December 2016 – BA2 Education

Week 9: Multi-Modal Resources

Music

Following on from using GarageBand last week we were introduced to Charanga building up a bank of methods to make music multi-modal. Charanga is an incredible bank of learning aids which helps teachers form lesson plans for topics and provide a vast range of activities and exercises for the pupils. It is a great resource for teachers who feel like they do not have enough experience to teach music off their own knowledge which makes music accessible for all pupils. As a student teacher who has very minimal musical knowledge it is comforting to know there are resources available to assist teaching so that the children do not miss out.

Art

Today brought in aspects of teaching pupils about artists and incorporating their work into lessons. Avril Paton’s “Window in the West” was the inspiration to the workshop which shows the intimate lives of those living in the tenement housing across from her flat in Glasgow. I thought this was a great piece to work on because it can easily be adapted to the children’s personal surrounding such as the houses across from their own and their own neighbours.

Using the artwork as inspiration as opposed to a model for the lesson removes the barriers of creativity that recreation establishes. Ink printing allowed the children to learn a new method of creating as well as exploring other artists’ inspiration. I really enjoyed this workshop because it allowed us to observe how to teach pupils about famous artists alongside nurturing their own personal creative abilities as well as showing how to show pupils the different kinds of materials that can be used in art and creating.

Week 8: Microteaching

Music

Learning how to use the basics of GarageBand is really effective to enhancing the child’s experience. It opens up opportunities for children to still make music even if they cannot play an instrument as the software comes loaded an audio library that the user can manipulate and put together. This is especially relevant when a lot of mainstream music includes DJs and producers. Although it does make it more accessible to some children there are restrictions to the software however, as it is only available on Apple Mac products which are incredibly costly for schools and children’s parents.

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Drama

Today’s drama lesson was about micro-teaching where we put what we had learned into practice. I really like these lessons as we are able to take inspiration from our peers and shows how these techniques compliment and enhance learning. Using well-known media such as Harry Potter and The Gruffalo shows that it does demonstrate the knowledge of the media and can be really engaging and fun.

Week 7: Strings Initiative Programme

“Working together, supporting each other and mastering new techniques and ideas, teaches young people to embrace teamwork and understand that we all respond to challenges differently and it’s more powerful in a peer to peer setting.” Councillor Stephanie Primrose, East Ayrshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Skills and Learning (2016)

Today’s music session was brilliant. Greenmill Primary School came into the university and told us about the Strings Project and taught us how to play an instrument. This allowed us to see the benefits these children have gained from learning a musical instrument and being part of a school orchestra; as well as this we were able to experience being taught by a child which shows how much knowledge and understanding they have gained from the experience. Studying music increases multiple skills that extend to other academic areas which will lead to overall academic success (Arts Education Partnership, 2011).

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It was extremely inspiring to hear from the pupils’ points of view and how being involved in music has benefited them academically and personally – helping concentration and social relationships within the class. It emphasised the need to teach music and involve it in a child’s education.

Drama

We practiced making drama cross-curricular today putting the techniques we had learned into practice. Using Anthony Browne’s The Tunnel as a stimulus we adapted each technique to the book to show how they can all be utilized. One of the techniques I really liked and felt would be incredibly beneficial to the children was drawing around one of us and writing how the character would have felt on the inside and how others would have perceived them from the outside. This would get the children thinking about not judging people before getting to know them. This activity can be done privately as an individual or as a group which can spur discussion as a class.

Week 6: Child-centered Ideas

Dance

It was the last session of dance and we put all the parts together to make a whole class routine which lasted around 5 minutes. Even though it did not feel like we had done a lot in terms of putting together a routine which would last 5 minutes it worked really well. I think it was really effective having a number of groups as it lightened the pressure on the individual to remember a multitude of steps for the routine to be executed. Putting all the groups together and adding a couple of transitions a collective routine was formed which created a sense of achievement and pride as they will have been working on it for a number of weeks. Even though there was not a huge sense of working as a whole class since we were separated in groups there was a big social aspect when the whole class was moving in sync. Dance is an effective platform that allows the child to take the lead in learning as they can engage their imagination and creativity when it comes to coming up with moves; as well as this it challenges the children to think of solutions due to space restriction, costumes and props which will develop their confidence as creators and performers (Cone, 2011).

