I never really knew how to even approach teaching music before and after the first input it doesn’t seem as difficult as it is in my head. For subjects like these it feels like if you’re not already musically talented you won’t be able to teach it well. However, clapping to the syllables of squares and circles to build a beat and rhythm, I thought, was a great idea as it brings in the maths and literacy element and provides stepping stones to reading music.
Some children may feel instantaneously disadvantaged when it comes to music if some of their peers already play an instrument and have been taught outside of school so may be apprehensive to join in because of the fear of not being good. Using the Pentatonic Scale was great as you don’t have to have a musical ear to hit the notes in any particular order for it to sound nice and go along with the music. I feel like that would break the initial nerves and relax children for playing music.
This week’s session was a continuation from last week and new aspects were added to our dance. Since we are in the month of October we were given a Halloween theme, each group were given a picture related to the holiday such as a skeleton, cauldron etc, and had to come up with a dance move to represent that. After showing the moves to the other groups they were all put together to form a sequence which was then followed by the groups performing their individual routines one by one. I really enjoyed the feeling of moving participating as a whole class, it eliminates the isolated feeling of being watched as an individual. Even performing the group performances there was not a heavy sense of pressure and anxiety as we had practiced them so much the apprehensions had decreased due to the repetition and knowing the routine confidently. Adding a topic into the dance provides prompts for the children to demonstrate what knowledge they have gained and how much they have understood to be able to communicate the knowledge to movement (Cone, 2011). Furthermore, Eisner (2002) acknowledges that there are circumstances where understanding cannot be expressed solely through words – the elements of movement and creativity aid demonstrating the cognitive capacity of children especially if they have limited linguistic skills (e.g. children with communicative difficulties) and give a better indication of the individual’s knowledge.
Art
Today’s art session was especially informative and inspiring. Developing on the discussion points highlighted in the first session we agreed that every single child’s work should be regarded as and celebrated as an original. Although insightful to study and be aware of famous artists’ styles and techniques it is important not to reproduce these, but rather take inspiration from to compliment and express their own ideas.
The practical aspect of this workshop was using and creating a piece of work using the unorthodox paint ‘brushes’ made from a variety of materials (string, wool, sponges, etc) attached to a stick.
I absolutely loved using these brushes to paint as you were able to get strokes that I would not be able to produce from the typical paint brush. Using a different kind of apparatus opens up the mind to what else can be used to put the paint on paper, breaking down the familiar expectations of painting allows the child to explore further. Sourcing materials for a paintbrush can also become a lesson in itself be it going out on to the school grounds searching or looking within the classroom.
On a side note, I liked the idea or drawing a border on the pieces of paper as it essentially reduces the paper size so that newspaper does not have to be put on the table reducing waste and reducing the chances of getting paint on the table. Simple, but effective. Although washing the paint off the table is not a particularly difficult task I am aware that some teachers are apprehensive to take out paints because of the massive clean up operation after every session.
Our lecturer described a scene to us which we listened to and then painted on our pieces of paper. I thought this was a brilliant way to get an individual’s creative side working as there was nothing to reproduce, nothing to copy, nothing to compare your own work to, the only image to recreate was the one in your mind’s eye that formed when listening to the description. The difference of interpretation was demonstrated in the class as the lecturer had mentioned a ‘buoy’ in the scene, but since we did not see the word written down where some people had painted a sea buoy others had painted a boy on the boat. This gives insight into how different minds work and how again there is not right or wrong way to expressive oneself in the arts. Csikszentmihayi (n,d) states that creativity is encouraged by curiosity and interest, introducing and encouraging learners to using unorthodox materials will open them up to using anything and everything that takes their interest.
This input from a teacher’s point of view is effective as well, in all aspects (providing a range of resources, a brief description of a scene) the teacher is not giving the learners restrictive instructions. The learners are provided with a platform and foundations and are effectively handed the reigns from there. They are very much in control of their direction and can fully explore their creativity and satisfy curiosities.
