REFLECTIONS- (10/09/19)

During this weeks session we began looking at both Visual Arts and Drama. As well as the concept of creativity and why this should be encouraged.After taking part in the Visual Arts workshop this week I feel that I have a deeper understanding of the types of art that is produced at each school stage. As well as how children progress when teaching the expressive arts. These specific stages being identified as the scribbling stage ages 2-4, the pre-schematic stage ages 4-7, the schematic stage ages 7-9 and finally the gang stage ages 9-12 (Cox and Watts, 2007). These stages help help me to see the connections between the a child’s scribbling and them beginning to write because these early drawings can act as way for them to communication when they can not with words (Cox and Watts, 2007). Before this workshop, I was vaguely familiar with these stages however, I feel that this workshop helped me to see what each individual stage looks like.

Following our discussion on the progression of children art it became clear that as a teacher it is important to be sensitive when discussing children’s artwork and not to interfere with them while they are trying to draw (ibid).As a teacher it is important that we allow children to develop their own ideas and offer support rather than imposing on a child’s creativity (Craft, n.d.). If we deny children this opportunity then it can suppress their inspiration and want to create art (Edwards, 2013).As this can Therefore as a teacher I will always encourage children and take an interest in the art that they produce.

After looking at different pieces of art from each of the stages mentioned above I found that the art pieces from the Schematic stage most interesting.

This piece shown above is a drawing using pencil and what I believe to be crayons. The effective use of these media help to create a bold and detailed piece of what appears to be a queen or princess. What made this piece stand out to me was the amount of detail and the expression that the child had incorporated.

While in our Drama workshop this week we began learning about improvisation and different techniques that can be used to encourage children to join in and get creative. This workshop in particular highlighted the importance of trying something a little out of your comfort zones both for myself as a teacher and for my pupils. As O’Neill cited in Booth (2012)  states that students and teachers are in engaged in a shared enquiry and exploration in drama. The four techniques below can help us to achieve this. The four techniques where hot seating, teacher in role, thought tunnel and freeze frame.  Children I feel would engage well with these techniques especially teacher in role. As this would allows them to use their imagination and explore their ideas within the topic.  Which allows the lesson to be child lead so the children can develop their creativity and the teacher can act as the facilitator (Education Scotland, 2013). As a teacher I will try to use these techniques to help get every child involved in drama to help build their drama skills and confidence within this area.

References

Booth, D. (2012) Drama research: International journal of drama in education testimony reconsidering Dorothy Heathcote’s educational legacy. [Online]. Available: http://www.nationaldrama.org.uk/journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/Testimony.pdf [Accessed: 10 September 2019].

Cox, S. and Watts, R. (2007) Teaching Art and Design 3-11. [Moodle Resource] Available: Integrated Arts in Education module on moodle. [Accessed: 10 September 2019].

Craft, A. (n.d.) Creativity and Possibility in the Early Years. [Online] Available:https://tactyc.org.uk/pdfs/Reflection-craft.pdf [Accessed:10 September 2019].

Education Scotland (2013) Creativity Across Learning 3-18. [Online] Available:https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/Creativity/CRE1_WhatAreCreativitySkills/Creativity3to18.pdf [Accessed: 10 September 2019].

Edwards, J. (2013) Teaching Primary Art. [Online] Available:https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Bb63AwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=teaching+art+in+primary+schools&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjbn8mhrp7mAhUHQ8AKHTicDIcQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=teaching%20art%20in%20primary%20schools&f=false [Accessed: 10 September 2019].