Integrated Arts – Louise MacDonald UWS ITE ePDP

November 29, 2017December 20, 2017

Integrated Arts Week 12 – 28th November 2017

Today we finalised our section dance. Due to low attendance, both sections were asked to come together to create a dance to be filmed. This meant that students from both sections had to learn the various steps of each other’s dance; this was an effective way to build our tolerance for ambiguity. Once recorded, we watched the video back and using a ‘three stars and a wish’ method, we evaluated our own individual performances, and one other student’s performance. This is an important part of teaching dance, as not only is it one of the three strands of dance as suggested by Smith-Autard (2002), it is also stated that learners should be given opportunities to develop “their capacity to enjoy dance through evaluating performances and commenting on their work and the work of others.” (Scottish Government, n.d.)

The afternoon’s final music input was to be self-directed due to staff illness, and with technicians needing access to the room to deal with faulty lighting, we were restricted in the amount of time we had to spend working through the material on Moodle. However, as only four of us turned up, we could help and support each other well. We used the material provided in advance by the lecturer, to try out some of the instruments, including the ukulele, guitar and piano. I found this extremely beneficial, as I was able to utilise the knowledge and expertise of my peers to improve my own skills and abilities with these instruments, and increase my knowledge and understanding of music terminology and notation, using the constructive feedback received from my colleagues.

Playing Wham’s “Last Christmas” on the ukelele

The element of peer evaluation and feedback in each of today’s inputs was an effective way to round off the Integrated Arts module. As prospective teachers, it is important that we become familiar with and indeed welcome constructive feedback from our peers and colleagues to inform our own development; the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) require both student and qualified teachers to “evaluate their classroom practice, taking account of feedback from others, in order to enhance teaching and learning” (GTCS, 2012).

REFERENCES

General Teaching Council for Scotland, (2012) The Standards for Registration: Mandatory Requirements for Registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland [Online] Available: www.gtcs.org.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.aspx?lID=3029&sID=7417 [Accessed: 15 August 2017]

Scottish Government (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence Edinburgh: Scottish Executive

Smith-Autard, J. (2002) The Art of Dance Education London: A & C Black

November 22, 2017December 20, 2017

Integrated Arts Week 11 – 21st November 2017

This week began with the continuation of the microteaching tasks in drama. Having presented with my group the previous week, this gave me a chance to participate as part of the audience for other groups, without the pressure of presenting. Each of the lessons were enjoyable, however the final group decided to aim their lesson at CfE fourth level students, tackling the issue of misogyny and violence towards women. I found this to be highly engaging and motivating, and at times it was difficult to remember that my fellow students were just playing a part, as they played their roles so well. They used techniques that we had learned about earlier in the module but no other group had used, such as throwing a scrunched-up piece of paper at a life-sized outline of a character whilst verbally expressing our feelings toward that character. This was a very effective way to engross the pupils as active participants in the drama, and get them engaged with the theme of the drama. It is also a good way to allow pupils to convey their feelings and thoughts, which is one of the drama experiences and outcomes for the expressive arts in Curriculum for Excellence (Scottish Government, n.d. p.65):

Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through drama.

EXA 0-13a / EXA 1-13a / EXA 2-13a

It was really useful to see drama used to tackle social justice issues, and gave me a good insight into how I can use drama to explore controversial issues within the classroom, by adapting the lesson to suit the age and maturity levels of my pupils. In this way, drama can also be used to help children develop strategies to use in situations where they are faced with difficult choices, preparing them to be responsible citizens and confident individuals, two of the capacities that Curriculum for Excellence aims to develop in our children and young people.

Within the dance lecture, we looked at the Midway Model for dance in schools (Smith-Autard, 2002). This model proposes that both the process and the product of creative dance are equally valuable, emphasising the importance of the aesthetic aspect of the arts as well as the creative. We also watched a video of a Parkour project undertaken with high school pupils from the local authority, which can be viewed here. This was an appealing project, as it moved the focus for the young boys involved away from traditional competitive sports, whilst giving them the opportunity to develop physical and creative skills, compose a routine and perform on stage, in much the same way as pupils would create a dance performance. Although there were considerable costs involved in funding a qualified instructor, this is something that I think would be highly beneficial to consider implementing, particularly with upper primary children who may not engage with dance as well as hoped.

