Unfortunately the final piece of my evocative object was misplaced within the university and therefore I do not have a photograph of it. However, the process of creating it has been outlined throughout my blogs.

The words I accompanied my object with were:

Memories from my childhood of family members held dear,

Memories of great happiness throughout my early years.

Treasured item bringing feelings of love

I have now outgrown this ring but will never throw it away

As I will always remember wearing it each and every day

Here is the link to my groups presentation:

https://prezi.com/3nmecvyfqwqo/how-the-expressive-arts-help-children-deal-with-challenging/

We focussed on how the expressive arts help children deal with challenging circumstances. Each of us considered a different area of the arts, I researched and discussed Dance and Drama.

This weeks session took place at Kelvingrove in Glasgow. This was a very real learning experience as instead of sitting in a classroom discussing pieces of art, we were allowed to explore the variety of artwork in a real gallery/museum. This meant that we were extremely engaged and excited, as children would also be.

Something that highlighted this to me was that during our Integrated Arts module we spent some time considering the painting Windows in the West by Avril Paton.

Looking at this painting from a video/photograph was fine at the time, but when we had the chance to see the painting in person and study it and its detail up close I realised the vast extent to which being able to view something in person is better.

Places like Kelvingrove are easily accessible for schools to visit and I think it is a great opportunity to take pupils on a school trip to provide a memorable learning experience for them.

This weeks session began with a discussion about outdoor learning, this is something that I am very passionate about. I believe that being outside in the fresh air and not confined to the formal setting of a classroom makes lessons more enjoyable and easier to be engaged in by learning through experience.

“All aspects of the curriculum can be explored outside. The sights, sounds and smells of the outdoors, the closeness to nature, the excitement most children feel, the wonder and curiosity all serve to enhance and stimulate learning” (Education Scotland, 2010).“The core values of curriculum for excellence match the concepts of outdoor learning which are challenge, enjoyment, relevance, depth, development of a person and adventurous approach to learning” (Education Scotland, 2010).

Children and young people can sometimes behave differently outdoors, quiet pupils may speak more, others become calmer and more focused when outside (Education Scotland, 2011) being outdoors can stimulate different thinking and actions as it is a very real learning experience by being practical instead of passive. The place in which people learn also helps them to make connections between their experiences and the world around them in a meaningful context, outdoor places provide a diversity of resources and spaces that is hard to replicate in an indoor environment. (Education Scotland, 2011).

We then took the session outside ourselves, we were allowed to choose materials to take with us, my group decided to take wool. We had no idea what we were going to do with it, once we were outside there were endless opportunities to allow our imagination to run wild. We were able to come together as a group and share all of our ideas and work as a team to create something lovely. 

It was a good feeling to add some colour and creativity to the surroundings, it was a chance to express the arts. I think that children would love to do this, not only for all of the benefits mentioned of simply being outdoors but to allow them to put their creative stamp on their surroundings and allow them the freedom to express their imagination anywhere they wanted and leave their work for all to see.

References 

Education Scotland (2011) Practical Guidance, ideas and support for teachers and practitioners in Scotland [Online]. Available: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/images/outdoorlearningsupport_tcm4-675958.pdf [Accessed 11 February 2017].

STEM refers to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It is now argued that there is a need to add Art & design to this and transform STEM to STEAM. This is something which I definitely agree with. The objectives of the STEAM movement are to transform research policy to place Art & Design at the centre of STEM, encourage the integration of Art and Design in education & influence employers to hire artists and designers. Through studying integrated arts and through placement etc I definitely think the Arts are greatly important within education.

Within this session we had a class discussion about how we felt about STEM to STEAM and had a look at a local festival which incorporated STEAM and considered how the arts were being integrated.

Towards the end of this session we continued our evocative object pieces. Thinking back to the words we accompanied our objects with, we encompassed these within a drawing.

Printmaking is a great way for pupils of all ages to experiment and explore visual art. It can be applied throughout the key stages, adapted to suit different levels of ability and can encompass almost any theme or curriculum area (YSP,2013).

In todays session we were relating back to our evocative object through print making. We drew our object and made a print of it.

