ART

20/09/16

In this input we were looking at art work from all stages of primary. Some of the art work was from pupils that went to primary school years ago and some of it was quite recent work. I was able to see from the pictures that the children were drawing if it was old or new art work. For example, if they drew a celebrity that was famous years ago or if they drew something to do with technology.  There was art work from the early stages of primary at one table, work from middle stage of primary at another and upper primary art work at another. We spent time going round all three tables and analysing the work. We picked out pieces that we liked in particular. As I made my way around the tables I liked pieces of art from all stages. However, I found that the art from the early stages of primary was most interesting. This was because the work was so colourful and creative. The work that I looked at showed me that as children move up in primary  school they become less creative and more structured. The art work from the early stages was big, bright colourful shapes and marks. At this stage, children have no concept of  the rules of drawing. They just draw things they way that they think they should look. Where as, the work that was done by the older pupils was more realistic. While this work was still very good, it wasn’t nearly as creative as the younger children’s work. This showed me that drawing does change through age and stage.  In saying this, the art work did still vary within the stages, some children clearly had more of an apt to drawing than others. The quote following quote highlights how important it is for us to allow children to be as creative as they like with drawing “What might appear to the adult world as scribbles are in fact, for the child, a map of meaning making; any attempt to interfere in the drawing process should be avoided and any discussion around the child’s work should be handled with sensitivity” (McAuliffe, 2007). There for, drawing is a key stage in a child’s development.

Overall, this input showed me how Art can progress through age and stage. Also, it highlighted how we as teachers can take advantage of all the stages during Art lessons as they are all different from one and other but equally as important. At all stages of primary school we must teach that creativity is important  and appreciate the ideas and Art work that children come up with. It is important that all children engage in the creative process as this will encourage them to be successful learners, responsible citizens, confident individuals and effective contributors (Education Scotland).

27/09/16

In this session we spoke about the common phrase that children and teachers often say; “I can’t draw”. This phrase is simply not true, we learned that everyone can draw in some way, shape or form and we as teachers must encourage children to draw and support them with this in any way that we can. This is because Art is an important part of the curriculum. Art lessons are an important because they allow the children to use different resources. Also, it allows them to express them selves through pictures, drawings and paintings rather than writing.

At the beginning of this session we read and spoke about a book called ‘the dot’. This book told the story of a pupil who said to the teacher that they couldn’t draw. The teacher took the time to show the pupil that anyone can draw just by doing simple mark makings such as a dot. This short story emphasised the importance of supporting children in art education. Often children’s confidence can be knocked when they see the work that their class mates are doing around them. That is why its important that we teach them that they can make any drawing they want out of simple mark making and using their creative skills. Then, we all got our aprons on and put ourselves in the shoes of our future pupils. We were asked to make marks on a piece of paper using only our hands and paint. Our aim was to make some sort of picture from the one mark that we made. For example, I used the side of my hand. After analysing and studying this shape on paper I used my creative skills to turn this into a butterfly (this can be seen in the evidence below). The idea of this exercise was to show us how we can show our future pupils that anybody can draw. This would help to build children’s confidence and allow them to enjoy their art lesson.

The following quote “As children become more aware of others’ art they can begin to feel particularly self-conscious about their work and their own ability in art and design” (McAuliffe 2007) shows that children all the time are questioning their ability to draw especially when they see that their friends drawings look more accurate or appealing. Therefore, teachers must reinforce the fact that everyone can draw in different ways just like the teacher from the short story ‘the dot’ did.

Overall, I found this input very useful as it gave me ideas of exercises that I could use with my own class to allow them to be creative. I have also learned from this class that in order to be a good teacher I must have a tolerance for mess. Children enjoy the fact that in Art they are aloud to be messy and adventurous. There for I must allow them to do this so that they can reach their full potential in my art lessons. I also must be prepared for this mess by providing aprons and baby wipes when children are using things like paint so that they don’t ruin their clothes or objects in the classroom. The most important thing that I can take away from this input is that I now have ideas that I can use with my pupils that will help them express themselves creatively and  build a confidence that will allow them to succeed in art lessons and other parts of the curriculum.

11/09/16

In this weeks input we were using stimulus as inspiration for creation – child centred approach in Arts Education. We started off this lesson by looking at a PowerPoint and discussing different objects that might act as a stimulus to our future pupils. We discussed the importance of individuality and uniqueness when it comes to arts education. The lecturer told us about a time when his son came home from school with a painting that he had done in class. My lecturer was very impressed at his sons work and thought it was a lovely, bright and creative piece of work. However, when he went to parents night shortly after he seen that the teacher had a selection of paintings up on the wall that were of the exact same object as what his son had painted. He was appalled by this as each child was instructed to paint the same object exactly and there was no room for creativity or expression. It is incredibly important that teachers give their pupils the opportunity to be creative and unique in Art lessons as it helps them develop confidence and self awareness.

After this, we were asked to paint a picture using our creative skills. The lecturer told us to pick one of the many homemade paint brushed to paint with (this was so that each painting looked completely different in regards to texture as they were all made using different materials).  We then had to make up a paint palette using only the three primary colours which are red, blue and yellow. Afterwards, the lecturer described a picture to us and we had to  imagine what it looked like in our heads and then paint it. This involved us mixing the colours trying to get the one we wanted and imagining in our heads what he could see looked like.  Also, we had to  try to put it onto paper using the three primary colours and a home made paint brush.

I found this activity very enjoyable as I have never done anything like it before. I had not thought about using description as a stimulus. This would be an extremely beneficial Art lesson to most stages of primary children especially the early years as it would help them develop an understanding of how primary colours work instead of using the common colour wheel. It would also really benefit their creative thinking and imaginative skills.