In the workshop, the lecturer handed over leadership of the learning to us students. Giving each group a different task, we worked collaboratively to create a stretching routine, a warm up, and ten basic dance moves, all around a Christmas theme. Each group then ‘taught’ their activity to the rest of the section. This reinforces the role of the teacher as facilitator, providing the structure and framework for pupils to choreograph their own creative dance, developing problem solving skills, working cooperatively and taking responsibility and ownership of their learning.

This passing control of the content to pupils tied in with the microteaching activities in the drama workshop – giving us the opportunity to practice our teaching skills in each area, and also to put ourselves in the shoes of the learner.

REFERENCES

Scottish Government (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence Edinburgh: Scottish Executive

Smith-Autard, J. (2002) The Art of Dance Education London: A & C Black

November 15, 2017December 19, 2017

Integrated Arts week 10 – 14th November 2017

We began with music this week, and looking at rhythm and beat. Using only drumsticks or beaters, we learned how to tap out the beat to a number of different songs and genres. Similar to the figure notes system we looked earlier in the module, we used a very basic coded system designed to introduce children slowly to the timings of notes. Using words with the same number of syllables as beats in a note, for example ‘square’ for a crotchet and ‘circle’ for a quaver, even the most musically challenged of us (me!) could pick it up easily. This was then extended to the more common ‘ta’ and ‘te-te’ system of counting out the rhythm. We progressed on to the symbols for each note, and then on to reading traditional music notation, including rests and bars. We practiced playing different songs of varying difficulty within these systems, progressing rapidly through a programme that would usually stretch over a number of terms in primary school, to give us an overview of how much the children would learn and develop over the course of this programme. The final activity shown was an interactive task that enabled children to compose their own beat using the various different notes to produce four-beat bars.

Within the visual arts workshop, we discussed as a cohort, the experiences we had each had on placement within the arts. It was clear that there was a lot of similarities and routinisation in our experiences, with not a lot of originality observed. This led on to consideration of alternative themes to use for art; swapping ‘Christmas’ art for ‘Winter’ art, looking at myths such as the firefox legend surrounding the Northern Lights, and thinking about how these could be used to inspire creativity and originality in ideas. Another idea discussed was the notion of removing one of the senses to cause children to think creatively and extend their imaginations – for example playing a movie clip without showing the visuals and encouraging the children to draw their interpretation of the scene. This activity does not require a lot of resources – a simple pencil drawing would suffice – but gives children a chance to develop the basic skill of drawing. Tim Ingold (2013) tells us that we are educating children out of drawing by placing so much more value on writing, which makes this a highly effective activity to impress upon learners the value of drawing and creative interpretation.

The last point discussed was from an international standpoint. We looked at how the environment can be used in the creation of art, through the use of snow in Finnish schools as a material for art. Whilst we don’t get enough snowfall in Scotland to be able to produce anything close to the scale of snow art in Finland, it is worthwhile considering the opportunities the environment can offer for art – using seasonal materials such as fallen leaves in autumn and colourful flowers in spring and summer allows children to create without the restriction of traditional materials.

The common thread running between both of today’s inputs for me has been the idea of stripping things back to basics, and using minimal resources to get the creative juices flowing. When children are shown that they can compose music with something as simple as two drumsticks, or create sculptures from nature’s materials, they are shown the value of their imagination.

REFERENCES

Ingold, T. (2013) Thinking Dangerously in Teacher Education Conference Keynote Speech 34.03 mins. [Online] Available: https://vimeo.com/77119799 [Accessed: 5 October 2017]

November 8, 2017December 19, 2017

Integrated Arts Week 9 – 7th November 2017

This week we began the micro-teaching inputs for drama. Our group started with a drama lesson based on Julia Donaldson’s children’s book The Gruffalo (1999). Using a number of drama conventions introduced previously in this module, we planned and delivered a 30-minute lesson the rest of our section. The initial brief was to plan a twenty-minute lesson, however during the activity the cohort was so engaged in the drama that we decided, with the lecturer’s consent, to allow their creativity to flow and not interrupt just to stick rigidly to the plan. Dewey (1938, cited in Eisner, 2004) calls this “flexible purposing”, which Eisner (2004) tells us is the antithesis to rigid adherence to the lesson plan. This notion could however, have been developed further. Due to lack of confidence, and perhaps the fact that we read the story in sections throughout our lesson, our group failed to deviate from the original storyline of the book. Upon seeing the next group’s take on their lesson, it was clear to see that the activities could be much more engaging and fun if the lesson is allowed to follow the direction of the participants, regardless of whether this was the expected outcome of the ‘teacher’.

