Megan Baines UWS ITE ePDP – Page 2 – Just another blogs.glowscotland.org.uk

Integrated Arts- Everyone’s Experience

This week’s class began with listening and learning about everyone in my section’s experience of what arts they have witnessed in their school placement so far. It was very interesting and surprising to find out that the majority of people had seen very little if not any arts lessons within their school. I found that it was very intriguing to realize that in most schools arts is taken a back seat prior to literacy and mathematics. I think its sad to see that the arts isn’t given priority as it can provide children with a variety of skills in order to help them learn and grow into young individuals. It provides children with the opportunity to develop their creativity, confidence, motor skills, academic performance, visual learning, decision making, perseverance and focus (Learning Lift Off, 2017).

When we discussed as a class our experiences it was clear to see that arts was given a back seat due to a number of barriers. These barriers included aspects such as: time, funding, lack of confidence in teachers, lack of creative thinking, to much focus on academic results and lack of resources. I think this module has enabled us as student teachers to realize the importance of the arts and that it is important that we ensure that we try and overcome these barriers to the arts and give our pupils the opportunity to experience and express themselves through the arts. I think one way to overcome the most common barrier to teaching the arts, which is time, is to try and incorporate it into different areas of the curriculum. You could do this by having a literacy lesson based on a book that the class have read and been learning about, but deliver it through a drama lesson with the children.

Reflecting on my experience in placement, I have witnessed a wide range of visual arts displayed around the classroom I am placed in as well as around the whole school. I think it is extremely important to display pupil’s work as it shows them that we as teachers appreciate their work and value their hard work and creativity.

Displays of the children’s work in the classroom.

The class charter displayed visually in the classroom.

The boats the children made based on the titanic.

Art work displayed throughout the school.

As well as being able to witness the visual arts. I have also been lucky enough to witness a music lesson. I have inquired about being able to see a drama or dance lesson, which the teacher said will not be a problem when I am at my placement from a Monday-Friday. I think the main problem for everyone who is on placement right now is that because we are only there a day a week, their arts lesson isn’t always scheduled for a Thursday therefore I believe when we are there for more days we will be able to see more of the arts in action and make a better evaluation of how much attention the arts is given in schools.

From doing this module, it has highlighted to me the importance of the arts and that when i become a teacher i want to try my hardest to ensure that i give children the opportunity to express and develop themselves through the arts.

References:

Teaching and Learning, (2015). Creativity in Education. [Online] [Available: http://c21teachingandlearning.global2.vic.edu.au/2015/02/20/barriers-to-creativity-in-the-classroom/] [Accessed: 17th November 2017]

Learning Lift Off, (2016). 10 reasons arts in education is important. [Online] [Available: http://www.learningliftoff.com/10-reasons-arts-in-education-important-kids/#.WhNFNUpl_IU] [Accessed: 17th November 2017]

Integrated Arts- Micro Teaching

In this weeks music seminar we were given a fantastic opportunity to learn how to play a string instrument. A group of pupils from a school in Ayrshire came to teach us all how to play a string instrument. These pupils were part of a string project, the only school in Scotland, where they are given the chance to learn a string instrument from primary 4 to primary 7. They are given the opportunity to take part in a 45 minute music session in school every week where they learn how to use their string instrument and how to progress with it. A project like this helps children to develop so many skills such as team working, confidence, self-esteem, creativity and many more. This ties in with the Curriculum for Excellence in aiding children to become a successful learner, confident individual, responsible citizen and an effective contributor (Curriculum for Excellence, 2004).

During the lesson, we were shown the correct way to hold a string instrument, how to hold the bow, learning notes and the two different ways of playing: pizzicato and spiccato. We were all told to partner up with a pupil and their instrument and so I was given the violin. I have never played the violin before so i was slightly nervous before the class began. I think the violin looks like such a beautiful instrument and after playing it i realized it also had such an incredible, soft sound to it.

We also got to play a range of games to help with the technique of holding the bow in the correct position. These games were a lot of fun and is a great way of teaching beginners all about the bow and the balance you need whilst holding it.

