbers to create an extra sequence for our routine. Also you could ask the children 4+3 = and then to answer the children have to do that specific dance move. Therefore again encouraging learning across the curriculum and using numeracy in a meaningful way. Next we were given Hallowe’en symbols; ghost, zombie and this was another way of extending our dance in a creative way relating back to this week’s theme. Then we performed our group dance for our peers this gave us an opportunity to show off our work and take pride in it therefore building our self esteem and confidence to perform in front of others. A worthwhile activity  in the classroom could be that each group  comments on what they liked about the routine and if anything could be improved thus developing the listening and talking outcomes and the dance outcome ‘I can respond to the experience of dance by discussing my thoughts and feelings. I can give and accept constructive comment on my own and others’ work. EXA 0-11a – EXA 2-11a’ (Scottish Executive 2004 p64).

Drama

Today in drama we looked into ‘Falling into Stories’, where we analysed the character of a brother and a sister with two completely different personalities.  The brother was a very outgoing, risk taking person who didn’t follow the rules however his sister was a more anxious, careful girl who didn’t like the idea of stepping into the unknown and preferred to stick to places and surroundings  that she was familiar with and so their personalities clashed. The brother was always pushing the girl to do things she was uncomfortable with. Our activity was to draw round the outline of the characters  this is known as ‘role on the wall’ Booth (2005), and we wrote down their characteristics and words to describe how the character felt about themselves. This gave me a good insight into how someone else feels, I could put my feet into their shoes for a short time. We then discussed why their personalities clashed and why they were so different. I feel I could use this activity especially if there was an issue with bullying or fall outs or specific problems at home. It would give me as the teacher an insight into how some of the children may be feeling.

After this we acted out in our groups the story, where I was the girl and in the middle of acting it out we paused to hear the thoughts and feelings of the characters and how they were making each other feel. Therefore this would give children an opportunity to say how they feel possible about a real situation that they have been involved in and maybe even provide solutions that they had never even thought of it provides opportunities to express outwardly internal feelings. We went back to our original drawings to see if any of the feelings had changed after the activities. Hopefully they would have in a class situation.

Finally we looked at the relationship drama has with literacy in particular to stories. This is an excellent way of developing a novel and getting into the roles of the characters and this would be very beneficial in class  and could be used through interdisciplinary learning and within many other areas across the curriculum.

Today we looked at;

• freeze frames
• improvisation
• thought tunnels
• hot seating
• characterisation
• vox pot
• mime
• voice in the head
• role on the wall
• teacher in role

From today I have learned that it is important that the teacher should take a backseat and be there as a support. I must remember once I have created an activity I must let the children’s creativity and own ideas take over. I feel that I am becoming more confident myself at drama and performing in front of my peers, my self confidence is building and I feel I would be confident teaching drama within a classroom. I would be able to relate to the children who are insecure about dance and drama as I have been in their shoes because of my nervousness. Also using various stimuli is a good way to start a lesson be it a story or symbols like we used in our sessions today.

‘Offering children the opportunity to discover how they can be creators of their own ideas is one of the most powerful lessons we can teach.’ Crone (2011, p89)

References

Bloomfield, A. (2000) Teaching Integrated Arts in the Primary School. Oxon: David Fulton

Booth, D (2005) Story Drama: Creating Stories Through Role Play, Improvising, Reading aloud, 2nd ed. Canada: Stenhouse Publishers

Cone (2009). Following their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dance. [online] Available:  http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/109357/mod_resource/content/1/Purcell%20Cone%20%282011%29.pdf. [Accessed: 4 November 2017]

Dance

As this was our first week of dance, I was very nervous and apprehensive about starting this part of the module, as I would not consider myself to be a very skillful dancer or very confident performing in front of others. However as the workshop went on I found myself to be relaxing and enjoying  it. I was putting a lot of energy and effort into the tasks we were given. During the class we were shown several interactive dance games and starter tasks which I found very useful as I will be able to use these within the classroom/ gym hall setting when I become a teacher. Some of the tasks were icebreakers to ease the class into dancing and build confidence and therefore would be good to use in a  if children felt uneasy about dancing like I did. We played tig and movement activites relating to Scotland which would tie in with a class project on this. Thus giving the dance activity meaning and a context for learning . Furthermore it would deepen the children’s understanding of Scotland and hopefully be a meaningful way of learning . The dance activites could relate to the  interdisciplinary learning (IDL) project the class were working on, a the class novel, or any situation that needed dealt with from a social side to include everyone. In addition we played ‘follow the leader ‘ with a difference, whenever the music changed the leader had to change the dance moves which we had to follow.