In the afternoon input, pupils from Greenhill Primary School Orchestra brought in their string instruments to demonstrate how they are played. The pupils showed us how to hold the instruments properly, how to control the bow, the names of the strings, and some chords. They then demonstrated how to play a song they have learnt, and confidently helped us to have a try. The confidence the children have was astounding, something that Bloomfield and Childs (2002) attribute to learning to play an instrument.

The idea of children leading the learning was further developed through both inputs this week. By handing over leadership of the lesson in the drama workshop, the lecturer enabled us students to see how our primary school pupils may feel when asked to take ownership of their learning. This was then observed in practice with the Greenmill pupils leading the learning in the music inputs. The impact this had on the confidence and self-esteem of the children was clear to see, and reinforced to me the importance of arts education in the curriculum.

REFERENCES

Bloomfield, A. and Childs, J. (2002) Teaching Integrated Arts in the Primary School. London: David Fulton Publishers.

Donaldson, J. (1999) The Gruffalo London: MacMillan

Eisner, E. (2004) What Can Education Learn from the Arts about the Practice of Education? International Journal of Education & the Arts Vol.5(4) pp.1-13

October 31, 2017December 19, 2017

Integrated Arts Week 8 – 31st October 2017

This week’s inputs looked at the different ways we can give children ownership and control of their learning. In contrast to last week’s structured framework for dance and drama, this week focused on allowing children almost complete control. Giving children the opportunity to have a say in their learning shows respect for their abilities and that their creativity is valued by the teacher.

In drama, we explored some more techniques and conventions including flash forward, flash back, narration, slow motion and forum theatre. Forum theatre is the brainchild of Augusto Boal, and the idea is that members of the audience are invited to stop and participate in the drama by taking the place of an actor of their choosing, and acting out an improvised, alternative version of the drama (Farmer, 2014). This is an excellent way to allow children to take a directive approach to their learning, however research by Killen and Cooney (2017) reveals that teachers lack confidence in allowing learners to take control of the lesson, so this is something that I will keep in mind and try to develop my own confidence in.

In the music input, we looked first at the voice. As prospective teachers, our voices are one of the most important tools of our trade. Constant use of the voice, often in noisy environments, coupled with dry air conditions in classrooms, can put teachers at greater risk of voice and throat problems. The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) have issued guidance for teachers and student teachers, including examples of good practice and strategies to protect and care for the voice (GTCS, 2003). One of the recommendations suggests using vocal exercises to warm up your voice. We tried out some of these vocal exercises in the music seminar, looking at some resources that can be used in the classroom to allow children to warm up their own voices before any singing activity. One of the resources we looked at is ChoonBaboon, a singing programme developed by Alan Penman, aimed at first and second level Curriculum for Excellence. ChoonBaboon is an interesting and engaging resource that is indispensable for teachers who lack confidence teaching music (ChoonBaboon, 2017).

We then moved on to looking at graphic scores. This is a musical score, composed through the use of symbols on a grid. Creating a firework themed score within our section, we composed and then played the score using various instruments from chimes and bells, to castanets. We then had the opportunity to work within small groups to choose a theme, and compose a graphic score to play using any of the instruments to represent sounds related to our theme. This was a fantastic activity and each of us really engaged with our creative abilities. I would definitely use this activity in the classroom, as it is a simple activity that does not require a lot in terms of planning and resources, but can have a huge impact on children’s confidence when they actively compose and play their very own piece of music, having complete control over their chosen theme, sounds and final piece.

REFERENCES

ChoonBaboon (2017) Welcome to Choonbaboon [Online] Available: http://choonbaboon.com/ [Accessed: 31 October 2017]

Farmer, D. (2014) Forum Theatre [Online] Available: https://dramaresource.com/forum-theatre/ [Accessed: 31 October 2017]

GTCS (2003) Voice and the Teaching Profession [Online] Available: www.gtcs.org.uk/nmsruntime/SaveAsDialog.aspx?fileName=voice-and-the-teaching-profession1652_214.pdf [Accessed: 31 October 2017]

October 25, 2017December 19, 2017

Integrated Arts Week 7 – 24th October 2017

Looking at another children’s story, based around a single event involving a brother and sister who didn’t get on, we were introduced to a further five drama conventions: Role on the wall, VoxPop, Mime, Thought tracking and Voice in head. This topic felt much more prescribed, and restrictive, compared to the previous drama input based on the Dragon tale. By using a book as a stimulus, albeit a digital version of the book, there was a different atmosphere and I felt after the freedom of previous session, this method was more rigid. However, I can see how taking a more structured approach to drama can aid the teacher in leading the children to a deliberate learning outcome, which is sometimes necessary to ensure the children are getting something from the lesson.

