11th October 2016
Art
Art Session
An aspect that was covered today, was the idea of allowing children to create their own paintbrushes. Giving them the chance to make their own choice of tool, by using household items or any unused resources -deemed appropriate- can make all the difference to their work. If the resources are all the same e.g. all given a new two inch paint brush there may be more precision and not much variation in regards to brush stroke- but if the tools are handmade they will be unique.
Above is examples of handmade paintbrushes and the second image is the paintbrush I used.
As a class we challenged the idea of the colour wheel and how important it is to a child’s learning. The colour wheel is a guided process that requires children to place colours together in order to see their relationship. It is deemed that this process does not enable children to explore for themselves and find out this information from trial and error e.g. they want to make blue and do not achieve this on the first go. All children need to make the colours of the rainbow are three primary colours; blue, red and yellow as well as white as a mixer.
Future Teacher
A very interested technique was used by the lecturer today and is something that i will implement in future practice. This was instead of showing the children an image to be inspired by simply read them a description of what is going in the image to allow them to interpret it in their own way. This enables them to use their imagination and they wont be focused on getting the image ‘picture perfect’ as it is their own idea of what is going on. I personally really liked this idea as I feel as a learner, you do become self conscious of what is going on around you and what your peers work looks like. It was said that during the ‘gang stage’ which occurs in children at ages (9-12 years) that as children become more aware of what others are doing they become “self conscious about their work and own ability in art and design.” (McAuliffe, 2007 p.27). Then you begin to compare your work to others which can knock your self confidence and start to think ‘oh mines isn’t as good as theirs’.
Above is a picture of myself before I began with my homemade paintbrush at the ready.
Above is some action shots of my classmates and I creating our own images.
Here is a few stages of my own painting:
I really enjoyed experimenting with the different colours and seeing how the different ways I held my brush or the amount of pressure I put on it made a different mark.
After hearing a vivid description of a picture, we all created our very own interpretation of them, I was amazed to see that they all had very similar ideas but looked completely different.
My painting
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My peers paintings.
Throughout the session today it was very clear that even though everyone heard the same description, no two pieces of work was the same highlighting that we are all unique individuals who have our own creative minds. I personally would feel very confident carrying out this type of activity with the children as I feel it would be a very valuable experience for the children. However, I would consider making my own paintbrushes with the children prior to carrying out the activity depending on their age and stage as well as availability of resources e.g. children bringing them in.
A very proud me holding my finished piece of work:
References
McAuliffe, D. (2007) Foundation and Primary Settings. In teaching Art and Design 3-11 [Edited by Sue Cox, Robert Watts, Judy Grahame, Steve Herne and Diarmuid McAuliffe] London: Continuum.
Dance
Dance Session
Within the session today we built upon our Halloween theme and furthered our dance routine as a group. We were building on our 10 steps and the routine we had previous created. See the video here:
The lecturer gave a piece of paper which had 6 dance moves on it- some of which we hadn’t heard or recognised before.
This encouraged us to be creative and use our thinking skills to put a piece of movement to the word. This part was difficult in our group as a lot of us had different ideas, so we took a vote to decide on the final move. I found this part of the task very easy as I found myself imagining multiple moves for the one word. After much discussion and practice we tried our best at the routine in front of the whole class. I really enjoyed this session and get proud to show off what we collectively created.
After we did this, we came together as a group and built on the class dance that we created through the use of pictures to do with out Halloween theme. We incorporated a starting position, change of position movement, each groups individual dance and finally ending. We put the effort whole thing to music and performed for the lecturer. I feel this type of building learning is good for the children as it is incorporating the following weeks work and extending it for them- allowing it to be child lead. This links to the CFE outcome:
I can explore and choose movements to create and present dance, developing my skills and techniques. EXA 2-08a
Cone said that ” One of the most powerful experiences dance educators can offer children is the opportunity to create a dance that reflects their ideas. Empowering children to create dances about what is personally meaningful presents them with the responsibility and commitment to bring their vision alive.” (Cone, T.P., 2009) This is what the heart of the learning experience was all about and it was enjoyable to take on the role of the learner but equally think as a future educator in how to provide it to children.
References
Cone, T.P. (2009) Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances, Journal of Dance Education [Online] Available at:
http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/846498/mod_resource/content/1/Purcell%20Cone%20%282011%29.pdf
McAuliffe, D. (2007) Foundation and Primary Settings. In teaching Art and Design 3-11 [Edited by Sue Cox, Robert Watts, Judy Grahame, Steve Herne and Diarmuid McAuliffe] London: Continuum.
Scottish Government. (2010). Curriculum for Excellence: Expressive Arts Experiences and Outcomes. [Online] Available at: https://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/all_experiences_outcomes_tcm4-539562.pdf
[Accessed: 12/10/2016]
