Uncategorized – Page 2 – Megan Baines UWS ITE ePDP

Integrated Arts- Making Music

This week’s class started with us learning how to make music on the computer. We used an application on the computer called ‘Garage Band’ to create a backing track of music. Before beginning this class, I was slightly apprehensive as music is not my strong point, and i sometimes struggle with the terminology. However, I was also very excited and intrigued to how we could create a piece of music online. We began this workshop, by our lecturer demonstrating how to use ‘Garage Band’ we were then given the chance to have a go ourselves.

Video (2)

We were also given the chance to create a sound effect track for a short video clip. This part of the task was a lot of fun, enjoyable and engaging. It was very interesting and developed my knowledge of music more and more. I was very proud of what I created by the end of the workshop.

Through using this resource myself in today’s workshop, I considered the ways this could be implemented into the classroom and the skills and possibilities it can give the pupils. The children would have the opportunity to create their own music tracks and explore the different sounds of music. This kind of activity offers children many opportunities to explore the arts and make connections with other curricular subjects such as literacy, drama and dance. By doing an activity like this, it opened my eyes that we can teach music by using modern day technology to create a piece of music. It showed me that, to teach music we don’t always need to use instruments, digital music also is a resource that children can explore and create music in a different creative way.

The second workshop of the day was our visual arts class. In this workshop we were meant to be looking at how we can extend an art activity. We were going to use our Windows in the West print, create a black and white photocopy and then create a pen drawing extending from the original print image. Prior to this class, we were asked to read “Room 13: The Movement and International Network” by Claire Gibb. This initiative demonstrates the importance and excellent ways that from children given the opportunity to be responsible and independent artists. From reading this article, it highlighted to me the importance that as teachers children need to be treated equally and with respect. We need to give the children the independence they need to grow and flourish into young individuals.

Although, when it came to this workshop our lecturer actually asked me and my classmate if we could teach our fellow peers what we learned the previous week as they were off sick. This was a great learning and teaching opportunity for myself and it was a very interesting and exciting learning experience. We had to demonstrate what we previously learned and give assistance if it was needed. It gave me an insight into how to teach an art lesson, at times i did find it difficult to explain what we were doing but i think i eventually got the hang of it.

References:

Gibb, C. (2012) Room 13: The Movement and International Network [Online] Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/109358/mod_resource/content/1/Room%2013-%20Claire%20Gibb.pdf [Accessed 8th October 2017]

Integrated Arts- Print Making

This weeks seminar and lecture looked deeper into the visual arts and how it can be incorporated into different areas of the curriculum. We focused on a particular painting “Window’s in the West” by Avril Paton in 1993. Researching this painting, i discovered that this painting was created using watercolour on paper. This particular painting became Paton’s trademark, it was bought by the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art in 1994 and then in 2006 it was placed on display in Kelvingrove Art Museum. The painting was created from a personal memory of her life in Glasgow and took Paton around 6 months to complete. From living in Glasgow, i was able to understand the painting as i have been able to personally see tenement buildings in my environment which in turn allowed me to understand Paton’s vision with this painting.

The original “Window’s in the West” by Avril Paton.

In the lecture we analysed the visuals of the painting focusing on the form, process, mood and content of the painting (Taylor, 1999). Additionally, we looked at how literacy can be incorporated with the arts in the classroom. It showed me that we could even create an activity using a famous painting, like the aforementioned, and allow the children to further research the artist and create mind maps, or even create their own prints and explain the story they created from it. After the lecture, it was clear to see that arts can be incorporated to many areas of the curriculum in a vast number of ways.

Moreover, in the seminar we created our own prints. We were given polystyrene boards where we then traced a section of the painting onto the boards very carefully and in great detail, as this was going to act as the base to our print making.

The base of the print making- our traced part of the painting.

Following on from this, we put a layer of paint (yellow) over the top of the polystyrene and then pressed it onto a sheet of A4 paper to create a print.

The paint over the polystyrene before creating our first print.

We continued this idea, by using different colours of paper for the print as well as adding different colours of print on top, to give the print more detail, texture and colour.

As a student teacher, seminars like this one show me the importance and relevance of teaching arts to the younger generation. If teachers make the time then arts can easily be incorporated into the classroom as well as integrating it within other areas of the curriculum. The Tallis Pedagogy Wheel highlights the importance of children being given the opportunity to be imaginative and creative where they can let their creative minds flow into the unknown.

The second half of the day focused on drama. As a child, i was never really fond of drama i always got very nervous and anxious of performing in front of people. Whilst i was in primary school, my confidence did increase and i was able to take leads in school shows however, this changed when i went to high school and my nerves and anxiety came back. When i found out that it was drama that we would be doing in the seminar, i was very apprehensive and nervous of performing in front of my peers.

Drama is a way for children to express themselves, it can be an effective tool of developing communication skills, self-esteem, confidence, empathy, performance for them to flourish and develop into young adults. Drama is an area of the curriculum that can be incorporated into various other areas such as literacy, history, art and even possibly mathematics.

We took part in activities such as: improvisation, freeze frame, hot seating, and teacher in role. These activities allowed me to develop my confidence that little bit more and after taking part i realised that it wasn’t as scary and nerve-wracking as i had built it up to be. Our lecture also told us that with drama, sometimes as the teacher you just need to create another character to portray which can help with your nerves, which is something that i think i might need to do when i qualify.

