Month: October 2020

MUSIC

In this weeks lecture, I have learned  a great amount about the importance of music in education, and in life in general.  Whether is introduced to music through listening, reading or even composing, this has many benefits towards their development. Anita Collins (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueqgenARzlE, 2014), highlighted the significant role music has played in her life. She explained that after picking up the clarinet, her life had never been the same.

Sue Hallam (2010) highlights the ability of music to be integrated into a variety of situations. Musical awareness can help with aspects such as:

• perceptual and language skills
• literacy skills
• numeracy skills
• intellectual development
• general attainment
• creativity
• social and personal development
• physical development

This TED Talk has inspired me both as an aspiring educator and as an individual. Collins exclaims the importance of motivating musical learners to keep going and not to give up when learning an instrument. I can relate to this statement as I have personally given up an instrument, and looking back, I often wish someone had given me this advice. In my future practice, I will be sure to make my pupils aware of the benefits of music, including playing an instrument. I will ensure I do not use music as a time filler, and instead take full advantage of the benefits it can bring to school life.

DRAMA

I am incredibly inspired by the Drama technique called Teacher’s Role. This is when the teacher acts as a character and often proposes a problem to the children. The children then suggest solutions, allow them to use any information they have to problem solve, and learn from each other while doing so. This gives children a sense of responsibility and freedom in their learning. You do not have to be a professional actor/actress to use this technique, all you need is confidence.

In breakout rooms, we discussed scenarios where teacher in role would be an effective teaching method. I suggested it could be used in history, where the teacher acts as someone who has found themselves in a certain time period, such as ancient Egypt, and the pupils have to teach them about life there and several questions could be asked to challenge knowledge. We also had an idea of using this technique in maths, where the teacher could act as a shop keeper.

The possibilities are endless, hence why I am so inspired from being introduced to this technique. I will definitely use it in my future practice to bring learning to life and increase interest in certain topics in the classroom.

References 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueqgenARzlE, 2014. What If Every Child Had Access To Music Education From Birth?.

Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueqgenARzlE> [Accessed 20 October 2020].

Hallam, S., 2010. The Power Of Music: Its Impact On The Intellectual, Social And Personal Development Of Children And Young People. [ebook] pp.1-20. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242560857_The_power_of_music_Its_impact_on_the_intellectual_social_and_personal_development_of_children_and_young_people> [Accessed 20 October 2020].

AVOIDING KILLING CREATIVITY

Prior to this weeks Integrated Arts session, I watched the TEDTalk “Are Schools killing creativity?” by Ken Robinson, 2007. In his video, Ken discussed the  gaps in education. He highlighted the importance of creativity across all curricular areas. He discussed the fact that we “stigmatise mistakes” in the classroom, which leads to lack of creativity further down the line as children feel less encouraged to explore. I fully agree to this as often in schools, children are too well supported. By this I mean that they are supported to succeed, whereas when children fail, this is when they produce their best work as they have lots to learn from. I believe this is something that I experienced in school.

Although praise is important, if a child is told constantly that what they are doing is brilliant, they might begin to think that mistakes are wrong. I have inserted below a picture quote that I find interesting. It suggests that mistakes are a positive thing, which I fully agree with.

Personally, I believe creativity is a vital part of education, and of life in general. Recently, the UK Government posted the poster below.

This poster went viral across all pairs and social media. This campaign suggested that the arts were not necessary in today’s society. This has been rightly criticised, including by a spokesperson for Boris Johnson who stated that “This particular piece of content was not appropriate and has been removed from the campaign.” (Bakare, 2020).

I find this campaign particularly worrying as if children, of primary or secondary age,  saw this poster they may be disheartened. Children need to be inspired to follow their aspirations and for any children this will be to succeed in the arts, however if they see that their government are not appreciating the arts, then the children might be tempted to follow in the same footsteps.

I personally have a great appreciation for creativity, both as an individual and as an aspiring professional.  You do not have to be a professional artist or a drama expert to be creative. Everyone is creative in their own way. The infographic below highlights the various myths surrounding creativity. In the future I will make sure to highlight the to my pupils to ensure they do not have these restricted views.

FREEZE FRAMES 

Freeze frames can be a beneficial way of learning in schools. This is by simply creating a scene or picture freezing their bodies, to communicate a story or a message (Baldwin, P, 2009).

I watched the following video to view an experience of freeze frames being used in the classroom. The teacher asks several questions such as questioning children on what is happening, why, where and she also challenges the pupils to consider alternative endings. This encourages the children to think creatively, as all pupils responded with varied answers.

I will be encouraged to use this method in future practice as you can see the children are very engages. This method of learning is more fun than traditional textbook work, and could be used all over the curriculum, for example in history or even music.

References

Bakare, L., 2020. Government scraps ballet dancer reskilling ad criticised as ‘crass’. The Guardian, [online] Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/12/ballet-dancer-could-reskill-with-job-in-cyber-security-suggests-uk-government-ad> [Accessed 17 October 2020].

Baldwin, P (2009) School Improvement Through Drama: A creative whole class, whole school approach network continuum pages 136 – 139. [Accessed 23 October 2020]

Education Scotland, 2020. [image] Available at: <https://education.gov.scot/nih/Documents/Creativity/CRE24_Infographics/cre24-debunking-creativity-myths.pdf> [Accessed 23 October 2020].

Gilderson Primary, 2020. Freeze Frame. [image] Available at: <https://youtu.be/LFbqf4v6MKQ> [Accessed 23 October 2020].

TED, 2007. Do Schools Kill Creativity?.

Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY> [Accessed 17 October 2020].

1. Mistakes Are Proof That You Are Trying. [image] Available at: <https://www.freepik.com/premium-vector/mistakes-are-proof-that-you-are-trying-quote-typography_6333537.htm> [Accessed 17 October 2020].