Overall, this input was so much fun and a great learning experience. It was so interesting and enjoyable having pupils in to teach us instead of the other way about. It was an excellent opportunity to be able to be taught the basics of learning how to play the violin and i thoroughly enjoyed it. I think the string project should be introduced into many more schools around Scotland, as i think its a brilliant initiative that many children would benefit from as they are able learn and develop a range of skills in order for them to flourish into young individuals.

This weeks drama workshop focused on micro teaching. Prior to this lesson, we had to get into groups and create our own lesson plan focusing on a story that involved the drama conventions we had been learning and then teach this to the class. Our lesson should be around 15-20 minutes long and everyone in the class had to get involved. This task was quite challenging especially in the time aspect. It was hard for our team to all work together when we all have different schedules and the time we had to do create the lesson wasn’t very long. However, we managed to make it work by each team member taking a different convention and fitting it into the story in a way in which we can teach and explain to the class. From creating the lesson i developed a range of skills such as: time management, team working, organisational skills, creativity and research skills.

I was very nervous for when it came to teaching the lesson and found the thought of it all quite daunting. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t come across as patronizing as they weren’t a primary class, they were a class of students similar ages to me, if not older. In the end, it wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be it was actually a lot of fun. Each member of the team took a part to say and presented it very well. We got some great feedback mainly about how it was really good that we came up with our own story instead of taking an original storybook. We were all very happy with this feedback as this was something that we were originally worried about as we were unsure about how people would take to a made up story. Although in the end it was very effective and it meant that each group had their own idea of where the story could go and how it could end.

We also had to take part in the other students micro teaching task. I think I am starting to become a little bit more confident in performing, however I still get very shy and nervous but I am trying to overcome this fear as I want to have fun and be able to implement enjoyable lessons like this into the classroom.

I think this micro teaching lesson was so interesting and was a very effective, fun task for us all to take part in. It was a great opportunity to see how we can implement these conventions into a lesson plan and how we would carry them out in the classroom. From doing a task like this, you develop a range of skills and learn a lot from the people around you. This can be an important lesson for children as they can learn a lot from working with other children and can develop a variety of skills that might not always develop when being taught by a teacher.

References:

Education Scotland, (2017). What is Curriculum for Excellence. [Online] [Available: https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/What%20is%20Curriculum%20for%20Excellence?] [Accessed: 13th November 2017]

Integrated Arts- The importance of Voice

This weeks lecture and seminar focused on the importance of your voice in teaching. As a teacher, one of your most effective tools is your voice so it is therefore important to learn exactly how to use it in order for it to be a useful resource in teaching and communicating. Therefore, this weeks seminar focused on tips and tricks that we could use to help protect our voice and ways to use it to the best of our ability. One tip that I found very interesting and useful was that there is no need to shout in a classroom. Sometimes as a teacher, you forget that shouting to get the children’s attention isn’t always the best approach as its not always effective and can hurt our voice in the process. I think some teachers find this a good way of controlling behavior management but in my past experiences of being on placement in schools and nurseries i found that shouting didn’t ever really get anywhere with the pupils. A better technique I think would be to change the tone of your voice, use facial expressions or even sometimes clapping a rhythm to the pupils for them to clap back can be an extremely effective tool to use in the classroom.

I researched the importance of our voice as teachers and how being expressive with our voice by using different facial expressions. true emotion and our tone of voice when speaking can help the children learn to be expressive as well (School of Educators, 2011). I also learned that using the whisper technique can be extremely effective with young children as it seems to “signal intrigue, mystery, secrets and more”. These techniques are definitely going to be ones that i try whilst on placement and in my future career as a teacher.

We were also told that the General Teaching Council have a whole document outlining the importance of our voice and what to do if we feel like our voice has been effected. I think this is an excellent tool as it gives you lots of advice and information on how to use your voice effectively in a classroom but also what to do and different techniques to use if your voice gets damaged. Its a very useful resource to have whilst on placement and in years to come when we have our own class to teach.

