Our first task today in music was to read a paper from the International Journal of Music Education, titled “The power of music: it’s impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people.” The paper was devised into sections and our group was to look specifically at how music within education improved children’s literacy skills.

This is a mind map of our findings:

From our research we found that (Hallam, 2010) recorded that reading scores proved to be higher with children who had a musical background, as music skills correspond with phonological awareness and reading skills. Music has also shown to improve perception language skills, timing and verbal memory as statistics show that seventeen per cent more of verbal information is remembered by people with musical training (Hallam, 2010). Following this, in a different workshop we were granted the opportunity to be taught how to play string instruments by Greenmill Primary School pupils.

Following up from this activity we then had to produce a lesson plan which linked literacy and music together to encourage cross-curricular learning. Our lesson involved having the children read a short story, use story boards to divide the story into the beginning middle and end and then use garage band to produce a soundtrack to correspond with atmosphere of each section of the story.

Here is an example of what our lesson plan would look like: 

As well as this, our second half of our day consisted of our first dance input. We began with drawing around the smallest member of our group and labelled where we thought particular parts of the body existed on the piece of paper.

Here is my groups attempt at this task: 

We then had to perform a dance using the following moves:

• Grab
• Twist
• Balance
• Turn
• Kick
• Jump
• Gesture
• Slide
• Roll 

After doing this we were then given a number of dance moves, with unusual names, to try to decide what they were and then incorporate them into our dance routine. Overall I felt that this input was beneficial as it allows children an alternative way to exercise whilst allowing them to build on their communication and collaboration skills by working together to produce a dance routine. It also feel it enables children to build on their confidence as this routine can then be performed in front of their peers in their class or during a school assembly.

When teaching children creative dance I feel the following outcomes could be achieved: 

Following up from the previous week, when our task entailed creating a print of a famous Scottish painting, we then had to photocopy our print and extend the image. The photocopy was printed in black and white and to extend the image we drew the rest of the tenement building using a pen. As well as this we used coloured pencils to add colour to the drawing to make it more dynamic. This exercise allowed us to understand that projects don’t need to be disregarded after one lesson; there is always an opportunity to build on a piece of artwork by learning about new techniques and styles. Also, by holding onto children’s work this allows them to feel that their work is valued.

We were also shown examples of types of booklets that can be bought to spark children’s creativeness by giving them a starting point or an initial idea.

We also gained an understanding of how to use musical technology by engaging  with a software called GarageBand on the apple mac. I felt this was an interesting tool that could be used within the classroom as it would enable children to hear the varied styles of music that particular instruments produced. As well as this it would allow children to improve on their problem solving skills by allowing them to collaborate their own piece of music, using different musical instruments. This software is also allows you to insert voice clips, sound effects and animations into your soundtrack; thus making it a good tool to use within presentations produced by the children.

It is sometimes viewed within the education system that the only way to succeed academically is by performing well in English and Mathematics. Thus other subjects, such as the arts, are being pushed to the periphery of the curriculum and children are losing out on educational experiences through the use of creativity. However, it is easy to link the arts with other subjects within the curriculum; for example using music to tell a story or drama to act out a social situation. It is up to us as teachers to incorporate the arts into other parts of the curriculum to engage children in active learning and to allow their learning experiences to be more memorable. It has also become apparent to me that it is the responsibility of the educator, to ensure that children are developing creative skills such as evaluating and synthesising. In response to this Education Scotland, (2013) have published a document, demonstrating different teaching approaches that should be used within the classroom to encourage creative learning. This will enable pupils to become responsible for their own learning, whilst stimulating development of the skills listed above. The document also states that educators should use supportive discussions and coaching techniques to motivate children to use their imagination, whilst coaxing them to reflect on their ideas as they evolve (Education Scotland, 2013). Therefore by doing this, allows children to integrate these skills into other curricular subjects.

References

Scotland, E. (2013). Creativity Across Learning 3-18. [ebook] Education Scotland. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/cre39-impact-report.pdf [Accessed 11 Dec. 2017].

Fine Scottish Art.co.uk, (2006)

During today’s first lecture we were introduced to a painting called “Windows in the West” by an artist named Avril Paton. The painting is of a tenement building situated in the West End of Glasgow during a winters day. After becoming aquatinted with the painting we were then asked to discuss it using a model which is broken down into four categories which are as follows: process, form, content and mood.

For example if I were a teacher trying to engage a pupil in a discussion about this piece of artwork I would ask questions such as:

Process

• How do you think this painting was made and what materials do you think it was made with?
• What type of skills do you think the artist required to produce this painting?
• How long do you think it took for this piece to evolve? Was it a slow/rapid?
• Do you think the artist used supporting studies like sketches, photographs, stencils or collages?