I learned from this lesson that teachers must choose the correct stimulus for their pupils in art lessons so that it gives them the chance to reach their full potential and use all of their creative skills to express themselves. Whilst completing lessons like this within a classroom it can get quite messy and perhaps can cause some dangerous hazards in some cases. In Penny (2003) it states  The National Curriculum requirements for teachers in regards to health and safety within schools. For example, children are made aware of some of the dangers that could arise and are aware that they must not misbehave. Also, children come prepared for whatever it is they are going to be doing. This involves being aware of hazards and risks and are clear that they must present themselves in an appropriate manner so they do not harm themselves or other around them. They must also ensure they wear the correct clothing and do everything that the teacher says to prevent any dangers arising. As long as these rules are followed within an expressive arts lesson then it will be effective.

18/10/16

In today’s input we had a specialist art and design teacher come in to teach us from Woodside primary school. Her name was Isobel McGuire. We started off by looking at numerous pieces of work that Isobel had completed with her classes over the years. We got to look at fantastic work from P1 to P7. For example, we seen work from primary one that demonstrated shape making and colour testing. In primary six we got to see art and design work where pupils had to design a menu for the titanic. I liked this because it displayed how easy it is to use inter-disciplinary learning.

In the workshop we all got to create our own art work using water paint. First of all we drew a washing line with various items of clothing hanging on it. Then we coloured it in with water paint. We then took a new piece of paper and drew a brick wall. This was using photos as a stimulus.  This involved a lot of mixing colours to get the shades of the wall. We then got a bigger piece of paper. We covered this in different colours of paint using plenty of water so that they all blended in together. We then started to tare that piece of paper up horizontally and stuck it on to a large piece of paper to give it some shape and texture. We then stuck the brick picture on that one followed by the clothes line.

I thought this input was very enjoyable and actually quite therapeutic. I think it would be a good lesson to use with children as it allows them to use a range of skills. It involves being precise  and careful with drawing. It also involves being creative and experimental. It is essential for children to use participate in activities like these so that they develop key skills and knowledge through the creative process that will help them in all aspects of the curriculum.  We did all of this in the one lesson but you can spend weeks on a piece like that as this would allow the children to really take their time and think about their colours and their drawings. This is a valuable lesson that would allow children to explore creativity and engage in the creative process. Creativity can be defined as “a process  which generates ideas that have value to the individual. It involves looking at familiar things with a fresh eye, examining problems with an open mind, making connections, learning from mistakes and using imagination to explore new possibilities” (Education Scotland, 2003, p3). This means that creativity involves seeing things from different perspectives, trying to find solutions to problems and generally having an open and imaginative way of thinking.

15/11/16

Today we were given out one picture/painting between two people and we were asked to analyse it using Rod Taylor’s process, form, content and mood.  We had to pick three or four questions to help us describe the image and the meaning behind it as best as we could. My analysis and photo of the picture can be seen below.

Glow would not allow me to insert a video so instead I will type my photo analysis and have inserted a screen shot the video instead.  The image below shows a punching bag. However, this is not a normal punching bag as it has been knitted. Also, it is colourful and has lots of attractive sequences on it. It is a very rare occasion to see punching bags that look so attractive. The main piece of the work is the round shape from the punching bag. Within this shape there a couple of textures shown. For example, a soft texture from the wool and a rough, sharp texture from the sequins.  Personally, the two activities that are brought together in this image (knitting and boxing) are showing the contrast between boy and girls. For example, girls do things like knitting and boys enjoy doing this like boxing. This is because usually girls find it hard to  express their anger where as boys enjoy this and instead they struggle to be open and communicate their feelings through talking. Perhaps while the artist was creating this image he/she was recognising the huge contrast between boys and girls in regards to the way we act and the things that we do. I would say this image captures a reflective mood as it highlight the differences and allows us to think about them and the reasons for this.

Then, we looked at a famous painting called ‘Windows in the West’ by Avril Paton. We started off by watching a video that showed Avril explaining her painting. She started off by explaining what promted her to start the painting and the different aspects of the painitng e.g. what was going on inside the building that she painted. She also explained how long it took her and why. We then moved onto an activity where we had to draw a particular part of this picture e.g. the roof or a particular window. Firstly, we had to draw this onto a tile of polystyrene and then use paint and a roller to spread paint over our picture. We then lay the polystyrene picture on top of a piece of coloured paper which gave the painting a nice texture when we took the polystyrene away.

When doing this lesson with children we could use these as Christmas cards and use Christmas colours. My example can be seen below. This could also be linked to learning about the artist and the different types of work that they have produced. Therefor, again this would be a great activity for inter-disciplinary learning.

06/12/2016

Today we discussed room 13. ” Room 13 is a global uprising of creative and entrepreneurial children who are responsible for a growing international network of student organised art studios” ( Gibb, 2012). This is a project that is now in many schools all over Scotland. This is an art studio in schools that allows children to create pieces of work by themselves with hardly any adult input. This has been a great project as it allows children to use their creative skills. It allows them to build confidence and express themselves by creating unique pieces of art. The image below is an image taken from Room 13 that shows a boy drawing a flower on a very large piece of paper. This shows that there is no limitations to what children can create.