There are various benefits for print making such as: problem solving, teamwork, communication etc. Arguably the most important benefit is that it allows children to develop fine motor skills due to the hands on nature of the task. (YSP, 2013).

There are various different stages of print making which can be adapted to suit an individuals ability, we were allowed to experience this as in our Integrated Arts module we had practiced print making using polystyrene whereas this time we were using lino. It was clear that using lino was much more difficult and requires extra patience and concentration, this was interesting to see.

Print making can be incorporated across many curricular areas such as science, history, maths, ICT etc.  It is something that I would definitely like to try and implement throughout placement.

With a subject matter as broad as life itself. The arts easily relate to aspects of almost everything else that is taught (Charles Fowler, n.d.)

Reference 

Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2013) Exploring Printmaking. [Online] Available:http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/872850/mod_resource/content/1/ignite-teacher-resource-printmaking.pdf [Accessed 6 April]

This session was dedicated to learning through animation, we looked at various ways of doing so.

As  a class we discussed animation which is a filmmaking technique where illusion of motion is created frame by frame.  Something I learned was that the word actually comes from the latin word ‘anima’ which means ‘life’ or ‘soul’.

I had never really considered animation until now, I have come to realise that animation is extremely important both within our everyday lives and to implement within education. Animation is found within tv, movies, computer games etc that everyone is familiar with. In regards to animation within education, there are endless benefits and opportunities. Some benefits include developing visual literacy skills, discriminating and interpreting actions and images, developing problem solving skills, encouraging critical thinking and the opportunity to work co-operatively. Animation can be used across the curriculum and gives children the opportunity to be creative and explore various ideas.

In this session we were shown examples of animation and given the opportunity to try this for ourselves using clay, paper and sand. We were also able to create flick books. As we were making animation ourselves we were given the chance to experience the benefits, it definitely develops thinking and problem solving skills as you are constantly having to consider how it is going to work, what you need to do next etc.  It also allowed us to work co-operatively, I worked with my friend using clay to create stop motion animation, this was a fun experience and I think that it is something that children would love as they are likely to be familiar with playing using plasticine, this would allow them to take this basic skill one step further and actually create their own animations through it.

It was also shown how easy it is to teach this when provided with the resources you can let your imagination wander and you are allowed to become extremely creative. It is very satisfying when the work all comes together and creates an animation.

An interesting website relating to this is – http://www.movingimageducation.org/

Reference:

Bates, L. (2016) 5 real benefits of using animation in the classroom. [Online] Available:https://www.fractuslearning.com/2013/12/06/animation-in-the-classroom/ [Accessed: 21 January 2017]

As this was our first session in this module we were given an introduction to Expressive Arts and Culture and engaged in a class discussion about this, considering what this actually means and how we will go about addressing it throughout the module.

The intentions for this module are that as students by the end of it we will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of how the expressive arts and culture through creativity, aesthetics and value judgement develops cognitive ability.
2. Engage with the material culture for one or more of the Expressive Arts.
3.  Understand the complex relationship between the expressive arts, culture and society.

I am interested by these intentions and look forward to progressing throughout the module.

Throughout the session we focussed on learning through evocative objects for teaching and learning. Prior to this session we were asked to choose an evocative object and bring it in.

At first I was puzzled as I actually had never heard of the word evocative before and did not know what it meant, this allowed me to research and fully consider its meaning.

One definition of evocative is ‘evoking or tending to evoke an especially emotional response, something that brings strong images, memories or feelings to mind’.

This provoked me to consider an object in my possession that is truly memorable, straight away something came to mind. When I was very young, close family members gave me a gold ring which I wore every day and treasured. Nowadays, this ring is far too small for me but it is something I have always kept as it brings back such memories of my childhood.

During this session each person had their own evocative object, as a whole class we went round each person and described our objects and the feelings behind it. This was very interesting as everyones objects were different and unique to the individual, as were their feelings behind it. It was intriguing to see how simple objects can spark such memories and emotion. After discussing this we were shown a book that showed how stories can be attached to an object in 62 words or less. We were given time to try this for ourselves.

To end the session we were encouraged to think about the rest of the module and proposed with the question ‘How will you be able to co create?’ – we created a mind map on this. This was beneficial as we could think about what we should do in the coming weeks within the module.