From a teacher’s point of view there is so flexibility to teaching dance and almost every classroom topic can be integrated into and enhanced through dance. It allows the children to demonstrate the depth and range of their knowledge on the topic as well as providing the freedom to be creative and explore their imagination. Because of this there can be very minimal teacher input, guiding the children only in supervising timing, positioning, providing transitional moves and any other minor fillers. Taking part in this aspect of the module has really changed my opinion on dance, beforehand I never realised the benefits to the child from teaching dance.

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Music

The music input was fun and informative. We were taught methods of how to make reading music simpler making it easier for younger stages to digest and be introduced to musical theory. Using shapes to represent music notes not only makes it easier to differentiate the timings each note represents but makes it cross-curricular.

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Practicing using the pentatonic scale was another great technique to reduce any anxieties anyone may have around playing music. Playing in front of the whole class was initially daunting if you did not have any previous experience however the magic of the pentatonic scale was that no matter what note you played they still went along to the backing track of “Hit the Road Jack”. From this little success it relaxes the class’ approach to playing music.

Week 5: Integrated Arts in the Curriculum

Art

Today was really insightful into the delivery of an arts lesson. Although we had become aware of the importance of adapting lessons to allow creativity to flow and not to put up barriers to nurturing their skills we had not really touched on the execution of this. Having a guest speaker from the council gave an insight into how to put it into practice in the classroom. Being shown methods of how to introduce learners to new materials and techniques at different ages and stages allowed me to see how the arts can be integrated into the curriculum in a number of different ways.

The workshop was a wonderful way to demonstrate how a number of different techniques and skills can be incorporated to make a diverse final piece. Putting all the smaller pieces together perfectly showed how to introduce a number of techniques (line drawing, motor skills, water colour, material manipulation, collage) shows how the learners can practice without the inputs dragging on too long and the children getting bored. Providing the children with inspiration from a variety of colours, home life ensures that every piece is unique and cannot be directly compared to each others’. It is an activity that would definitely keep children engaged as they are not being told how their work should be done, how it should look or where it should be done which makes it far more enjoyable for the child (Mason, 2004).

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Drama

Today’s session focused on the methods that can be used to teach and incorporate drama into lessons.

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A lot of these methods were really new to me as I have not had much drama experience before. I really liked thought tracking with still image as it allows the whole class to get involved and provides opportunity to put themselves in the character’s position which can enhance and energize descriptive writing (Education not Limited, 2013). Through acting out and exploring scenes I think that children will be able to express a range of emotions and feelings that they may not have the chance to in every day life which will help them understand themselves and the world around them.

Placement Tasks

During my serial days I have been making note of the sustainable methods the school have adopted into their routine. Outside the school there is a fenced off garden which is being developed for growing plants and creating a habitat for woodland creatures for the pupils to observe.

Within classrooms each class have recycling bags which pupils separate and sort with the recycling monitors at the end of the day with the janitor. Since it is an open plan school wherever there are light switches there are also reminders to turn off the lights when not needed to save energy. Since the pupils are encouraged to do so they also remind the teachers as well as reminding them to turn off the SMART board and projector over lunch to save energy. Close by to the school there is also a singular windmill which is a big talking point for the pupils to learn about renewable energy. As well as this, the school have litter monitors on the playground to make sure no-one litters and pick up anything that may be lying around the playground. After lunch the pupils are encouraged to brush their teeth and to stop them from leaving the tap on as they brush older pupils are designated toothbrush monitors to make sure no-one is wasting water.

Speaking to the pupils they are aware of using sustainable practices to save energy and to keep the environment nice and clear of any litter. A lot of the discussions I had with the pupils were mainly focused on the welfare of local wildlife when it came to making sure litter is put in the bin and recycling. For energy conservation they were not completely aware of where their energy comes from and how it helps the planet.