The second input this week was our second dance session. The focus today was on consolidating the skills and steps developed in the last session, through refining our group routine and adding in some steps to create a whole class performance.

To warm up, we formed a large circle and agreed upon 10 different dance moves, each assigned a number from 0-9. These moves were all Halloween related, given that this is the week leading up to Halloween. We had various moves, from a swooping Dracula twirl, to the zap of a fairy wand. We were then given a sheet of maths questions, and in our smaller groups we had to work out the answers (funnily enough, all corresponding to the dance moves) and perform the correlating dance moves in that order. This was a fantastic example of how dance can be integrated into other curricular areas, and develop skills that can be used across all areas of a child’s life, using team work, initiative, cooperation and taking responsibility for their part. It also develops memory and retention.

We then moved on to another task, in which each group was given a different printed image. All of the images were again Halloween related, although this task could easily be adapted to any topic by using images related to the chosen topic. In this way, this would be an ideal way to integrate dance into an IDL topic in the classroom. Our group was given an image of a haunted house, and we came up with a dance move that we felt represented that image. We then came back together as a section, and each group demonstrated their move for the other groups to imitate. Lastly, we put all the moves together in a choreographed, timed structure and rehearsed this a number of times. This would be the beginning of our whole section dance, which will incorporate our group dances in turn. We also developed an opening sequence, similar to a Mexican wave, and created entrance and exit dances for each group, finishing up with a finale step. Our dance will be filmed in a couple of weeks.

Two key points I have taken from today’s inputs, are the importance of giving learners time to think, and the use of structure within the arts. In order to extract the creativity from learners, giving them adequate time to formulate their thoughts and ideas, whether through creating dance moves, or planning a short drama scene, is essential (Eisner, 2004). Rushing learners to come up with an answer can impact on their confidence if they do not feel they have been able to get their idea across accurately.

Providing structure to a lesson, giving the children a framework to use to come up with their ideas can be a useful way to introduce a topic within the arts to children. It is an essential skill of a teacher to be able to judge how much structure, and time, to provide learners. A careful balance is needed to allow creativity to flourish. Cone (2009) stresses the importance of allowing children to develop their learning, with the teacher being able to step back and refrain from interferring with the creative process.

REFERENCES

Cone, Theresa Purcell. (2009) Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas For Creating Dances Journal Of Dance Education [Online] Vol.9(3), pp.81-89. Available: EBSCOhost. [Accessed: 17 October 2017]

Eisner, E. (2004) What Can Education Learn from the Arts about the Practice of Education? International Journal of Education & the Arts Vol.5(4) pp.1-13

October 17, 2017December 18, 2017

Integrated Arts Week 6 – 17th October 2017

Dance

This week, we experienced the first of the dance inputs in the module. We began with some fun, engaging activities that would be an ideal way to introduce the topic of dance in the classroom: an adaptation of Chinese whispers, using a sequence of dance moves which were passed along a chain of participants, or a follow-the-leader style conga line allows the children to develop confidence in dance by using a format they are already familiar with. These activities can develop skills that are transferrable to other areas – memory retention, following instructions and team work. Other activities, such as the teacher/lecturer directing students to move around the space in a certain way, e.g. skipping, jumping etc, with the aim of getting themselves into a group of whichever number they heard called out and performing a dance move or forming a specific shape, can be integrated into various parts of the curriculum, for example a warm up for a gym class, or outside in the playground for an outdoor health and wellbeing lesson.

The next activity urged us to think about the importance of warming up before dance. By drawing around one student from the group, then labelling the body outline with the various muscles and bones. This highlights the vast range of body parts that are used to create any movement, and is a great cross-curricular activity to do with pupils as it incorporates biology, expands vocabulary, increases spatial awareness and develops knowledge of how the body works. This follows on to a stretching activity which gives children some skills to use to warm up in other areas of physical activity.