One of the tasks was to split into groups of about five and draw round the body of the smallest person in the group. After we had drawn around the person we were to mark and label several different muscles, bones and organs to make us think about the different parts of the body we were using through our dance session. I felt that this was an excellent task to use in the classroom because it links learning to other areas of the curriculum . In particular here to science and health and well being outcomes about the skeleton and body parts. Here you could easily assess the children’s understanding of body parts and decide what needs reinforced within the next lesson .  There are many experiences and outcomes that would related here- ‘ I am developing my understanding of the human body and can use this knowledge to maintain and improve my well being and health.  HWB 0-15a – HWB 2-15a’ (Scottish Executive 2004 pg 82).

Furthermore this activity could be used by providing printed labels for the children to use and differentiation could be shown by children writing their own labels or researching the body parts and their functions. This shows that dance has an extremely creative side and can link to many other areas across the curriculum providing relevance and context to learning.

The picture shown is the finished task from my group of drawing round the body and filling it in with names of muscles, bones and organs.

To finish we used a variety of rich movement related vocabulary  and we had to produce movements relating to the words . For example slide, balance, twist and reach to name a few. We then collated all of this into a group dance where we worked collaboratively as a group . This was a super way of bonding and working together and it could be used as an assessment tool  to look for rhythm , collaboration and creativeness. In the second level the Outcome and Experience from Dance is ‘I can explore and choose movements to create and present dance, developing my skills and techniques. EXA 2-08’  (Scottish Executive 2004 p 63). These skills would be covered in the previously discussed activites.

Music

Our second workshop of the day was the theory aspect to music and looking at making lesson plans on how we as trainee teachers could bring music into varying aspects of the children’s learning such as literacy, maths or relate music to the IDL project the class are working on and various other curricular areas. Within the theory aspect of music we looked at music notation, durations of notes, melodies, tone and pitch of the music. We looked at many varying aspects of music such as using the voice, instruments, technology, composing pieces of music and the mood that music can create. Music is also a way of children unwinding and using the instruments as a form of escapism, letting themselves get lost in the music.

During the lesson we looked at a paper called “The Power of Music: its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people” by Susan Hallam. This paper revealed to me that music in the classroom is an essential part to a child’s learning. From an early age music has benefits to a child’s learning especially in phonological skills and thus develops better reading skills as suggested by Hallam, 2010. Whilst on work experience I remember the teacher clapping out the rhythms of the syllables within words and in particular the class clapped out their names and this helped the children to sound out their phonics words and identify syllables within these words thus enhancing their reading skills. In addition Hallam suggests from studies that numeracy skills are enhanced by active participation in music especially reasoning. Therefore engagement with music in childhood has several benefits to the children’s learning and in other areas of the curriculum. Music is an excellent way of developing these learning skills.

My group chose to look at how to access religion through music. Our group came up with several ideas. Within, for example Christianity, the children could learn different types of hymns and listen to various all male, gospel, rock band choirs / groups from different churches or extend it to other religions.  They could listen to church organs, or create simple verses to their own songs about – Diwali, Christmas or any religious festival . Possibly arranging a trip to several different religious buildings in the area. The music could be used as a stimulus for discussion on how it makes you feel . In churches quite often it is calming or makes you feel reflective which could lead on to discussions about the mood of music and how to create this possibly in groups. I was quite surprised with how many ideas we came up with to use music as a basis for many types of learning across the curriculum.

From today’s workshops I have discovered that with both dance and music there are many opportunities for contextualised learning across the curriculum. This makes learning for the children real and therefore engaging. One off stand alone lesson also have their place but I see the significant value of linking the lessons to other curricular areas.