From the first lecture with Dairmuid the first thing that stuck in my mind was the degree of teacher involvement when it comes to the creative arts. Teaching kids about famous artists and their styles is great but when children are set tasks to reproduce a painting producing carbon copies of each other it can be rather counterproductive. As good as it is letting children explore different art styles schools should be letting them integrate the styles into their own work instead of using coping and comparing to the original and/or peers’ work.
I loved the lecture we had this week about reading paintings/pictures and using homemade paintbrushes. It was a method I have never really thought of doing before and I thought it was brilliant as it allows children to go off on their own creative directions. With the teacher providing a base for the children to begin it’s amazing where the lack of context can lead people, for example Dairmuid just gave us a boat on a green/blue sea, sky with wispy clouds and a buoy; where some people painted an actual buoy without seeing the spelling of the word others painted a boy swimming in the sea. Linking back to an earlier input where we discussed different interpretations of artwork/concepts it reinforced how people see things in a number of perspectives – there is no one right answer.
Homemade paint brushes and differing takes on the ‘reading’My version of the ‘reading’
Not only this it can be completely cross curricular, the ‘paint brushes’ we used were made from sticks and various materials but depending on the class topic it could be made out of anything. Using sticks, moss/grass clumps, stones for printing etc could tie into an outdoor topic on wildlife and habitats that the kids could collect when out and about finding and observing different kids of wildlife in the school grounds. Although there may be similarities in the work where the kids may all focus on the same part of a topic to paint/create at least they will have picked that object themselves and even then they will vary a lot from one another instead of all looking the exact same.
I have never really had much drama input during my school career apart from one or two school shows in primary school. My secondary school did not offer the subject to study and the only school show we had was a student organised leavers’ show. I do not recall much from the school shows apart from being where to go at what time to the music and learning accompanying songs. Because of this I am quite apprehensive towards drama and acting as it is not something I am familiar with and feels rather alien to my body. However, after meeting students who study Performance at UWS I was able to get a bit more of an insight into the benefits of doing drama, it allows children to express themselves in ways they may not be able to in everyday life so I was really intrigued in learning more myself in this module and how to incorporate it into teaching. Like in dance it is incredibly important for the lead position to lean towards the child, being open minded and embracing their ideas. Exploring and imagining scenes through drama can help children understand the world around them. A teaching method we were introduced to was “teacher in role” which can be incredibly effective. Assuming the two roles and treating the in role character as a completely different person allows for the teacher to ask questions such as “what did they tell you?” so that the children can reiterate what they have learned. Not only this, it keeps them engaged and focused on the lesson making the lesson more memorable.
Dance
The mini dance moves that were learned in the previous session were developed into group routines. This demonstrated how the basic moves can be built up and put together to choreograph a routine. It was also a teaching point about time management, with younger ones it may take a little longer to organise the class into groups and for them to put everything together. To accommodate this it is important to not rush them and give them time to practice and work together.
As a teacher it is of the utmost importance to have a tolerance for ambiguity – there is no right way or wrong way to draw and create. This session allowed me to realise and focus on breaking down the perception that you do not need to be an artist to be able to draw. Writing and mark making can be seen as drawing, as soon as a material hits a piece of paper or other resource it can be argued that a piece of art has been created. The following clip of The Dot is a wonderful video in illustrating this in a way both adults and children can understand.
I really appreciated this realisation as when I was younger I loved drawing random squiggles and adapting it into a drawing. I would have considered this as mindless doodling as opposed to art however thinking about it in a different light has shown me to appreciate that this doodling is a form of art and should be acknowledged. The workshop perfectly solidified this as manipulating the ink prints showed how something may not look like much initially but when looked at again closely and at a different angle it can take form as an animal or an object.