The final stage in this input was to develop our own dance routine, based on the 10 principle steps of dance: twist, reach, roll, slide, gesture, hop, jump, kick, turn, and balance. This method of teaching dance gives participants a structure to use, which can be essential to encourage the most rhythmically challenged to participate, whilst still allowing for use of creativity and imagination. Children can use their own interpretation of the steps to develop a meaningful piece of dance, which is an important outlet for them to explore their creativity and express their own thoughts and ideas (Cone, 2009). The 10-step basis for dance is also a key tool for teachers who lack confidence in their own dance skills and knowledge, as the simple structure is easy to apply and demonstrate, lending itself well to child-led learning.

Music

Today’s music session centred around the importance of music in education. We considered why music matters in the lecture, and this was followed up by a look at some of the academic research and theory underpinning the teaching of music. The importance of participation, whether through performing, composing, playing, singing or just listening and evaluating music, was stressed. Music is a valuable instrument (no pun intended) for social development in children – it develops a sense of identity and increases self-esteem, whilst allowing expression of feelings, ideas and memories which aid in developing emotional resilience (Hallam, 2010). Music can also have physical benefits; pain reduction, a drop in stress levels and decreased fatigue are all elements that Jensen (2008) attributes to music.

Music also has a significant impact on other areas of development: experience with music enables learners to develop the ability to discriminate pitch, which is a valuable asset to phonological awareness necessary for learning to read. Learning to read musical notation requires mathematical skills, develops visual and rhythmic skills and encourages print awareness. Music increases memory retention, critical thinking and creativity skills which are then easily transferred to other areas. Overall, students who regularly participate in musical education yielded higher grades than their non-musical counterparts, and, perhaps most notably, there was no discernible damage to pupils’ attainment due to less time in the classroom whilst receiving music tuition (Hallam, 2010). This is a notable finding, as the possible detriment of grades and attainment is one of the issues that teachers face in delivering the arts in education today.

The overarching theme within both inputs today is without a doubt the importance of the arts in other areas of the curriculum. Both music and dance can allow children to develop skills that will be essential in literacy, numeracy and physical development.

REFERENCES

Hallam, S. (2010) The power of music: Its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people International Journal of Music Education [Online] Vol.28(3) pp.269-289. Available: Sage. [Accessed: 17 October 2017]

Jensen, E. (2008) Brain-based Learning: the new paradigm of teaching California: Corwin

October 12, 2017December 18, 2017

Integrated Arts Week 5 – 10th October 2017

Visual Arts

This week, we looked at how we can extend an art activity by reducing our Windows in the West print, and creating a black and white photocopy, which we then used to create a pen drawing extending from the print image. The importance of continuation in art was emphasised, as all too often art is treated as a stand-alone, one-off activity and this can be discouraging to children. By using past work as a stimulus, pupils can see how art can be a progressive activity and this encourages them to develop their imaginative capabilities and allows them to increase their skills (McAuliffe, 2007).

We looked at this in practice, through the Room 13 initiative in Fort William. Room 13 is an extraordinary example of the brilliance that can emerge from children being taken seriously and allowed autonomy and independence as artists (Gibb, 2012). This aligns with my belief that we can get the best from our pupils, not by trying to hold power over them, but by treating them respectfully as equals in their education.

Music

I found the music seminar really informative today. To begin with, as usual in the music inputs, I felt extremely apprehensive and out of my depth when the lecturer explained the task. Music terminology is something I have tried to increase my knowledge in, but each time it still confuses me and causes much anxiety. However, as the workshop progressed, my determination to at least try proved fruitful and I found my confidence increasing as I navigated the GarageBand app to create a very short backing track. This enabled me to put myself in a child’s shoes, although I would say most school children are much more digitally literate than I am.

We discussed the possibilities of this resource and how easy it is for children to use and create their own tracks, the opportunities for enterprise, literacy, citizenship and arts. We also had a go at creating a sound effect track for a short video clip. I was really engaged in this task and found it thoroughly enjoyable, feeling extremely proud of my end result. This is certainly an activity I will use in the classroom. This was the first time I truly considered that music in the classroom does not necessarily need to be just learning do-ray-me and wishing you were talented enough to play an instrument. The digital nature of our modern world extends into the music business too, and it is important to remember that as teachers, we will be educating the workforce of tomorrow. Introducing this type of software to pupils also gives those children who do not like to be in the limelight, a chance to be actively involved in the sound engineering aspect of music production, so digital music is definitely something I would like to make use of within my future classroom.