References

Hallam, S (2010) The power of music: It’s impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people, International Journal of Music Education [Online] pp.269-289. Available: http://ijm.sage.pub.com/content/28/3/269 [Accessed: 29 October 2017]

Scottish Executive, (2004). Curriculum for Excellence [Online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/all-experiences-and-outcomes.pdf [Accessed: 2 November 2017]

Visual Arts

This week we continued  using the painting by Avril Patons called “Windows of the West.” In week 4 we  made several prints of a section of the painting and this week we were to choose the print with the most detailing and make a copy of this print on to white A4 paper. The print was in the middle of the paper and we  had to extend the drawing with pen in whichever way we wanted. I choose to add to the features that the original painting had and once I had completed that I put some of my own features and details into the drawing too. I think this would be a very beneficial activity to use in the classroom as it gives children a basis to start with. The children could let their imaginations go as far as they wanted by adding on to the picture and being creative. ‘Sustaining high levels or curiosity is the starting point of creativity.’ Csiksgentmihalyi, (1996, p.1). Thus reinforcing the idea that there is not one correct was to complete the drawing . The children could let their inquiring minds and their fantasy ideas complete the drawings. In contrast for the children who are apprehensive about drawing this idea gives them a good starting place and they can copy and continue the ideas already or let their confidence unfold and be creative whichever they feel safe and happier with . Although it is always good to encourage children to take risks as with an ‘open growth mindset.’

As some people finished this work before others we were handed out a whole range of  books, from colouring in shapes and making your own drawing to colouring in more detailed pictures. These books were a stimulus to creativity and imagination and some of the books had very limited guidelines therefore allowing the children to finish the picture using their own ideas as a guide . There was a small drawing to use as a staring point and a short sentence to focus the children’s thinking. Each child could use their own  judgement on what the sentence meant but it doesn’t stop their creativity as it is just a starting point and may give children who struggle with ideas a great place to begin . For example one picture as seen below was of a boy chasing something. It could be anything from chasing  his dog to chasing a skeleton from the graveyard. It would possibly depend on what the children were reading , the IDL or what the class had been previously discussing . As a teacher I need to be aware of having the correct resources and stimuli because as  Csiksgentmihalyi, (1996, p.1) states ‘Resources are crucial for creativity to develop.’ In contrast however he goes onto say that over the top resources can be detrimental to creativity. Therefore as a teacher I will need to spend time getting the right resources that are suitable for the stage and age of the children in my class.

Books such as this one shown in the picture are an excellent  way for the children who aren’t as confident in other subjects such as maths to put their energy and skills  into completing the drawings using their imagination with a little guidance given to assist  as their is no wrong answer whereas in maths there is. This is also a good way for the children to relax and calm down as I personally love to draw and doodle as a way to unwind .

Music

Throughout this week’s music workshop we were using an application called ‘garage band.’ This app allows children to create their own pieces of music and express themselves through it. I think it is an amazing way to engage children with music and if I have the opportunity on placement I will definitely use it.

GarageBand is a digital recording tool with your own studio, and are able to create music using multiple instruments, voices, noises, percussion etc. It is very straight forward to use. The children have to assess which music they will use to create the mood or feeling for the music. There is a lot of trial and error however the children are always proud of the piece they have constructed as I was in the workshop and I found on work experience.  This is an example where digital technology enhances learning in the classroom.

I found this to be a very exciting and interesting way  to create music. Whilst on work experience I had the opportunity of working with a primary six class of children who thoroughly  enjoyed GarageBand.  They  got a real sense of satisfaction from using it and were extremely keen to let me hear their final pieces of music . For children who are less confident or don’t play any instruments  this is a good way for them to be creative and use the sounds of the instruments to create a song or piece of music . Furthermore the class also created adverts and had to use GarageBand to produce a jingle, I was so impressed with the way the children worked together to make the jingle and it had to fit in with the time scale. ‘I can use my voice, musical instruments and music technology to experiment with sounds, pitch, melody, rhythm, timbre and dynamics. EXA 2-17a’ (Scottish Executive, 2004 p67).

From today’s workshop  I now recognise that there are many opportunities for children to develop their musical and artistic creativity. Even for those who struggle to enjoy and participate in music lessons due to their lack of confidence, I think that the GarageBand is an excellent digital way for including all children and it provides them with an opportunity to be imaginative, creative and produce a piece of music that they can be proud of, that would be accepted in today’s generation. With art having a stimulus at the beginning of the lesson is a great way to start the lesson but also allows the children to go off into their own direction with their own ideas and imagination as there is not one right answer. As a trainee teacher I now have many rich ideas that I could use in class.