Moving on from this, we looked at how we use our voice through music and how important singing is in a classroom setting. We were shown a resource called Choon Baboon that we can use with the children. This website is a brilliant, new and modern way to get children singing. There is a variety of songs available on YouTube with backing tracks and lyrics to help teach the children. It is a fantastic, fun resource to help build not only the children’s self esteem, confidence and expression but also the teachers. This is definetly a resource I would use as I lack a lot of confidence in teaching music and this tool would be a huge help in my development.

We also looked at a technique called Graphic Scores which is a visual tool that makes reading music a lot easier. It is created with boxes, along the side you have that sounds that have to be used and along the bottom is the time frame. We got split into groups, our group of 6 created a graphic score focusing on Christmas using a variety of instruments.

Our Graphic Score for our Christmas Song

Video (2)

Overall, this seminar was very fun, interesting and informative. I learned a lot of different techniques of how to manage my voice in teaching as well as fantastic resources to help teach singing in the classroom. I feel a lot more confident about teaching music after seeing some of the tools out there to help.

After this seminar, we had our drama workshop. We were following on from last week’s class where we were looking at different drama techniques that we can explore and use in the classroom. This week we focused on four particular conventions varying from flash forward, flash back, narration and slow motion. My favorite convention was the flash forward scene as it allows your group to be creative and create your own ending for the story. This week’s story was based on a haunted house which was very relevant as it was coming Halloween. It was a very fun and creative idea as because the story was quite vague it allowed for each group to have their own individual idea. For flash forward scenes, we had to create what was happening after the present situation and flash back was the opposite that involved showing what happened before the present situation. As a group, we decided to make our flash back scene from centuries ago and it was very different and enjoyable to create. For, slow motion we returned to the present where we were entering the haunted house to see what it was all about. We also got to create a scene were we used narration which was when someone in the group would describe what was happening in the scene.

From taking part in a seminar like this, it highlighted for me the importance of using a story that children don’ know what happens so that when they are creating the scene the children are able to be creative and use their imagination to create a different story from another group.

References:

School of Educators, (2011). How to use your voice as an effective teaching tool. [Online] [Available: http://schoolofeducators.com/2011/07/teacher-tips-how-to-use-your-voice-as-an-effective-teaching-tool/] [Accessed: 3rd November 2017]

Choon Baboon, (2017) Choon Baboon. [Online] [Available: http://choonbaboon.com/] [Accessed: 3rd November 2017]

Sustainable Development- Natural Disasters

This week was our time to present our natural disaster presentations to the rest of the class. Previous to this, we were split into groups and each group were given a natural disaster to research and then present to the class.

Our group was given earthquakes. We wanted to make our presentation classroom friendly and one that supplied enough information and facts for our peers but could be used as a lesson plan. From taking part in a task like this I feel like I have developed numerous skills such as: communication, team working, time management, organisation, research as well as listening and computer skills.

Some parts of this task I did find challenging as I feel like time played a major problem for the group. This was because it was a struggle trying to find a time where every member in the group was free to rehearse, especially as we were only given a week to carry out the task. However, we did manage to pull it all together and deliver a good, well researched presentation to the rest of the class. I particularly liked that from watching everyone’s presentations we were able to get different information on the natural disasters as well as different ideas on how we can present and teach these disasters to children.

Additionally, from the previous weeks workshop on natural disasters, I gained some knowledge on the type of activities we could carry out in the classroom e.g. fossil making, tornado in a jar and a baking soda and vinegar volcano. I found this lesson fun and interesting as it gave me some ideas in implementing natural disasters in the classroom.

The skills and information that I have been able to gain from this lesson and topic can and will be a crucial role into my development as a teacher.

Below I have attached a copy of the presentation we created.

Earthquakes-update

Integrated Arts- Dance and Drama

“Song, music and dance can help children become more imaginative, self-aware and collaborative global citizens” (British Council, 2017). This statement for me, sums up the importance of the creative arts and this week I got to develop my knowledge and skills in dance. I used to do dancing when I was younger and thoroughly enjoyed it and found it was an exciting and fun way of keeping fit. However, I haven’t done it in a long time and so I was very anxious and apprehensive of this class. We began the class by taking part in a warm up and playing a few games. Some of these games were a lot of fun and would be great resource to use in the classroom. One of my favorites was called Splat. Splat is a game that involves following instructions therefore if the teacher shouts splat the children would lie on the floor or if they shout up they have to lift someone up. This was a very enjoyable and interactive game and one that i would definitely used throughout my placement experience.