Both of today’s inputs focused on using prior learning and work to expand skills and repertoire, and thinking about the importance of giving children “experience of more specialised equipment” to further their skills (McAuliffe, 2007 p.28)

REFERENCES

Gibb, C. (2012) Room 13: The Movement and International Network. Oxford:Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

McAuliffe, D. (2007) Foundation and Primary Settings In: Cox, S., Watts, R., Grahame, J., Herne, S. and McAuliffe, D. (eds) Teaching Art and Design 3-11 London: Continuum pp.31-83

October 5, 2017December 19, 2017

Integrated Arts Week 4 – 3rd October 2017

During this week’s lecture we were introduced to Scottish artist Avril Paton’s 1993 painting ‘Window’s in the West’, currently on display at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Gallery. As Paton is a modern artist, we were able to view a video of her talking about the painting online. This is something that I will keep in mind in the classroom; there is a higher chance of discovering video or audio clips of a living modern artist talking about their work than a classical artist who is now deceased. This gives pupils a greater understanding of the artist and their work, and helps them to utilise Taylor’s Model of Assessment (1987) to interpret a piece of art. Using this method, we discussed our interpretations of the painting, and it was interesting to note the variety of emotions and ideas the painting evoked in each of us.

Diarmuid also encouraged us to consider the gender of the artists we select to look at in the classroom. When you think about it, female artists have essentially been written out of history, and it is conventionally male artists that are usually looked at in the classroom, from Da Vinci and Van Gough, to Steve Brown. Choosing female artists to investigate in school makes some attempt to balance the gender bias.

During the lecture, we also discussed the possibilities for interdisciplinary learning by considering the links to literacy and drama that could be forged through this painting. Pupils could take a room or scene from the painting, for example the two people in the doorway, and come up with a back story for these characters. They could develop a drama based around the lives of these people and create a script to go with it. The pupils could then act this out, and it could also pull in elements of a Scottish culture topic.

The visual arts input was a practical lesson on printing. We recreated a section of Windows in the West on a polystyrene tile, rolled tempera paint onto it then printed this onto a folded A4 piece of paper. After a short time, we repeated the print process with one or two additional colours, creating a total of four images. This was an interesting activity which produced aesthetically pleasing results, and could easily be used in the classroom, with some adaptations. I would ideally spread the process over a few lessons and perhaps have relatively small groups of pupils completing the activity at a time as things did get a bit chaotic in the art studio. The tempera paint is permanent and will stain clothing, so whilst it is necessary to have a tolerance for mess in order to fully engage in the arts, consideration must still be given to the implications concerning children’s clothing, school property and furniture, and I feel that smaller groups would allow for more precautions which in turn will ensure activities like this can continue without issue from management or parents. This activity could lead smoothly from a research project into the invention of the printing press within a topic on inventions and industry. If done at the right time of year, the results of the activity could be used as an enterprise venture for the pupils, making the prints into Christmas cards for example.

In the afternoon, we had our first opportunity to experience drama. We considered how drama is conventionally viewed in the classroom. Often, it is pigeon-holed into the nativity, the end of year show, and in some religious schools, the stations of the cross at Easter. However, today we considered the idea of introducing drama as a regular, non-production based element within the classroom. By using drama conventions such as teacher in role (TIR), we were introduced to the story of “The Lonely Dragon”. Modelling how to perform TIR, the lecturer encouraged us to participate as pupils, suggesting possible reasons and solutions for the problem of the dragon. This allowed us to see how drama can be child-led in the classroom, and doesn’t need a myriad of scenery, props and costumes. Something simple such as a scarf or hat for the teacher to wear to signal to the children that they are in their role is all that is needed. Children have wonderful imaginations and often choose role playing games when given the opportunity. We should capitalise on this to make drama a much more regular experience for children, and doing it in this way allows those who may not feel confident performing on stage, the chance to take part and be involved.