References

Csiksgentmihalyi, M. (2013) Creativity Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. Harper Colins

Scottish Executive, (2004). Curriculum for Excellence [Online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/all-experiences-and-outcomes.pdf [Accessed: 2 November 2017]

Art

During today’s lecture and input on integrated arts we looked into the visual arts and in particular a painting by Avril Paton – Window’s in the West (1993). I discovered this painting was bought for the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art and is now being displayed at the Kelvingrove Art and Gallery Museum. The painting took 6 months to complete and was completed using watercolours. I was amazed at the length of time to complete this painting and I now recognise art can take time and should not be rushed.

In this lecture we looked at how we could link literacy with art in the classroom. A painting could be a stimulus for a piece of imaginative writing ; How does it make you feel? What does it make you think of ? Where does it take you in your imagination?  Therefore the children could respond to the painting through listening and talking skills and writing. It creates a good starting point for imagination and creativity especially for those children who struggle to come up with a starting idea. Each idea is worthwhile and all ideas are considered and valued no ideas would be dismissed. It is a super problem solving activity where everyone’s ideas have to be taken into consideration as there is not only one right answer.

In the first part of the seminar we were given polystyrene boards to trace one section of the painting in great detail onto and used this to make several prints. I’m not confident at art but I found this task very straightforward and felt comfortable doing it and I was delighted with the result.  Not all children are confident at art as I have witnessed on placement , “I can’t draw,’ and ‘ I’m rubbish at art.” This activity would build the confidence of children who feel this way.

After drawing out the painting we put a layer of paint over the top and pressed it onto a sheet of A4 coloured paper to make a print.

We continued to do this, putting different colours of paint over the top and using to make prints. Several prints can be made so the child’s ideas can be changed throughout the process and each time they can enhance their idea and this is an opportunity to make something original and therefore the child can be proud and satisfied with their achievement due to having improved on their print every time.

As a teacher in training, I understand that it is important to link art with subjects such as literacy, and this task does it perfectly. The children could draw a picture of the main scene in a novel or  be creative and draw characters from the class novel or trace from the reading book and this printing technique could be a way of expressing that picture. The ‘Tallis Pedagogy Wheel’ shows  that it is important for the children to be imaginative and creative in their work and to be able to work in the state of the unknown. Furthermore the Tallis Wheel suggests ideas of ‘imagine new solutions to problems, link multiple ideas together, trust their instincts. ‘ All these ideas could be developed by having a stimulus starting point.

Overall I feel that this week’s input was very beneficial as it has given me a task I could use in a classroom to help connect the visual arts with many varying subjects especially through inter disciplinary learning projects. It has also shown me the need to be organised and have all the resources needed to hand.

Drama

As this was our first session in drama I felt very nervous and apprehensive to start. However I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the class. At the beginning of the session the class had a discussion about our previous experiences with drama. I have had absolutely no experience with drama as we were never offered drama or a drama club a school. Grainger, (2007) argues that teachers need to have their own ‘ experience of creative and artistic activity’ to be able to work with their pupils to create and have ‘our own creative confidence and enrich our creative competence as a profession.’ In addition if we want our pupils to take risks in drama they must feel safe and have a teacher that is willing to demonstrate their own creative side through drama. I realise the importance of this and after todays session I feel more confident and willing to teach drama in the classroom.

Today we used a dragon as a stimulus for a drama activity. We had work collaboratively as a group to work out a way to stop the dragon scaring all the villagers and disruption the way we live. We used freeze frames to come up with a way of either killing or scaring the dragon off. My group chose to use our freeze frame by having bow and arrows and point them up at the sky where the dragon was. This situations allows children to take on roles that they would never normally have a chance to do. It is a form of escapism where the children can get lost in their imagination and take on a new role. They can ponder new ideas and if there was a class problem such as bullying the teacher could create a drama activity around that subject where the children would see the problems of bullying and find a solution to it. Again Grainger, (2007) suggests that drama provides many opportunities to work through some real and imaginary ideas and it allows the children to see things from another point of view and understand that there can be consequences for specific actions. Furthermore Grainger suggests that a good classroom drama activity involves investigating a new situation that doesn’t have an answer that has already been predetermined.