During the art session we looked at different creative pieces of art from all round Scottish schools. This included self portraits, designs and collages. During this session we discussed what we thought these art pieces may be about. This involved having tolerance for ambiguity and taking time to think about the pieces of work. During this time we also discussed issues that may arise when giving children the opportunity to explore creativity and the creative process. For example, what do we do if a child produces a piece of work that is not of a high standard or is something different from what we are expecting? After having a discussion on this issue we decided that the best strategy to use when displaying the work of a class would be to lay it all out in a large open space and move the pieces of art work around to see what piece fits best where. In most cases, I think its clear that we would not put a very high standard piece of art work right beside a lower standard piece. We also discussed the importance of giving children the opportunity to be creative when doing art. As well as this we must ensure we always know why we are doing it. For example, what benefits does it have? We looked at work from a class that had made a paper mache clone of a snack e.g. a packet of Doritos. The benefit of doing something like this is that it allows children to link in other curricular areas such as maths for measurement and design. It allows children to work with paint and different colours. It also allows children to discover how the world of design works and gives them an insight of what is involved. From this I have learned that in art we should always give children a problem to be solved and this should always be the main focus of their work as this allows them to engage in the creative process by using skills such as problem solving.

After this input I now feel I understand different ways of teaching Art and have plenty of ideas of the different types of Art work that I could do with my future class. I am now more aware of what we can use as stimulus for our Art work e.g. an issue in the news, a celebrity or a view from a window. I am aware that some primary schools around the country do not seem to adapt to the idea of room 13 as this is a slightly different approach from anything that has been done before. However, it has proven to be successful and work well in twelve schools already. It provides children with the opportunity to be independent and allows them to build confidence. Now, I understand that that their are no age restrictions when it comes to being an artist.. Art work should be judged purely with how good it looks and with no limits on the age of the artist themselves (Gibb, 2012).

 

DANCE

27/09/16

Firstly, In this session we discussed the ten key skills required to enable a successful dance session. Over the course of this lesson we learned that the ten key skills were kick, hop, gesture, turn, twist, jump, roll, reach, slide and balance. We completed various games and activities that included these skills. These games and activities would not only keep children active but they could be used as a way of providing children with cross curricular learning.  I found this input useful as it showed me how I can use games and activities in my classroom to relate to subjects such as topic work. Sometimes, the traditional writing way of learning can become repetitive and boring for students which mean that they lose interest easily. However, using active games to help children remember topic work can be very useful as it gets them excited about the work that they are doing.

The following quote states  how important it is that teachers give their pupils the opportunity to dance “Empowering children to create dances about what is personally meaningful presents them with the responsibility and commitment to bring their vision alive ” (Cone, 2011) This is important for children as they don’t get to do this in other curricular areas. Dance is a great opportunity for a unique way of learning that allows children to express how they are feeling.

04/09/16

In this session we started off by doing a short dance routine to warm up. This was followed by a couple more warm up games that we could use with our  pupils before starting a lesson.  We then started working on the ten key skills from last week. We were to think of our routines that we completed last week and come up with two more ways that we could do each skill. For example, we had to come up with three different ways to do a kick. After this, we spoke again about how dancing can be linked into other subjects. Firstly zara got us into a circle and asked us to come up with moves for the numbers 0-9. After this, she gave each group out a sheet of paper that had nine equations on it. We had to use the answers to come up with our dance routine. For example, the order that our answers were in determined the order that our dance sequence was in. Then, the rest of the class had to guess our answers based on the dance moves that we performed for them. We also did an activity where zara handed out each group a different picture. Every picture had a picture of something that related to Halloween on it. Then, each group had to come up with a move that related to their picture. We put all the moves together one after the other which created a Halloween dance.

Overall, I found this dance lesson very effective as it allowed me to see exactly how we can use dance in the context of topics. For e example, it could be used to help spelling, topic work, maths or reading skills. Furthermore, because this lesson was so enjoyable for me I noticed that children are likely to enjoy this lesson as well as learning from it. It is also a good resource to use for assement on an area. Often, when children are getting assessed in the usual writing way they will get nervous and up tight about it. However, if I were to use it to test pupils on there maths they would probably hardly notice as they would be too busy having fun. The following quote is from education Scotland experiences and outcomes; “I enjoy creating short dance sequences, using travel, turn, jump, gesture, pause and fall, within safe practice. EXA 1-08a”. This highlights that it is essential for children to be able to create sequences in dance using certain moves. As we already know this can be linked into other curricular areas and allows children to develop many skills. Therefore, as an aspiring teacher I must make myself aware of this in order to teach it.

11/09/16

In this lesson our focus was on using stimulus as inspiration for creation – child centered approach. To start off this lesson we looked at dance fest which is an organisation in schools that allows pupils to be a part of a dance show and perform in front of an audience. This has shown to be very effective as it gives all pupils the opportunity to participate in a dance activity, be active, perform and work as a team.  In our groups we had to come up with a themed dance that we  thought would be effective to use with a class. We came up with a safari theme. We had to come up with exercises that we would do in preparation to the dance as well as coming up with three warm up games that we had to present to the class. The warm up game that we presented was monkey tig. This was when we asked the class to run about and if they got tagged they had to stand and act like a money until someone came and danced around them like a monkey. After this, we got into our groups and practised our dance routine from last week. We also had to add in five new dance moves. The lecturer gave us out a list of  five words and we used this as stimulus to come up with five new dance moves to add into out routine. Then we put this all together with the other Halloween routine that we made up in previous weeks.

I found this lesson enjoyable and fun and I’m sure that children would of too as they were given the opportunity to be creative in creating dance moves just like in dance fest. The lecturer showed us how we can come up with a great lesson by doing little work or putting hardly any input into it and letting the children take control. The quote; “Dance educators need to support children’s ideas and trust the children’s creative process, especially when the educator may not agree with the meaningfulness of the dance content or structure.” (Cone 2011) expresses how important it is that teachers sometimes must take a step back during dance lessons to allow the children to be independent and use their initiative and knowledge of dance to come up with their own, unique dance routine. I also got to witness how we can use a stimulus to create a dance e.g. with the words. This allows children to think creatively and use their intuitive in order to interpret a word into a dance move.