Dance
The idea of teaching and performing dance did not excite me in the slightest, I am not very able in the execution of dance never mind teaching it. Dancing was never something I have enjoyed doing more than just swinging a hairbrush around my room thinking I was the Spice Girl missing from the group and as I got older the idea of dancing turned into half-hearted swaying of the body with a drink in hand. Nothing really more, nothing really less – it’d be far too embarrassing. The in-between stages only consisting of the yearly winter social dancing lessons which consisted of running away from the boys who you didn’t want to hold hands with.
However, this session was great for providing teaching methods and ways to eliminate the class fear of touching one another. The games during the workshop today were really effective for getting kids more comfortable with each other. Playing games such as People-to-People and number games involving sitting back to back, being lifted up etc made me forget the awareness of the others’ bodies as I was only focusing on completing the task of elbow to elbow, knee to elbow etc. Games like these eradicate the discomfort of bodily contact by replacing it with fun. We also discussed that dance lessons realistically do not require a lot of work from the teacher’s point of view, I really liked how easy it was developing on the 10 basic moves to getting the kids to put moves to numbers so then they can easily take the reigns in making up their own dance moves. Randomly generating the order of the numbers allows each group to have a different routine and for the children to come up with ways of how they will connect the moves.
Dancing was never something I have enjoyed doing more than just swinging a hairbrush around my room thinking I was the Spice Girl missing from the group and as I got older the idea of dancing turned into half-hearted swaying of the body with a drink in hand. Nothing really more, nothing really less – it’d be far too embarrassing. The in-between stages only consisting of the yearly winter social dancing sessions which consisted of running away from the boys who you didn’t want to hold hands with.
The games during the workshop today were really effective for getting kids more comfortable with each other. Playing games such as People-to-People and number games involving sitting back to back, being lifted up etc made me forget the awareness of the others’ bodies as I was only focusing on completing the task of elbow to elbow, knee to elbow etc. Games like these eradicate the discomfort of bodily contact by replacing it with fun. Teaching through dance is especially engaging as the children can take the lead after input, creating their own dances and choreography; furthermore, it can build confidence in the individual during group discussions for dances as in dance there won’t be the ability ‘hierarchy’ which can be prevalent in some classroom subjects. For parents as well, when putting on performances it gives the children who don’t usually come to the forefront to be seen and appreciated. Dance is also an effective platform for demonstrating and gauging the children’s understanding of topics if they’re given a topic and are asked to create a dance on said topic (Cone, 2011). As Eisner (2002) stated understanding might not be expressed solely through words – the elements of movement and creativity aid demonstrating the cognitive capacity of children especially if they do have limited linguistic skills (e.g. kids with autism, learning difficulties) and give a better indication of the individual’s knowledge.
From a teacher’s point of view there really isn’t much input from the teacher aside from directing and providing basic structures. From there the pupils can take it into whatever direction they want to, the teacher themselves can alter little parts to create fillers, make the routine as a whole more fluid, or arrange it
At first I was dreading the class dance as I thought it was just be awkward and embarrassing but as each stage was put together over the weeks it was pretty good seeing everyone loosening up a bit and cracking on. It just showed to me that teaching and utilising dance isn’t as difficult or daunting as it initially sounds. I really liked how easy it was developing on the 10 basic moves to getting the kids to put moves to numbers so then they can easily take the reigns in making up their own dance moves. As long as they are provided a bit of structure a whole terms worth of dance can be provided and can be put into a performance. Not only can classroom content be used as an influence for the dance theme, musicality is also introduced through keeping the beat and rhythm and it gets the children moving contributing to healthy living. Overall I really saw the significance in teaching dance and will be definitely be remembering these methods to teach to my future classes.
References
Cone, T.P. (2009) Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances, Journal of Dance Education, [Online] Vol.9(3), pp.81-89. Available: Moodle [Accessed: 04 October 2016].
Eisner, E (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind. Yale University Press.