We then looked at the 10 movements that as educators we should all know to make a fun and creative dance lesson: balance, hop, jump, kick, roll, slide, gesture, twist, turn and reach. These were discussed in the first dance input however i was off that day but i quickly caught up and was surprised to learn that as long as we know these movements we could create a dance lesson. Knowing this information put my mind at ease as it showed me that as an inspiring teacher, I don’t need to be the best dancer to teach and involve the pupils in a fun dance lesson.

Following on from the games, we then had to get into groups and create our own dance using the 10 movements. Once we had created that piece of dance we had to perform it to the rest of the class. I was very nervous and anxious to begin with, but after doing it I realized it wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be. We then as a class, came up with a move for each number from 0-9. Once we had done this, we went back to our groups and using one persons phone number and the moves we just came up with we created another piece of dance. I found this very interesting as it showed me that you can create a piece of dance as easy and simple as that and it would be a great tool for children. We then added the two pieces of dance that we created together. Then, as a class we were all given a piece of paper which displayed a Halloween move and we had to interpret a dance move from the image we were given. Once, each group had their move ready we showed every other group and put it all together as the beginning of our group dance.

This was the Halloween Dance Move my group were given.

I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop and I am looking forward to the next dance input. It opened my eyes to how simple strategies and games can help create a dance lesson. It showed me that even as young adults we are all individuals and even though a simple movement like ‘jump’ can be interpreted in so many different ways from each individual and therefore it is the same with children. Children are so creative and therefore will be able to use simple movements in a range of creative and fun ways to form a dance piece.

The rest of the afternoon focused on drama. We focused on a book called ‘The Tunnel’ by Anthony Browne. I found this lecture, in particular, very informative and interesting. We learned about various drama concepts such as voice in the head, mime, role on the wall, vox pop and thought tracking. The one i found to be the most fun and creative was voice in the head. I loved the idea of stepping out the story and explaining and demonstrating the thoughts and feelings on their side of the story. I think this would be a great lesson to teach with children as it gives them a chance to be creative and dive deeper into a character, instead of just looking at what appears to be on the outside they get to take their own interpretation of how that character may feel in the inside. Being given the chance in the workshop to look deeper into these concepts and put them into practice was very enjoyable and interesting. I felt out my comfort zone at first because I do tend to get quite shy when it comes to acting and drama, however by doing it in a group made it a lot easier and more fun.

A mind map I created of some of the drama concepts we learned.

Through participating in drama and dance lessons it has highlighted to me just how important teaching the expressive arts to children is. Expressive arts gives children the chance to “find out about and express their feelings and emotions and those of others” (ParentZone, 2016). In my opinion, it also allows children to be creative, expressive, develop their communication and social skills and encourages team building.

References:

Education Scotland, (2016). Parent Zone Scotland. [Available: https://education.gov.scot/parentzone/learning-in-scotland/curriculum-areas/Expressive%20arts] [Accessed: 29th October 2017].

British Council, (2015). Why song and dance are essential for a child’s development. [Available: https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/why-song-and-dance-are-essential-childrens-development] [Accessed: 30th October 2017]

Interdependence- Learning Log

Interdependence is “the dependence of two or more people or things on each other” (Oxford Dictionary, 2017). This weeks class and workshop focused on the theme and understanding of interdependence and how it can relate to sustainability. There are 3 components which are all interconnected: economic, social and environmental interdependence.

This input was presented in a different way to the previous ones. This theme was first delivered when we went and visited the two contrasting farms last week and we continued this theme this week. This week we were asked to make a Piktochart highlighting the main facts of the sustainability of fishing. “Sustainable fishing means leaving enough fish in the ocean, respecting habitats and ensuring people who depend on fishing can maintain their livelihoods” (Marine Stewardship Council, 2017).