References

Grainger, T. (2003) Creative teachers and the language arts: Possibilities and potential, Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, 31:1, 43-47, DOI: 10.1080/03004270385200071

Paton, A. (2017) Windows in the West. [Online] Available: https://avrilpaton.co.uk/prints/windows-in-the-west [Accessed: 5th October 2017]

Thomas Tallis School. (2017) The TALLIS Habits Pedagogy Wheel. [Online] Available: http://www.thomastallisschool.com/tallis-pedagogy-wheel-guide.html [Accessed: 5th October2017]

Art

As a result of the visual art session this week , it has confirmed to me that art in schools is not about getting everything perfect or correct by not putting  a mark out of place, but infact it is about an individual’s creativity and the  effort that is put into the drawing/painting. Although the end product is significant to the creator  it is not the be all and end all.  Eisner (2002) and Harris (2016) agree that there are always several answers to the activity within the arts . There is not just one right answer.  Therefore pupils can feel more at ease, be  more creative and thus build more self confidence through art as their ideas are important and worthwhile.

During our session of visual arts we created our own paintbrushes from sticks, feathers, wool, cotton which we used tape to hold together. Thus showing the importance of stepping away from the normal ordinary paintbrushes where everyone has the exact same but stepping into originality and creativity. Children enjoy putting effort into something that they have made and have taken great care over. The paintbrush and their pictures allows them to express themselves and be creative as a result. However we have to take into consideration that some children can find art an unpleasant subject to do at school and prefer to stick to subjects that require less resources and  clutter. ‘Some children find art and design lessons frustrating, and would be far happier if there was less mess and greater certainty’ (Kay and Stillman, 2009, p.2). I would have been one such child at school . I always wanted to get it right . I always felt my pictures were never good enough and after today’s session I realise I can be creative and my work that I produced was important and worthwhile . Therefore as a teacher I will put great emphasis onto the creativity and effort side and not always the ‘perfect’ finished product .

Also today we listened to a description of a picture in which we were to try and recreate it without seeing the picture. Whilst doing this I was very uncertain and unsure . I felt apprehensive as to whether I was doing it right. However I eventually understood that these paintings were to be far from perfect and it proved to me that everyone interprets things differently and there is no right or wrong .I really enjoyed the session and I think this would be a super activity to do with a class which would further reinforce about everyone being creative and how our concepts of painting / drawing / art are all individual and it would hopefully build up confidence within the children .

On placement I have noticed that some children who are not as confident at number or literacy work are very skilled and confident at art but I have also found the opposite to be true where some children who are very good and confident at number or literacy lack real confidence during art time but with teacher reassurance they cope well. This was particularly the case when designing a Christmas scene for a competition with the P5 class.

Children should be able to express themselves through art and not have the pressure of always drawing intricately detailed pictures and therefore I feel this session would be a great lesson for the children’s confidence .

Music

The music input was very engaging and I was fully involved. I have a particular enthusiasm for music and feel very confident with it as I play the piano . During this session we learned how to play the glockenspiel using figurenotes in songs such as ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.’  I have learned about figurenotes and realise what a great, intuitive and simple way  way of teaching children how to read music this is. I think for children in the lower end (and some in the middle/upper ends) it would be a great way of quickly learning how to play a song on an instrument. Each musical note is represented by a coloured symbol . Next you match up the colour to a note /key .However before  today’s session  I would have lacked confidence playing this new instrument but I would now be willing to teach children how to play and help them with this using figurenotes .  I think this may also be a good way of assessing children on the basics of reading music . I also think using figurenotes with a lager group of children would be manageable as it seems so straightforward hopefully the children could work together and play as a group .

I feel I would like to learn more about figure notes and how it develops before transferring over to reading music notation . I plan to download some figure notes and try them myself on my piano . I thoroughly enjoyed today’s session and really felt the benefit of it to me as a future teacher as I will definitely use many of the ideas discussed above.

References

Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind. chapter 4 10 Lessons Arts
Teach. Virginia: Integrated Publishing Solutions.

Harris , A. (2016) Creativity and Education. London: Macmillan.

Key, P, Stillman, J. (2009) Teaching Primary Art and Design. Exeter: Learning Matters