25/10/2016

In todays dance session we started off by doing our warm up games and stretches that we had came up with in the previous session. We had already done our warm up game last time with the class. Therefore, this time we had to take them through what we thought would be good stretches to do with a primary class in preparation for a dance lesson. We worked from the head down doing basic and easy stretches that would be simple for primary children to follow. After completing this we got into our groups to practice our dance. We then done a couple of practices as a class to perfect our performance before filming it. The purpose of this was so that we can do a self and peer evaluation using an evaluation check list which states what a dance should be like (this can be seen in the evidence below). After this we finished off by doing creative social dancing as a class. This is where we used the traditional social dances but put our own twists on them. We done this in partners by working together to add in different dance moves.

I found this session valuable because I believe in order to be a teacher I need to be confident and able when it comes to dance as its an important part of the primary curriculum. I felt like this session allowed me to not only practise my dancing skills but analyse them too and see how I can improve them before I go out into school and teach them to children. It also gave me an idea of the kind of things that I would be assessing children on when it comes to dance. This was very helpful. After this, I feel much more confident that I could take warm up games with a class, show them what stretches to do and show them how to make up a dance routine using simple yet effective dance moves.  From this I have learned that it is essential to allow children to develop in the creative process through dance.

Video Link – http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7698

MUSIC

20/09/16

During this session we spoke about music and why it was important. I learned from this that we use music to inspire us in an educational setting to think creatively through the arts. During this session we listened carefully to a piece of music. We were asked to analyse the music and come up with a short picture story to go with the music. The group that I was in thought that the music sounded like pirates fighting. Therefore, we came up with the idea that someone had managed to sneak their way onto a pirate ship to steal treasure but the captain had caught them. They got in a bit of a fight but the thief managed to jump off where he was met by numerous sharks. In the end the captain got his treasure back. The reason we came up with this story is because we listened to the music, how it changed and what kind of sounds were being made.  We then used our imagination to think how the music can be brought to life. I think this is a great activity to use with kids as it will show them the importance of music, how powerful it is and allow them to use their listening and imagination skills.

In miller (2000) it was stated that “in an experimental study with children aged 4–6, provided music training for 25 minutes for seven weeks for an experimental group and compared measured brain activity with controls. Those children who had received musical training produced EEG frequencies associated with increased cognitive processing”. The above statement highlights the importance of listening and engaging with music for young people.  This develops their brain and cognitive thinking which makes them successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens (Education Scotland).

25/10/16

In todays session we were familiarising ourselves with rhythm. We completed various activities that we could use with our future pupils to encourage them to be confident and comfortable with music and rhythm. In order for children to play music they don’t need to be able to read music. We completed an activity where we used the symbols to read music e.g. squares and circles in replace for music symbols. We started off by tapping along to the music with drum sticks using the shapes as a guide for a rhythm. Then, we moved on to looking at music notes such as quavers. We discussed what each note stood for and used them to help us play with the music. We then used the simple notes on the glockenspiel/ xylophone to play along to the piano. We listened to the pianos rhythm and made up a rhythm to go with it.

This lesson taught me a lot about music that I didn’t know. I thought reading music and playing instruments was hard but it actually can be made easy especially if it is being completed by primary children that have little experience with music. I also found that this didn’t just give me ideas of how I can do music with primary children but it taught me how I can begin to read music. This will make me feel more comfortable when I have to teach a class. Music is an important part of our everyday life therefore it is important that children engage with it and learn about it. They also must try to perform it as it boosts confidence. It is about developing creativity and showing that anybody can learn and play music. The quote; “I can use my voice, musical instruments and music technology to discover and enjoy playing with sound, rhythm, pitch and dynamics ” (EXA 1-17a) is taken from Education Scotland’s Experiences and Outcomes. This highlights that it essential for children to be made aware of music and the different rhythms, pitches and dynamics. Hence why it is important for teachers to deliver this to children in the most effective way so that they can develop their knowledge and skills.

01/11/2016

In todays music session we had the pleasure of seeing first hand evidence that anyone, at any age can learn how to read and play music and see the benefits that this has. We were extremely lucky to have the primary 5/6 pupils from Greenmill primary in Cumnock to come in and play the string instruments to us as part of the Greenmill String project. The pupils were only playing string instruments which included; violas, violins, cellos and the double base. Firstly, the pupils played to us some of their music that they had played for other people such as Prince Charles. After listening to the children each UWS student was asked to pair up with a pupil from Greenmill so that they could teach us how to play their instrument. First of all the pupils showed us the notes of the instrument that they were playing. For example I paired up with a primary 6 girl called Amy who played the cello. Amy told me her strings which were ADGC. She told me to remember this by thinking Auntie Daisy goes crazy which I found very helpful. They then showed us how to hold their instruments properly by telling us how to sit and where to place our hands. Then they sang a short song that we sang along to as well. This described the different parts of the instrument e.g. the bridge. We then moved on to playing our instrument by looking at some notes. For example we had to look at the notes and pluck our instrument depending on which note it was. We then moved onto the scale of D major which was much harder as we had to use both hands to pluck and to make notes rather than only the notes ADGC. I found this very difficult and think I would need a lot of practise to perfect it. After this the pupils showed us how to hold the bow. We played a couple of games that ensured that we always held the bow correctly. The session was then rounded off by questions.