We carried out this task in small groups, of around 4 people. I enjoy working in groups as I feel that my social, team working and communication skills are continually being developed. Each member of the group took a different topic to research and then towards the end we would combine all the information together. This was an excellent idea as it allowed for better time management, our own personal research skills and that the workload was shared. The topic itself was very interesting and I discovered various facts and information such as “Around 70-80% of the seafood consumed in the UK comes from overseas” (Seafish, 2017).

I found that from carrying out this task I developed a lot of new skills. These varied from team working, organisational skills, technology skills and research skills. These skills I believe are important and are skills that I will need to possess and develop as a student teacher.

References:

Oxford Dictionary, (2017). Interdependence. [Available: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/interdependence] [Accessed: 23rd October 2017]

Marine Stewardship Council, (2017). What is sustainable fishing? [Available: https://20.msc.org/what-we-are-doing/our-approach/what-is-sustainable-fishing] [Accessed 22nd October 2017]

Seafish, (2017). Seafish. [Available: http://www.seafish.org/] [Accessed: 24th October 2017]

Farm Visits- Learning Log

This week’s class focused on learning about the theme of interdependence and instead of the normal class timetable including a lecture and workshop, we got to visit and compare two different farms. I found the two dairy farms to be very different in they way in which they work even though the end product is the same. The two farms we visited were Strandhead and Mossgiel.

Strandhead dairy farm relied a lot more on technology than Mossgiel farm, it was seen as a modern, ‘state of the art’ dairy farm . In this farm, they used machines to milk the cows, gather the food and deliver the food them. I found this really interesting and eye-opening as I never though that technology could be used in so many ways throughout a dairy farm. I think i always had the typical thought that the farmers did it all by hand but with the progression of technology showed me otherwise. The farmer informed us that the cows don’t actually go outside and are kept inside all year round. I found this fact shocking at first as normally you tend to see cows outdoors, however the farmer explained to us that their farmland is extremely impacted on by the harsh weather conditions and therefore it is healthier and better that the cows are kept inside. He also explained to us that the cows are not forced to milk at points of the day, instead they are able to go to the milking area whenever they wanted to. The cows would go one at a time and whilst the cows were being milked, they were also screened to see if they were lacking in any nutrients and if so they would then be incorporated into their food/diet. When walking around the farm and listening to the farmers, it was clear to see that animal welfare was at the heart of what this dairy farm does.

Mossgiel farm was a more natural, organic, family-run farm. This particular farm supports local producers and the local produce is said to be a ‘rare find’ (Mossgiel Farm, 2017). This dairy farm, for me, was what i envisioned a ‘typical’ farm to look like. This farm was different from the other farm in various ways. One way in particular was that instead of electronics controlling the milking process it was done manually by the farmer and therefore mean that more than one cow could me milked at the same time. Also, the cows are actually kept outside for the majority of the year in this farm and only really come indoors in the terrible winter months. Mossgiel farm strives to produce natural and ethical food and in my opinion it looks like they are doing that extremely well as well as ensuring that the animals are well cared for.

After visiting both farms and reflecting on the days events, I did notice that both farms did have something in common. This was that the cows were kept separate from the calves. The calves were kept in different pens from their mother. Both farms explained that the reason for this, is that it can give the calves the best start in life. I found this particularly interesting, as i always thought the calves would be kept with their mothers almost like a baby is kept with their mother after birth.

Today’s class was very informative and interesting, it showed me that there are numerous ways of creating milk and that every farm can do this differently. It also opened my eyes to how I could teach a lesson like this in the classroom and that a trip to a farm could be extremely useful for children to develop their knowledge, understanding and skills of how dairy products come from a cow but end up in shelves in supermarkets.

References:

De Boer Housing Systems, (2017). Robert Veitch, Strandhead Farm Open Day. [Available: http://www.deboerhousing.com/blog/30-robert-veitch-strandhead-farm-open-day] [Accessed: 15th October 2017]

Mossgiel Farm, (2017). Mossgiel Farm. [Available: http://mossgielfarm.co.uk/] [Accessed: 15th October 2017]

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]