We continued to look at other drama conventions through the story of the dragon. The Freeze Frame technique was fascinating to get a glimpse into how differently we all reacted to the story – this enabled us to see how the teacher can steer the class towards a certain conclusion whilst still allowing the children to lead the direction of the drama and utilise their imagination and creativity. Other techniques we tried were hot seat, improvisation and thought tunnels – these all have a key role to play in truly allowing the children to lead the drama and develop their abilities in some of the key Tallis skills, such as imagination, collaboration and inquisitiveness (Tallis Pedagogy Wheel, 2017).

Thinking about the common theme through the inputs, Eisner’s ‘Ten Lessons the Arts Teach” (2002) comes to mind, particularly the idea that the arts teach us that each of us interpret the world around us in our own individual way, and every interpretation is valid.

REFERENCES:

Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind. London: Yale University Press.

Paton, A. (1993) Windows in the West [Online] Available: https://avrilpaton.co.uk/ [Accessed: 5 October 2017]

Tallis Pedagogy Wheel (2017) [Online] Available: http://www.thomastallisschool.com/tallis-pedagogy-wheel-guide.html [Accessed: 12 September 2017].

Taylor, R. (1987) Educating for Art London: Longman

September 28, 2017December 17, 2017

Integrated Arts Week 3 – 26th September 2017

Today we looked at the figure notes system of reading music. Julie explained that the system was developed in Finland as an educational tool that creates a more inclusive way of learning to play an instrument. A combination of symbols and colours are used to identify individual notes. Using this simple yet effective system, we each learnt to play Twinkle Twinkle, Frere Jacques and Jingle Bells on the glockenspiel. This enabled me to see how easy this system is, and how it opens up the world of music to everybody. This is a very effective way of boosting an individual’s confidence in music, and the system is designed to make progression to traditional notation easy.

Using our short experience with the figure notes system, Julie then explained how to use a pentatonic scale. By using only five notes, CDEGA, and taking away, quite literally, the F and B notes, we had to improvise a 16-bar section of the song “Hit the Road Jack”. This was quite daunting at first, however once we got into it, it sounded quite good and wasn’t anywhere near as bad as anticipated. This is an effective way to increase learners confidence, as you are taking away any possibility of making a mistake, increasing the likelihood of participation. This shows learners that there is no right or wrong answer or combination of notes, there are infact a mutitude of possible solutions, which Eisner (2002) states is an important lesson we can learn through the arts.

The visual arts input had us begin by creating our own paint brushes to use later in the class. We had a variety of materials to choose from, from an assortment of colours and thickness of wool, string, cotton and polyester fibre stuffing, to feathers, foam shapes, paper and wooden sticks. This in itself was an enjoyable activity that really got our imaginations going, and is something I will definitely be using in the classroom. It served to ensure from the start, that there was no expectation to produce “perfection” in our artwork, but rather emphasised the individuality and uniqueness in our work, with the focus on the process.

The second part of this input was to paint a picture. The method Diarmuid used of ‘reading’ the painting to us, definitely developed my tolerance for ambiguity. Far from just a painting lesson, this was a lesson that required good listening skills, imagination, confidence and a willingness to just give it a go, some skills and abilities that us adults can often lack. This gave us a chance to experience what a primary school pupil may feel when asked to replicate a specific image that they do not possess the skills for. This willingness to have a go, to risk being wrong, is an important attribute in this modern, ideas-driven society, and it is an attribute that is being dismissed and transformed into fear of making mistakes, by our current education system and the hierarchy of subjects putting arts at the bottom (Robinson, 2006).

Both of this week’s inputs can be related development of a number of the TALLIS Habits (Tallis Pedagogy Wheel Guide, 2017). They developed my ability to be persistent, to stick with difficulty, tolerate uncertainty and take risks. My imaginative and inquisitive skills were extended, through experimentation with materials and ideas to create my paintbrush, playing with possibilities for the different notes for the improvisation, challenging my own assumptions on what makes a good painting and the notion that there is not one single way to create a painting. I also learnt to be disciplined in my artwork, through refining and developing my painting and finally reflecting critically on my progress in the module so far, in this week’s inputs and the processes involved.

REFERENCES

Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind. London: Yale University Press.

Robinson, K. (2006) Do Schools Kill Creativity? 19.24 mins. [Online] Available: https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity [Accessed: 21 September 2017].

Tallis Pedagogy Wheel Guide. (2017) [Online] Available: http://www.thomastallisschool.com/tallis-pedagogy-wheel-guide.html [Accessed: 12 September 2017].