I found this session incredibly beneficial as I got to see that anybody has the ability to play music. I think its fantastic that this project gives opportunity too all pupils at Greenmill primary to play a string instrument and participate in playing music once a week. This has many benefits for example, children learn how to work as a team, it allows them to build confidence, it teaches them how to succeed in all curriculum areas, they learn to be disciplined and well behaved This is very important when playing music as they learn to work together and support each other in their learning. I also think the children like to have the responsibility of teaching the adults something new. This lesson has made me realise the importance of music and why it truly does matter as a part of the curriculum for excellence. By participating in expressive arts subjects children are able to express their feelings in new, unique, aspiring ways and be able to take pleasure in these subjects (Education Scotland).

08/11/2016

In todays music session we were in the mac lab creating our own pieces of music through garage band which can be seen below. This involved us adding in instruments, adjusting the volume, pitch, timing and key. We also got the chance to add in sound effects. This would be a great way to teach kids about music as it can be done on the interactive whiteboard and it is a different way of learning about music. It allowed us as teachers to get used to the technology sides of things. Furthermore,  it allowed us to become more familiar with the software so that we one day we could use it with a class of children. We also had a plenary where we discussed the International Journal of Music Education. In this it provides research of how music effects or doesn’t effect other curricular areas. The group that I was in chose the numeracy section to focus on which  for example stated “Geoghegan and Mitchelmore (1996) investigated the impact of a music programme on the mathematics achievement of preschool children. The group of children involved in musical activities scored higher on the mathematics achievement test than the control group”. Obviously, there were mixed results not all researchers found the same evidence all of the time but I definitely believe that there is a link between music and other areas of the curriculum. The plenary session showed us as aspiring teachers how important it is to include music in our lesson planning and how it can have many benefits to a children in other parts of the curriculum. Benefits include developing cognitive thinking, skills, knowledge and attributes that will be useful to have throughout their school career

15/11/2016

In this input we were in the mac labs discovering the music website called Charanga. This is a great resource as it has many different lessons for music already made up on it and many resources that can be used in order to create lessons. The curriculum now encourages the increasing use of technology in schools and this is part of the reason why this website and garage band are both useful music resources to use with kids. Charanga not only allows lessons to be set up but it has multiple musical games and songs which children can sing along to. It also has an assessment tab which gives information on how to asses pupils music abilities using charanga e.g. plan, do, check and review. I believe that this resource is very useful for both learners and teachers. Often, non specialist music teachers can be frightened of teaching music and don’t know where to start with it however this resource gives them plenty ideas and already planned out lessons.  Learners will also find this useful as it is something different. They don’t often get to experience music through technology as it is often done by practical skills. Therefore, I believe that they would be excited and very engaged while doing a music lesson through Charanga.

22/11/2016

In todays input we talked about the importance of voice as a teacher. We discussed how teachers can protect their voice if they are already struggling with it. For example, it is really important for teachers to take care of their voice and not damage it. Therefore if they have a cold or a viral infection then they can take strategies to prevent them from needing to use their voice as much. By simply giving instructions speaking more quiet that usual  instead of shouting. Then children must stop what they are doing to find out their instructions unless they wont know what to do. Furthermore, teachers could also use the strategy of clapping hands to get children’s attention or by simply counting from 5-1. We also learned about actions that we can take to help our voice if we are experiencing issues with it e.g. not eating spicy foods, not smoking and not talking unless necessary. We also did some exercises that could be used before singing to exercise the voice this involved making different facial expressions and generally relaxing the mouth and body. After this, we sang a song together that could be used as a warm up. In the primary school setting there are experiences and outcomes that mention the use of the voice such as; “I can sing and play music from other styles and cultures, showing growing confidence and skill while learning about musical notation and performance directions” (EXA 1-16a). Therefore singing and the use of the voice is an important part of the curriculum. Children must experience using their voice to make sounds on a regular basis. Perhaps by using the warm up games above.

This does not specifically mean singing, there are other ways that we can ask pupils to use their voice for example through making sounds to then make a piece of music such as beat boxing or by using online resources such as Charanga. I found this input useful as it provided me with new information that I hadn’t thought about before. I now know it is important for children to experience using their voice as its part of the curriculum but this isn’t only with singing. Instead, simple activities that involve noise making can do this.

29/11/2016

In todays music lesson we were learning about different musical instruments that we can use with our primary classes. Firstly, we looked at non percussion instruments. This included  instrument’s such as tambourines. From this, we learned that un-tuned percussion instruments don’t change in pitch. In other words they can be hit at any place and the sound wont change. Where as the glockenspiel is a tuned percussion instrument that is best played with a soft beater in order to produce the best sound. Then, we moved onto talking about using ukulele in the classroom as it is becoming more and more popular for children to play these instruments in school. During this session we practised a number of chords such as C, A minor, G and F. We also talked about the different strums such as using one finger, a thumb or a country stum. All songs we played could be played using the four above chords and this is the basis of most pop songs in 2016.

After this, I now feel much more able to use this instrument with a class if I am required to. I really enjoyed this lesson and found it fun. I’m sure that children would benefit from this as well as well as enjoying it. “Two studies researched the perceived benefits of school band participation in the USA, showing that the majority of those surveyed recognized the benefits including accomplishment, appreciation, discipline, fun, active participation and maturing relationships” (Brown, 1980 cited in Hallam, 2012). The previous quote shows that children benefit hugely in all aspects of their life through playing a music instrument. It provides them with key knowledge, skills, attributes and values that they can utilize through out their school and working career.