I think its important that we as educators need to realise the importance and the skills that drama and art can have for children. We need to ensure that children are given as many opportunities as they can to develop there qualities and skills in these subjects as they are very effective in a child’s development.

Resources:

Taylor, R. (1999) Understanding and Investigating Art. United Kingdom: Hodder Education.

Thomas Tallis School. (2017) The TALLIS Habits Pedagogy Wheel. [Online] Available: http://www.thomastallisschool.com/tallis-pedagogy-wheel-guide.html [Accessed: 07 October 2017]

Paton, A. (2017) Windows in the West. [Online] Available: https://avrilpaton.co.uk/prints/windows-in-the-west [Accessed: 07 October 2017]

Perform. (2017) Why is drama good for children? [Online] Available: https://www.perform.org.uk/blog/2014/01/why-is-drama-good-for-children/ [Accessed: 07 October 2017]

Learning Log 2- Climate Change

Climate Change is an extremely important subject, one that needs to be highlighted more often as it can have a serious impact on the world we live in. If I am being honest prior to this module I didn’t have much of an interest in learning about topics like climate change. I would often hear stories in the news about what it is and what is happening around the world due to it but I never really looked much deeper into it.

In the world the climate is constantly changing and with that means we are bound to experience the effects of climate change. These can vary from agriculture, sea levels rising which can inhibit floods, loss of sea ice and more intense heat waves. These effects not only have an impact on the environment but on people’s lives. This year alone there has been two main hurricanes: Harvey and Imra, that have been the effect of climate change. Scientists suggest that “rising sea levels and warmer oceans, made those storms far more destructive than they would have been in previous decades” (Cable News Network). Hurricanes like these have a tremendous affect on the residents of the area who are left homeless, injured and in the worst case dead. Many scientists believe that primarily climate change is man-made therefore we as the humans it is having an effect on, need to pull together to try and save our environment.

The Government are doing a lot to help lower the effects of climate change. I was surprised to realise that there is actually legislation in place: The Climate Change (Scotland) Act (2009). They have got set targets in place to hopefully reach by 2020 and 2050. These vary from the decrease of greenhouse gases and ensuring there are supplies in place to help the reduction and recycling of waste. There has already been a start on recycling. We now have coloured bins that state which type of material goes in which bin. In my household we have a black, blue and green bin. Our green bin is for any food waste, the blue is for any paper, plastic and cans and our black bin is for any other recycling. I never really cared much for recycling but the use of the coloured bins makes it so much easier and you almost don’t even realise that you are recycling the right way. Furthermore, the governments policy on charging for plastic bags has also had a positive impact on myself as I now rarely ever buy a plastic bag I just use one of the ones I already have in my house. I do think that me re using bags I already have is more so that I don’t have to pay for one but at least it’s helping the environment at the same time in a positive way.

Already, with the hard work from the government to tackle climate change. The first minister placed Scotland at the front of the world fight against climate change on the 5th September 2017. This just highlighted the our country is taking the effects of climate change very seriously and therefore we need to realise this and do our part to help stop climate change.

I took part in a quiz that analysed my carbon footprint. I was really shocked at my result and realised that there is a lot more that I could be doing to lowering it to have a positive effect on the environment rather than a negative one. It made me reflect on the ways I travel to work and university, the food that I am buying and the amount of energy that is used in my household that is unnecessary.

In conclusion, it is crucial that everyone at least tries to tackle and prevent climate change, whether this is walking instead of driving, switching the sockets off in the house when you go to bed, buying more locally produced foods if they are available. It is important to notice that the smallest positive difference in your daily routing can have a huge effective impact on climate change in the world. It is our job as educators to ensure that the newest generation are made aware of the impact we have on climate change and our environment, and how we can have an influence taking care and looking after our environment so that it can then have a positive impact on the world.

References:

Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, asp 12. Edinburgh: The Stationary Office.

WWF. (2017) HOW BIG IS YOUT ENVRIONMENTAL FOOTPRINT? [Online] Availabile: http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/ [Accessed: 06 September 2017]

NASA. (2017) Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet Effects. [Online] Available: https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/ [Accessed: 06 September 2017]

Cable News Network. (2017) Yes, Climate Change made Harvey and Imra worse. [Online] Accessed: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/15/us/climate-change-hurricanes-harvey-and-irma/index.html [Accessed: 06 September 2017]

Life at UWS

So far, my time at UWS as been very enjoyable. I remember being so nervous and anxious upon starting university as I did not know what to expect. I had so many thoughts going through my head such as: Will i make friends?, What if i cant find the lecture hall and have to walk in late?, Where are the toilets? etc. However, when i arrived there were guides around the university to help me around and make me feel at ease. I was thankful enough to have already known someone upon starting university, as we went to college together, so I didn’t have to worry so much about who to sit with when I walked into the extremely large lecture hall. I found my first day at university very overwhelming and it took me some time to get to grips with how different it was to college and school.

Although, now a few months into university I have never felt more comfortable in my decision to study at UWS. I have met so many lovely people who all share the same interest and passion of becoming a primary teacher, which makes university a little easier as we all want the same end goal and are here to help each other through the course. I quickly realised that I have to be keep on top of things throughout this year in order to ensure that i complete tasks/assessments on time but I know that I will be able to do this if I stay organised and be confident enough to ask for help if I am struggling.

I am over the moon that I am now finally starting my journey to becoming a primary teacher and I look forward to the next four years of completing this journey, well i say that now I might change my mind when all the assessments begin.