Form

• What kind of colour scheme has this artist used?
• How has the artist arranged this painting?
• Does the artist use one main overall shape or has she used inter-relating sequences of shapes?

Content

• What is the subject matter of this piece of artwork/ what is it about?
• Do you think the artist observe this subject matter directly or was it remembered or imagined?
• Do you think this painting has been painted representationally or is there deliberate exaggeration, distortion or abstraction?

Mood

• Does this painting affect you in any way?
• Do you think this painting is quiet?noisy/; soothing/disturbing; happy/sad in the mood it projects and the feelings it inspires?
• Does this painting capture a specific mood, feeling or emotion you have already experienced?

Following the lecture, we took inspiration from this art piece by choosing a specific section of the painting and using it to make prints. For example I chose to print the middle section of the building  and did so by drawing it on a piece of polystyrene as shown in the image below:

Once our drawings were complete we began the printing process by rolling paint onto the polystyrene and placing the image face down onto different coloured pieces of paper.

Finally after doing this we then cut out parts of the image we had carved into the polystyrene and rolled over it again with a different colour of paint. We then placed the print on top of the prints we had made previously which gave the finished product a dynamic effect.

We also had our first drama input today where we were tooled with several different techniques to teach drama. Our drama was based on a story called “The Dragon” which entailed villagers being terrified by a dragon flying over their village.  The first technique we were introduced to was Teacher in Role; Andrew used a prop, which in this case was his lanyard, to identify to us that he was in role and no longer the teacher. For this exercise Andrew was the chairman of the meeting held by the villagers and was asking us for ideas on how to steer the dragon away from the village. One of the ideas mentioned was to perform a tribal dance to scare the dragon away from the village. Therefore in groups we then had to create our own tribal dance, where we were then introduced to the second drama technique called Freeze Frame. Once we had choreographed our dance we then had to perform a freeze frame of our actions; as the rest of the group stood still, another pupil told the rest of the class what was happening within the freeze frame. For example, our group tried to mimic the movement of water as we thought this would be what the dragon feared most. After doing this we were introduced to another drama technique known as Process of Drama where we had to create an imaginary situation. In this case we chose to try and find where the dragon lived and so began walking around the room to search for it. As we walked we pretended to wade long grass by cutting it down and pulled our legs from the thick mud.

Hot Seat: Hot seating is where a character is questioned by the rest of the group involved about their background, motivation and behaviour. For example in a classroom a child can be seated in front of a group or pairs in which they are then questioned by their peers. This can be particularly useful when trying to develop a role in a drama lesson. Finally we used a technique called Hot Seating to question the dragon’s reasoning for it’s actions. By doing this we were able to understand that the dragon’s intensions were not ill willed and so we were able to communicate with the dragon a solution to the problem.

The following drama techniques can be defined as follows:

Freeze Frame: Freeze framing a technique used in drama when an action in a play or scene is frozen. This particularly useful when pupils want to highlight a pinnacle scene.

Teacher in Role: Teacher in role is when the teacher uses a particular object, such as a prop or a costume piece, to show that they are in role.

Improvisation: This is a technique used to create a performance spontaneously or without preparation.

Thought Tunnel: A thought tunnel is used when a character faces a dilemma and the children need to provide advice. It can also be when a character walks through a thought tunnel and the children can reflect their feelings towards the character. The thought tunnel is created when the class forms two lines facing each other and the character walks between them and each person speaks to the character.

Process of Drama: This is when the teacher and pupils work together to create an imaginary world or situation. For example the scene where we were villagers trying to scare away a dragon that was terrorising our village.

Throughout this module it has been continuously instilled into me that in order to become a successful teacher we must allow ourselves to abandon the need for practicality at times; more importantly we must occupy a tolerance for mess.  Having a space where children can express their creative talents has proven to be beneficial, such as Room 13 international.  Room 13 international is a network of student-run art studios in schools, which provides children with a creative space to indulge in their own creativity. As well as this, local artists are also invited to come and work with children to teach them different artistic techniques and styles. A case report was published by Room 13 International, (2006) which proved that children who worked in this room showed excellent communication skills; the childrens’ language was complex, elaborated and the volume at which they spoke was in depth and in paragraphs. This research is remarkable when comparing it to research founded by DfEE, (1998) which highlighted that during the literacy hour only ten percent of childrens’ responses observed consisted of more than three words. This case study also showed that children who use Room 13 are hugely independent. As this is vastly a pupil run project, the children conveyed skill sets that exceeded the expectations of a conventional child of this age. Children were responsible for issues such as responding to emails, writing real cheques and ordering materials for their shop (Room 13 International, 2006). Therefore this emphasises that our role as future educators should ensure that we are not limiting children, whilst aiming to encourage them to be self-sufficient when engaging in an expressive arts programme.