06/12/2016

Today in music we were looking at how music can be played by using figure notes instead of reading music. Firstly we played untunned percussion instruments by reading symbols that relate to the sound that our instrument plays. For example, we created a piece of music that was based on bon fire night. We came up with four words that related to this night; pop, boom, bang and crackle. Then we all chose an instrument and played a piece of music. Every time we seen the symbol for our sound we played the instrument. For example, my instrument gave a crackle sound so I played it every time I seen the symbol for crackle. After this, we looked at figure notes which can be seen below and played tuned percussion using figure notes.

From this, I have learned that teaching children doesn’t need to be hard and teacher don’t actually need to know how to read music. It fills me with great confidence that I was able to sit and play songs such as ‘twinkle twinkle’ without reading music. I can now see how easy it is.

 

 

 

DRAMA

04/10/16

In this session we started off by discussing what drama was e.g. performing, acting, singing and entertainment. We also talked about some of the issues that children might have when it comes to the subject of drama. For example, it can be embarrassing, nerve racking and also may make some children uncomfortable. Obviously, there will be some children in the class which feel completely comfortable with acting and having to participate in drama but teachers must learn to respect the children that aren’t so comfortable and ensure the rest of the class respects that too. This is why it Is important for us as teachers to ensure that we establish some rules with our class when it comes to drama. For example, no laughing at others and being silent when people are performing. This is to ensure that everyone in the class feels comfortable and secure in a drama lesson which means the children can enjoy this subject and benefit from it.

After this, we had to practice our own drama skills in groups which is important so that we feel comfortable in delivering this to children; “There is value in teachers experiencing drama as participants in order to better understand it as learners and teachers” (Baldwin, 2009). The lecturer came up with a scenario where he was the village mair and we were the villagers. We had called him there because our village was getting attacked by a dragon. We got split into groups and each group one by one had to get up and act out what our village was like with a narrator. We then had to act out a scene where we captured the dragon and a scene where we were celebrating. I enjoyed this activity as it was fun to work in a team and have a bit of fun. I didn’t feel too embarrassed because everyone had to take turns at doing it anyway so nobody was singled out.

Another important factor that we spoke about when teaching children drama was that we cannot let the children drop in and out of their roll when they are supposed to be acting. We need to stress the importance of acting and playing a character. We also discussed how it is a good idea for teachers to put an item of clothing on e.g. a cardigan or coat when they are in character and take it off when they are not. This way the children can easily see when the teacher is in the roll of the teacher or in the roll of the character. Overall  I found this session useful as it gave me ideas about how to teach drama to my future pupils and how I can encourage and support them in participating in drama.

18/10/2016

Everything that we covered in this session can be seen in the picture evidence. During this session we used process drama (when both teacher and student dip in and out of roles), teacher in role ( when the teacher demonstrates their acting skills to the class by playing a role). It is really important that when the teacher is in role they let the class see that they are in role by putting on a scarf or some other item of clothing.  In this session we carried on with the lonely dragon story that we had previously used. We had to come up with reasons as to why the dragon was upset and crying and what we could do to help him. The lecturer then showed us hot seating, this is when he pretends to be the dragon and we had to ask how questions to try and get to know the dragon slightly better. This meant that our lecturer had to improvise and come up with answers on the spot because he didn’t know what we were going to ask. For example, we asked him why he was crying. We also had to create a still image in our groups. We had to demonstrate how we were going to get to the dragons cave. We all had to have some sort of obstacle to stop us from getting there. We decided that the road up to the cave was a long and windy road up the mountains which had slippery slopes, scary woods and horrific weather to try and stop us from getting to the dragons cave.

After this, we moved onto a new scenario. The lecturer got in role as a friend of ours. He said that a man called Frankie Miller was coming back and that we should be worried. He described that this was a bad thing. From this we had to improvise and think why this was a bad thing. Once everyone came up with their own ideas we shared them within the group. We came to the conclusion that it was best to go with the idea that we had all been involved in stealing something but Frankie got the blame for it all and went to jail while we all got away with it. Then,we had to do a flash back to when the incident actually happened in our groups and perform it to the rest of the class. Followed by a flash forward to Frankie coming back and getting to see him again after ten years.

To finish off we used forum theatre. This is when we watched two volunteers from our class act out the roles of Frankie and his dad. This involved an argument between the two of them because Frankie had been in jail and abandoned his family. After watching them, we had to stop them and suggest a different way that they could do things. For example, when they started acting out Frankie was being very apologetic but then someone suggested that if he is a gangster then he might be slightly harder on his son and tell him he should of followed in his fathers footsteps.

I found this activity very effective as it showed how we can use drama in the classroom and how we can encourage children to develop their drama skills and use them with different activities. Drama builds confidence and allows children to develop new skills, a drama lesson is completely different from a maths or an English lesson but is equally important as it allows children to experience different things and use their creative skills and initiative. I now know how to teach children about drama in a classroom and the importance of children engaging in drama. If completing this activity with a class it would cover Education Scotland’s  experience and outcome of “I have developed confidence and skills in creating and presenting drama which explores real and imaginary situations, using improvisation and script” (EXA 1-14a). This highlights that teachers must dedicate time to their pupils to develop skills and knowledge through drama as it is an important part of the relevant curriculum.

