20th September 2016

Music

My Personal Experience with Music

Music Session

Within the music session we had I was introduced to many ways that you can use music within a classroom- the opportunities are endless! The lecturer highlighted how music doesn’t just have to be a ‘subject’ and can be incorporated into many areas of the curriculum. The specific task that we had to carry out was listening to a piece of music and writing down how it made you feel. This task emulated to me how powerful music was and how it can affect your mood. The next task that we carried out was something that was perfect to use with children in the schools that incorporated the area of literacy. This task was listening to a piece of music and planning a story of what you may think was happening at the time the music was written for. This proved to me that music can be used in many areas of the curriculum. For this task you need to use many skills such as listening, thinking and being innovative/creative relating to the Curriculum for Excellence outcome :

‘I have listened to a range of music and can respond by discussing my thoughts and feelings. I can give and accept constructive comment on my own and others’ work. EXA 1-19a / EXA 2-19a ‘ 

Next steps

There are many skills that children acquire through music such as increased fine motor skills due to the playing of an instrument for instance. The ability to coordinate rhythmically is very important for the growth of literacy skills and music also improves a child’s ability to reason with the space around them. (Hallam, 2015)

Reflections

I personally would love to adapt music into the classroom and find that the story telling activity to music would be a great way to incorporate music into the child’s curriculum. I want to grow as learner and find out more ways in which I can incorporate music into other areas such as mathematics, health and well being and so fourth. I believe that through my own knowledge of music and the sessions ahead I will be able to make valuable notes on how I can do this as a future educator as have a deeper understanding of how important it is to be creative within the curriculum and take advantage of the fact that learning doesn’t have to be textbook based.

References

Hallam, S. (2015). International Journal of Music Education: Practice and Research. [Online] Available at:- http://ijm.sagepub.com/content/28/3/269 Last Accessed:- 04/10/2016

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
Last Accessed:- 04/10/2016

Art

My personal experience with art

   This is  a range of my  art work.

 

This is pictures of the story box I created:

 Art Session

Within the classroom we looked at different pieces of art work created by children from all stages of the school e.g. early, middle and upper. We looked at the art work from each stage of development and evaluated the possible learning experiences the child may have had. We felt, smelled, examined and touched the different pieces of art work. It was important to reflect during this experience as it is easy to look at the work without thinking anything of the conditions it was made in. During this task it was important for me to consider the materials that may have been available to the child and to consider if the activity was child or teacher lead. This is a question that I have not previously considered until today, it was very evident in the children’s pieces of work of the learning activity was child lead or not. This proves how important the role a teacher has during a child’s learning. My favourite piece of art work was created a child in the early years:

I choose this painting as it highlights to us that the activity was child lead and there were a range of materials available to the child. The child was able to use multiple colours: green, brown, black, red, yellow and blue. These are primary colours which gave the child the choice to experiment and mix to create new colours. The piece of paper is larger than the ‘normal’ A4 size, showing that there was a range of materials. The child has clearly been allowed to be expressive and create their own picture which resembles a face. After close examination I asked myself, which line represents the body? Where are the legs? Is that a beard? Who is it? Could it be a significant figure in the child’s life? It looks like the child is going through the pre-schematic stage highlighted by Lowenfeld and Brittain. This is when a child beings to create refined shapes that resemble important things in a child’s life e.g. painting of mum or dad. This stage highlights to us the child’s progress to developing more complex pieces of art work as they develop there skill set. (McAuliffe, 2007).

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. Last Accessed: 04/10/16