Art and drama can be linked as both of these expressive arts can be used to tell a story. Therefore a lesson plan could involve the children creating an image using different materials. After this, the children could follow that lesson by performing a drama to explain the story of the image. This could be created using techniques such as freeze frame and mime. As result of this, we as educators can allow children to develop creative skills such as critical thinking, synthesising, innovation and collaboration (Harris, 2016), by allowing them to engage in expressive arts programmes.

References

Fine Scottish Art.co.uk. (2006). [online] Available at: http://www.finescottishart.co.uk/Windows_in_The_West.php [Accessed 16 Oct. 2017].

Harris, A. (2016). Creativity and Education: Creativity, Education and the Arts. Springer, 2016, pp.42-43.

Figurenotes, (2013)

During the first half of our music lesson our class were shown an alternative way to teach music; this was by using FigureNotes rather than using conventional notation. When using FigureNotes each musical note is represented by a coloured symbol as shown in the image above.

This is an example of using FigureNotes to teach the song “Twinkle Twinkle” on the glockenspiel. In the video above I am performing the song for the first time and despite having never played the glockenspiel, I am still able to make a reasonable first attempt. Whereas I would have struggled more to produce something of a similar standard had I been given conventional notation. There are many benefits to using FigureNotes in the classroom such as: children can start playing music instantaneously, children who cannot read music can learn this way much faster than conventional methods and children with additional support needs and special educational needs and disability can be involved in the same educational experiences as the rest of the class  (Figurenotes, 2013).

This is a video of my group discussing the benefits of using FigureNotes to teach music in the classroom

I was also introduced to a website called Charango during this lesson. This is a great tool for teachers, who may not have a musical background, to use when teaching music in the classroom. Premade step-by-step lesson plans can be found on the website which already have existing links to the curriculum for excellence. As well as this Charanga can also be used to include music in topic-based learning as it provides several songs for a huge genre of age appropriate topics.

Charanga also encourages cross-curricular learning as it provides a selection of songs that could be included in other subject tasks such as science, literacy and mathematics. For example this song could help children in early/first level to count to ten. By using this as a lesson plan this allows the children to engage in the subject through active learning and the learning is more likely to be memorable through this experience.

Charanga is a great source to have as it also has an area labelled as “my workspace”. This allows you to add and easily access useful resources as well as being able to save lesson plans. This enables me as a teacher to be organised and well informed in the music lessons I will be teaching, despite music being a subject I feel less confident teaching. A final benefit to using Charanga is that it motivates children to become more involved in music as children can personalise their own login space and create avatars which they can then personalise by gaining points every time the log in.

During the art lesson we were required to make our own paintbrush  as exemplified in the image above. I felt this was a fun activity to do with children as it would allow them to reflect their own individuality and creativity by having the freedom to design something in their own image. If every child is given the same tool then there is pressure for the children to produce the same work and a level of expectation is created. However, if a child is allowed to paint with something of their own design this removes this necessity for precision and intricacy. Thus by removing these limitations children can just enjoy the process of creating without feeling self-concious about the finished product. Articles.extension.org, (2015) states the importance of valuing a child’s creativity because by doing this we raise their self-esteem and help them feel appreciated as people.

We were then asked to recreate a painting but in place of physically looking at the painting it was described to us audibly instead. By doing this it removed the desire just to copy and allowed us to produce the image that we had generated from our imaginations. As well as this we were only given set colours such as blue, yellow, white and red and if you required a colour like brown you create it yourself by mixing the set colours together. This enhances the creative process for children as they are utilising their problem solving skills in a practical context.

I felt this lesson achieved the following experiences and outcomes:

References 

Anon, (2013). [online] Available at: https://www.charangascotland.co.uk/wp-content/themes/charanga_2013/assets/pdfs/Curriculum-For-Excellence-and-CMS.pdf [Accessed 8 Oct. 2017].

Articles.extension.org. (2015). Creative Art Helps Children Develop across Many Domains – eXtension. [online] Available at: http://articles.extension.org/pages/25680/creative-art-helps-children-develop-across-many-domains [Accessed 8 Oct. 2017].

Education.gov.scot. (n.d.). Cite a Website – Cite This For Me. [online] Available at: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf [Accessed 6 Dec. 2017].

Figurenotes. (2013). What is Figurenotes? – Figurenotes. [online] Available at: https://www.figurenotes.org/what-is-figurenotes/ [Accessed 2 Oct. 2017].

Figurenotes. (2013). Classroom Teachers – Figurenotes. [online] Available at: https://www.figurenotes.org/classroom-teachers/ [Accessed 8 Oct. 2017].