01/11/16

In this session we completed an activity that would be ideal to use with our future pupils.  We read a book that was called the Tunnel. This story was about a brother and a sister who were the complete opposite of each other. Their mum forced them to go outside and play one lunch time. While they were out,  the brother discovered a tunnel so he went in it to find out what was on the other side as he loved to have an adventure. However, the sister was too scared to go in. She waited on her brother to come back out but he never returned until eventually she had to go in after him. During this we had to act out different parts of the story. For example, we had to split into groups and act out the trees in the woods in the other side of the tunnel by doing actions and making noises. We also had to pretend that we were the girl and say how we were feeling when her brother left her to go into the tunnel. For example, she felt scared and frightened and was angry at him for leaving her. We then had to say how the boy was feeling  for example, she is such a baby, she’s scared of everything. We put these feelings on to paper by creating a role on the wall. After this we discussed some of the main issues that were raised in the story and what kind of lesson it was trying to teach us. By the end of the story the sister had went in to find her brother. She discovered  that her brother had turned to stone so she ran up to him and hugged him. He slowly came back to himself again and they went home together. I think it shows the important bond between the pair even though they are so different.

From this, I can take this activity and use it with my future pupils as a fun and interesting drama lesson which could easily link to other areas of the curriculum. It is important that children embrace the power that drama has and how important it can be in allowing children to be creative and express themselves. It also allows them to become comfortable and confident in the classroom working with their peers which is very important. The evidence bellow shoes our role in the wall and a brief outline of what we completed in our drama lesson today. Effective drama within the classroom involves using initiative, creative skills and taking risks (Grainger, 2007) which are key skills for children to develop.

08/11/16

In todays drama session we were asked to present information on a story book that we had picked. In small groups we had to present the main ideas of our story book and how we could link this into drama . The book that we used to talk about was called rainbow fish. Firstly, we started off by talking about the plot of the book and describing what happened in it. We then moved on to talking about the morals of the book and why these were important morals for children to learn.  We then highlighted the CFE experiences and outcomes from Education Scotland that we could use when using this book as an aid for drama with a class. For example “I can respond to the experience of drama by discussing my thoughts and feelings. I can give and accept constructive comment on my own and others’ work”.  Then, we went through some of the activities that we could use with a class. Our book was a good one to use because the main message of the story was to teach the children about sharing, vanity and selfishness. These are all important messages for children to learn.  The activitie that we chose to do with the class was a thought tunnel. One member of our group asked the class to get into two lines. She made her way down the middle and the students and each shouted out one word which described what the thought of the fish. This exercise would be good to use with a class as it allows teachers to see what the class is thinking and that they understand it. We also chose to do a role on the wall with the class. This is when the class each drew a picture of the fish and had to right on the inside what he felt about himself and on the outside how others see him. This would allow teachers to see that the class have understood the story in more depth. An example of what the students came up with can be seen below.

This lesson was extremely valuable as it allowed us to practise what it would be like to deliver a drama lesson to a class. It also allowed us to see other people delivering a lesson to a class which provided us with ideas and tips and ways that we can improve our own teaching. After this, we completed a short input on the war and how this can be linked into drama or how any topic work can be linked into drama. For example we were given different themes from the war to choose from e.g. conscientious objectors, rationing and evacuation. We had to pick one of these and created a freeze frame or short drama act showing this. My group picked a freeze frame on evacuee and this showed mothers waving off their children on a train. I found this useful as it shows easily we can link topic work into Drama. Drama would also be a good way to see if the children have really learned and engaged in what they have been taught.

 

29/11/2016

In todays Drama lesson we were doing the rest of the presentations on a book that we could use with children to relate Drama to other curricular areas in the classroom. Today,  I had to do was participate in what the other groups asked me to. All the groups delivered good lessons which were engaging. One group did the well known children’s book of little red riding hood. They expressed the moral of the story which is obey your parents and don’t talk to strangers which would be good to emphasise with children. They included Drama Conventions such as role in the wall, thought tunnel and freeze frame which allowed us to think about their book and show we understand it. Therefore, this would be good to use with a class as from this you could see if they understood the point of the activity.

 

Reference List    

Avril, P.  (1993) Windows in the West. [Digital Print 620″ x 477″, Online] Available: http://www.avrilpaton.co.uk/userfiles/image/windows-in-the-west.jpg [Accessed: 15 November 2016].

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

Education Scotland (2013) Creativity Across Learning 3-8. [Online] Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/715612/mod_resource/content/2/Creativity3to18.pdf [Accessed 17 December 2016].

Education Scotland (n.d.) Curriculum For Excellence. [Online] Available: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/all_experiences_outcomes_tcm4-539562.pdf [Accessed 16 December 2016].

Education Scotland (n.d.) Curriculum For Excellence: expressive arts principles and practise. [Online] Available: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/curriculumareas/expressivearts/principlesandpractice/index.asp [Accessed 16 December 2016].

Flohr, J. W. Miller, D. C. & DeBeus, R. (2000). EEG studies with young children. Music Educators Journal. 87(2). pp. 28–32.

Gibb, C (2012) Room 13: The movement and International Network [Online] Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/715638/mod_resource/content/1/Room%2013-%20Claire%20Gibb.pdf [Accessed: 15 December 2016].

Grainger, T. (2003) Creative teacher and the language arts: Possibilities and potential, Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education. [Online] Vol 31(1), pp 43-47. Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/715674/mod_resource/content/4/creative%20teachers%20language%20arts.pdf [Accessed 12 December 2016].

Hallam, S. (2010) The power of music: Its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people. International Journal of Music Education. Vol 28(3), pp 270-289.

McAuliffe, D (2007) Foundations and Primary Settings. In Teaching Art and Design 3-11. London: Continuum.

Penny, S. Ford, R. Price, L. and Young, S. (2003) Teaching Arts in Primary School. 2nd ed. Exeter: Learning Matters Ltd.

Theresa, C (2011) Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances. Journal of Dance Education. [Online] Vol. 9(3), pp. 81-89. Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/846498/mod_resource/content/1/Purcell%20Cone%20%282011%29.pdf [Accessed 1 October 2016].