I remember back when I was in primary school I made a lot of creations with a number of different materials through a number of different methods that I could take home and show to my parents with great pride. I really loved these classes as it allowed me to get hands-on with my work and it was so much more fun than sitting at a desk answering questions from a textbook. However, looking back now I realised that although I made a variety of things there wasn’t much room for my own alterations to the project; everyone in the class’ looked the same apart from the colours you used to decorate whatever it was. From the first input looking at the different levels of artwork throughout a school Diarmuid mentioned the interesting question of “how much teacher involvement was there?” which is something I probably wouldn’t have thought about beforehand. Although on the surface it looks like the child had the chance to be creative and express themselves it may not be the case, the teacher may have directed them in a certain direction, giving precise instructions decreasing the window of creativity.
The Curriculum for Excellence experience and outcomes for Expressive Arts states that:
“My learning in, through and about the expressive arts:
enables me to experience the inspiration and power of the arts
recognises and nurtures my creative and aesthetic talents
allows me to develop skills and techniques that are relevant to specific art forms and across the four capacities
provides opportunities for me to deepen my understanding of culture in Scotland and the wider world
is enhanced and enriched through partnerships with professional arts companies, creative adults and cultural organisations.”
After speaking to some teachers and reflecting back on my own experience I think it’s great that there is more of an emphasis on expressive arts and are cross curricular. It shows children that subjects such as Maths and English can be approached in numerous ways and facilitates children that learn creatively as opposed to traditional rote learning. It encourages problem solving skills within the child as the creative arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer; it promotes looking at things from different perspectives (Eisner, 2002), a transferable skill into the wider world thus contributing to the CfE’s aim of making the learner a more confident individual, this was actually demonstrated in a workshop when we were discussing some of the children’s artwork, one piece of work triggered multiple interpretations, doing so boosts children’s confidence because it can reduce the feel of a ‘competition’ between classmates. As well as this, I am really appreciative that this is part of my university course because in the face of cuts external teachers in the arts are usually one of the first places where schools will reduce to save money, so if I appreciate and am confident in delivering the arts then I will be a more effective and desirable teacher.
Eisner, E (2002)
Keeping these things in mind I am really looking forward to this module and what it has to offer.
References:
LTS (2009) Expressive arts: Experiences and outcomes. Available at: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/expressive_arts_experiences_outcomes_tcm4-539863.pdf (Accessed: 4 October 2016).
Eisner, E (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind. Yale University Press.
It’s been well known for some time now that the arts is positively linked to academic achievement, social and emotional development among other things (Smith, 2009). It is acknowledged in the education system as it stimulates the brain in ways textbooks cannot and was a massive step forward to integrate it into formal education. However, after being in practice for a number of years the delivery is being revised so that children get the most out of the arts through varying mediums such as dance, drama, music and can bring out a child’s artistic potential.
Art can be taken in so many different ways. What one person might see another person will see something completely different with neither being right or wrong. This is the main point I gained from today’s input when we were going round looking at artwork ranging across the whole of the primary school. I wouldn’t describe myself as being incredibly art-inclined, I’ve always leaned closer to the facts and figures so when I saw this image the first thought that came to my head was that the child was practicing drawing the number 4 and had made it into a circular pattern. However, when brought to the wider class discussion someone else said it looked more like a child drawing chairs around a table – the possible classroom layout where the child was. It could have been either of the ideas or none at all and that is the great thing about art; there is no right or wrong answer.
Another concept brought to attention was the involvement of the class teacher in the production of the art piece. Was the child told to use a specific technique to produce the piece of art? Was the child given an image to reproduce or was it an original idea? Was the child incorporating a number of techniques they have seen from famous artists or were they just copying a painting? Did the child have a choice of resources? How long would the piece taken to create? Was it done in one sitting or multiple?
