In todays lecture we explored the idea of visual thinking through Flemings article on the arts in education. When I first looked at this article for pre reading prior to class I found it extremely hard to engage with as it was choppy, and I was losing my place. The concept of visual thinking combats such issues by intertwining the words with pictures that I relate to the words within the text. This is an example of visual thinking in practice:

I got a section of the article that discussed two paintings by Matisse on the theme of dance, which depict five naked dancers in bright red which contrast the green and blue of the earth and sky. I chose this area to explore visual thinking as I found the image to be a stimuli for my brain which then helped me to remember significant pints from that paragraph.

I feel this would be an extremely important prospect to develop within my classroom as it will evoke thoughtfulness within my students.David Perkins stated that teachers provoke thinking through not expecting immediate answers from their children, presenting their own uncertainties, allowing themselves time to think about the possibilities of what if and what not and encouraging their children to notice problems and opportunities and to think them through (Perkins, 2003).

This is something I would like to promote within my classroom as I feel it is extremely important for a child to be given the time to think through a question and really understand what they are asking, as I feel this is when they give the most creative and interesting answers.

The idea of addressing such things as what if and what if not allows for children to understand that in live there is always more than one view point and that not everyone will always agree. It also gives them the opportunity to explore critical thinking which is a fundamental skill to develop.

From the lecture, we them moved to our visual arts seminar which today explored the idea of a dot. This was a simple exercise which began with spreading black paint over a board until it was smooth and from their dipping different parts of our hands into it and making a mark on the page.

These were some of the designs we made:

These small prints allowed us to look more deeply into the marks our hand made. At first, we found it difficult to see past the black smudge on the paper but quickly the ideas and creativity started flowing and the marks suddenly turned into butterflies and rabbits and birthday cakes. I found that this seminar corresponded well with the thinking routines found by Harvard school of education. A thinking routine is a straightforward pattern of thinking which children are able to follow and use continuously to develop their ability to look deeper than what meets the eye (Ritchhart, 2002).

This is an example of two thinking routines:

I can see the link between these thinking routines and todays lesson as I feel I followed the see, think, wonder routine. I began by looking at the dot on my page, I then started to think about what could this be? A butterfly? Through creating I then began to wonder what else I could make from something as simple as a dot or a smudge.

Visual thinking could also be seen throughout our drama input in which we look at Avril Paton’s “Windows in the west” painting.

Here is a video of Avril explaining her picture and the process of creation:

(Glasgow Museums, 2011)

After briefly looking at the picture we were asked to form groups and create a still image of what we thought was going on within one of the rooms, we were then asked to role play the same situation in the past, present and future. I related this to visual thinking as I had previously made notes on the painting and this was me visually expressing my ideas of what is happening within the painting.

The positive impacts of visual thinking are already being seen within school settings. A study by Ron Ritchhart in a school found that the classrooms which took part in visible thinking became more learning orientated and inclusive as children who had previously lacked a voice within the classroom environment including children with additional support needs, where eagerly participating more actively and confidently (Ritchhart, Palmer, Church, & Tishman, 2006).
I ultimately believe that visual thinking is a magnificent ability to foster within the classroom environment, as it not only allows for creativity, but it promotes a culture of in-depth thought. I will most definitely be implementing this within my classroom.

References

• Glasgow Museums, (2011). Avril Paton on “Windows in the West” at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow. [Online] Available at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVDRL6wsQYU&t=392s [Accessed 18/09/19]
• Perkins, D. (2003). MAKING THINKING VISIBLE. Harvard Graduate School of Education.
• Ritchhart, R. (2002). Intellectual character: What it is, why it matters, and how to get it. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Ritchhart, R., Palmer, P., Church, M., & Tishman, S. (2006, April). Thinking routines: Establishing patterns of thinking in the classroom. Paper presented at American Educational Research Association, San Francisco.
• Ritchhart, R. (2008). Teaching students to think. Making thinking visible. Pages 57 – 61.

Today was the first day of my integrated arts programme. The day started with a lecture which briefly outlined what we would be doing this year, what the programme itself is about and the importance of integrated arts in education. The arts are something I chose to focus on for my graded unit back in 2017 when I was in a primary school placement in college. I chose to do the arts because the school I was situated in spent a lot of time on maths, and literacy and very rarely explored the benefits and opportunities that arise from the arts. I am looking forward to developing my knowledge and ability to teach the arts and taking what I learn into my future placements and my own classroom.

My first workshop of the day was in the visual arts. During this workshop we were given the opportunity to look at and discuss children’s paintings and the way in which the children created them. The paintings were grouped into children’s stages: Early, middle and upper. We were given the opportunity to see the progression in the children’s abilities and see Lowenfeld and Brittains stage theory in practice.
The stage theory separates children’s development into stages:

• Scribbling stage (2-4 years)
• Pre-schematic stage (4-7 years)
• The Schematic stage (7-9 years)
• The gang stage (9 – 12 years)

(McAuliffe,D. (2007))

These are some examples of the work we explored:

This would be an example of the Scribbling stage. Throughout this stage it is important to praise children for their drawings and take a real interest in what they do, as we may only see a scribble but to them it could be a whole world map.

 

This was painted by a year 6 who went on a trip to the country and took a quick sketch of the view and recreated their sketch through paint. The detail that is added shows that this was completed over a period of time.

The second workshop of the day took us to a far away village where a dragon was on the loose.

In drama, children cross into a world of story, which allows them to explore and process meanings in their experiences, both individually and for their peers.

(Booth, 1995)

The first session of drama explored four different drama conventions. The first of which was freeze frame, a freeze frame is when you stop, not moving or speaking and represent a critical moment in the drama. For our group, the freeze frame we depicted was the dragon coming to our village. At first others and I found it difficult to not chat or laugh and it became clear that within schools it is important to ensure children understand the importance of staying within character and to work on that with them throughout. The next was a thought tunnel, this convention I found to be particularly interesting as I immediately thought of several situations and activities where this would be a beneficial activity to put into place (for example when discussing Bullying). We then moved onto teacher in role, where the lecturer took on the role of the mayor and asked the villagers what they would like to do about the dragon, I feel this would be great within a classroom environment to get ideas and creativity flowing and allow the activity to be child led. The final convention we explored was hot seating, the person on the hot seat took on the role of the dragon and the villagers asked him questions such as why are you burning our village. This quickly lead the story down a different path and acted as a twist as it became clear that the dragon was actually scared of the villagers and meant no harm. This highlights to children that many stories can have different endings and gives them creative ownership over their own.

In drama we discussed a child’s ability to naturally slip into roles of their own imaging, taking on new identities with ease and submersing themselves into imagined situations where they have the ability to devise the outcome. It is here that I saw a clear link between both visual arts and drama. It is evident that within visual arts children create a picture which tells us so much more, they create characters and worlds and express their thoughts and feelings through their creation. They use both art and drama to step away from reality and allow their imagination to flow.

References 

Booth, D. (2012) Drama research: International journal of drama in education testimony reconsidering Dorothy Heathcote’s educational legacy. [Online]. Available: http://www.nationaldrama.org.uk/journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/Testimony.pdf [Accessed 18/9/19].

McAuliffe, D (2007) Foundation and Primary settings. In Teaching Art and Design 3 – 11 (Edited by Sue Cox, Robert Watts, Judy Grahame, Steve Herne and Diarmuid McAuliffe) London: Continuum.