Placement Tasks

 

·         Student teachers must acquire knowledge and understanding of theory and practical skills in curricular areas, referring to local and national guidance ·         Student teachers must understand how to match the level of curricular areas to the needs of all learners ·         Student teachers must understand the importance of using and designing materials for teaching and learning to stimulate, support and challenge all learners   (Standard for Provisional Registration with GTCS, benchmark 2.1.2)

TASK 1: OBSERVING THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT Spend some time observing the learning environment. Note the following:   Is there much display of expressive arts practice in public spaces/corridors/classrooms? Are these displays related to knowledge and understanding within the expressive arts?  Specify the content of the work that is displayed. Every classroom has their own wall display of work. My classroom had a colour wheel of primary and secondary colours displayed that was made to look like an eye. I liked this because the eyes were a different way to do this but there wasn’t much creativity as every pupil done the same thing. Other classes had done things such as paintings of Vikings as they had been studying that topic. This is good because it links interdisciplinary learning but again most of the paintings looked alike. The primary five class had been looking at different types of shading art and had tried to recreate this. This allowed children to gain knowledge and understanding about shading. However, there was little opportunity for the pupils to be creative as they were re-creating pieces of art work.   Is learners’ work displayed? Are there labels and written explanations? Each class had a piece of work displayed for each pupil with their names on it. On most of the wall displays there was a label that stated what the class had been looking at or thinking about while completing this piece of work. In my classroom, there was a wall for star pupils that changed every week. This showed pupil work and explained a bit about what they had been doing. What kinds of spaces/facilities are there for performances? The school are lucky to have a large gym hall with a large stage that they use for school shows. They also have a separate music room that they used to practise singing their songs in preparation for the school show Oliver. The Large Stage from My Placement School What range of media is being used?  Are both two and three dimensions covered?  Is digital media used? What is the range of instruments that learners have access to? I haven’t really witnessed a range of media being used. I know that the children have worked with both two and three dimensions however it is mostly two-dimensional work that is displayed. They have worked with three dimensions during making things for the Christmas fare such as penguins. The children have access to almost anything they could possibly need to do art work such as paint, glitter, pens, different types of paper etc. There is an art cupboard that holds these things for them to use. The school has a music trolley and a piano in the music room that the children have access too once a week.

TASK 2: OBSERVING LEARNING-IN-ACTION In consultation with your mentor identify two expressive arts lessons (dance, music, drama, visual art) to observe. For each lesson, make a note of the following:   What are the learning intentions and success criteria?  The experience and outcome that was met during this lesson was “I have experienced the energy and excitement of presenting/performing for audiences and being part of an audience for other people’s presentations/performances.” EXA 0-01a / EXA 1-01a / EXA 2-01a    The experience and outcome that was completed during this session was “I can create and present work that shows developing skill in the visual elements and concepts” EXA 2-03a.The children intended to make a memorial picture for Remembrance Day using paint. Is the lesson part of a sequence? If so, what is the concept or theme of the sequence? Where in the sequence is this lesson placed? The children were practising their school play Oliver. I got to witness them two weeks before the show so they were still taking their time to learn all the parts, actions and words to songs. They knew quite a bit already but had to keep practising right up until they were performing the show to their friends and family. No, this lesson was completed all in the same day.     What resources (procedural & declarative) are used in the lesson? The children were still able to have their words to their songs and scripts with them at this point because not everyone had learned everything. This was one of their first times performing on the stage that they were going to perform on in two weeks’ time so they were getting used to that. At this point, there were no props or costumes.  The children all had access to scissors, pots of water, different colours of paint, black and white paper and glue.   How is the arts practice demonstrated to the learners? At this stage the teachers were having to tell the children exactly where to sit and telling them when to move and where to go because they had not acted it out very many times before.  The teacher gathered the class around a table and took it one step at a time to show the children exactly what to do. For example, she would show them what to do first and they would go away and do it and then come back to the table to get shown the next step.   What, if any, differentiation methods are used? No differentiation methods were used here in either lessons but I don’t think that they were needed.   Are specialist arts practitioners used to deliver learning? There were no specialists used here as this school does not hire specialist’s teachers. However, the teacher that was leading this lesson was very comfortable with all areas of the arts and had a background in music.  No, this lesson was delivered by the class teacher.   After each lesson reflect on what you observed and write down three reflections associated with it (one or two sentences for each reflection will suffice). 1.    I observed the children doing a rehearsal of their Christmas show, Oliver. ·         I believe this school show is a good way for the children to interact together through the arts as they don’t get much chance to use drama or singing on a regular basis. It allowed the pupils to become more confident in this area of the arts. ·         There was not much chance for the children to think about the play that they were doing or what the message to that play was. They were just told what they had to do and they done it. Perhaps it would be more beneficial if the children were to research it more. ·         The children really seemed to enjoy this rehearsal as nobody misbehaved at all. This tells me that they enjoy drama and singing and this should be linked into every day learning more.   2.     I observed the children creating a painting for Remembrance Day. They creating a background by shading colours to look like a sunset. After this had dried they made a hill out of black paper and stuck this on. Then, they painted red poppies ont this and finished by putting a black cross on top of the hill. ·         This lesson did not allow the children to come up with their own ideas or allow them to use creativity. ·         This lesson linked to other areas of the curriculum such as history because it was about Remembrance Day. Before and after painting this the teacher quickly discussed what Remembrance Day was about. ·         This lesson did give pupil the opportunity to use a shading technique for the background of their picture which allowed them to experience the different ways in which they can use paint and a paint brush.