Children’s reproductions of Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’
All these questions were considered and it highlighted the importance of the teacher’s role in cultivating a child’s creativity. Although learning about the different styles and techniques of famous artists is important and practicing them to see the effect they have in producing an image, getting a whole class to reproduce a version of a famous painting can be counterproductive. Instead of an exercise which allows the child to explore a style of art it becomes an exercise of who can reproduce the painting closest to the original or who can follow instructions correctly; this puts up barriers to creativity if the child’s work can be compared to the rest of the class’s in a way where one can be ‘the best’ and one ‘the worst’. Dictating what the child produces does not allow them to exercise their potential and develop their own style. A teacher’s role in the creative process should be focused on providing the resources and platforms for the child to take what they will and create as opposed to the teacher leading the process and putting up boundaries – supporting the creativity, not imposing (Bruce, 2004:12 as cited in Craft, 2007). There needs to be a balance between providing too much structure which can demotivate a child and providing too much freedom where the child can get confused and lost (Craft, 2007) to allow for the child’s creativity to develop and flourish.
This has made me think of my impact as a student teacher and how I need to be mindful of teaching methods so not to restrict children and their learning. This different way of thinking and seeing things from multiple perspectives has made me reflect on my personal experience of expressive art in primary school and how it has influenced my views of my own ability of creativity. It has opened my eyes to how important it is that children are not put off acknowledging they are creative and how creativity should not be measured and compared to those around them. It has made me really excited to get into this module and practicing not seeing everything as clear cut as black and white.
Music
I have always thought I was never musically gifted but it is as I have gotten older it has occurred to me that my inability to play an instrument does not make me ‘bad’ at music; it does not mean that my creative capacity cannot gain from music. I have always enjoyed listening to music from a young age and it makes me feel a range of emotions, it is the perfect partner to every aspect of life, the best days and the worst days. It can take you back to certain periods or time and help release stress, anger, joy and elation.
The activity we did in the music workshop today was stimulating, it showed how even just listening to music can exercise one’s imagination, creativity and portray emotions in ways that words cannot. Discussing how short audio clips made us feel showed how music affects us in all different ways – where a clip may make one person feel incredibly happy it can strongly anger someone else with many others in between. Creating a comic strip of what scenario came to mind whilst listening to the music was a brilliant way to provide a structure to showcase one’s imagination, it gave us the foundations to work off of with the only restrictions being our own thoughts, not capability. Presenting the scenario to the rest of the class what your group came up with perfectly illustrated how different people’s responses can be without being ‘wrong’ responses. It shows how little boundaries there are within the arts and how music can work the mind.
Experiences in the expressive arts involve creating and presenting and are practical and experiential. Evaluating and appreciating are used to enhance enjoyment and develop knowledge and understanding.
My learning in, through and about the expressive arts:
enables me to experience the inspiration and power of the arts
recognises and nurtures my creative and aesthetic talents
allows me to develop skills and techniques that are relevant to specific art forms and across the four capacities
provides opportunities for me to deepen my understanding of culture in Scotland and the wider world
is enhanced and enriched through partnerships with professional arts companies, creative adults and cultural organisations.
(Education Scotland, 2009)
Creativity and utilizing expressive arts is beneficial to a child as it is relevant across a range of learning, be it in imaginative play and mark-making in the early years to solving disputes in later life (Duffy, 2006).
Expressive arts in the curriculum is used to help enhance, accompany and enhance the child’s learning. Some topics and concepts can be hard to learn from a teacher explaining it theoretically and not experienced which is where drama, art, music and dance can step in and take the lead. Creativity and the arts has been associated with benefits in subjects such as Maths and English (Smith, 2009) as well as being a central role in cognitive development; it is through symbolic representation that children require the facility for abstract thought (Duffy, 2006). As well as this, children learn in all different ways: kinetically, visually and auditory and exercising their understanding in the arts can compliment their preferred way of learning. Experimenting with different forms of art in traditional and unorthodox ways allows for the learner to practice and discover any talents they may have and further their understanding of the world around them as art can be found everywhere and is no longer reserved to the upper classes of society to appreciate. Having the opportunity to exercise creativity from the early years allows for the learner to develop and nurture their creative talents and acknowledge where their talents can take them.
