During this week’s session we began discussing the idea of taking a child centred approach to art and how this gives children a creative freedom to choose the subject, media and direction of their work.This was not a approach that I was aware of before this workshop. It is clear that giving children this kind of freedom allows socially engaged and enquiry based pedagogical practices to flourish ( McAuliffe, 2013).
Within our art session this week we took on the role of the artist which is something that I was very nervous to do. However, it turned out to be something to that I not only enjoyed but gained a lot of knowledge from. We began by making our own paint brush, which at first I thought was a strange concept. However, after taking part in the task I realised not only how easy it was to do but that you feel a huge sense of pride you feel. This also gave me an insight into the creative process as it required critical thinking and use of evaluation skills. We had a clear goal which Csikszentmihalyi (1996) states is one of the qualities that are required for creativity to flow.
After making our paint brushes, we got ready to paint our picture. We were all given a piece of A3 paper and asked to draw a window, we were then informed this was to reduce the mess caused by painting. The idea being that this would stop children from painting right to the edge of the paper and potentially getting paint on the table. This is definitely an approach that I would adopt in my classroom. Before starting this module i knew that the enviable mess that sometimes can come as a result of an art lesson made me nervous to teach it. Then a highland scene was describe to us without us being show the picture, while we took notes. We were then left to use our notes and create the highland scene that had been describe to us. Personally, I found this task really educational because I don’t feel very confident when it come to drawing or painting however, I felt that this strategy helped me feel confident in my abilities. While, it helped highlighting the importance of allowing creativity and child lead activities within the classroom and surprising results that this can lead to. It is obvious that children would love this exercise as they would feel that they are being allowed to direct their own learning and the idea of making their own paintbrush will make it a much greater achievement when they finish their painting. After this session, I feel that I will be much more comfortable teaching an art lesson.
Overall, I feel that the lesson that we took part in today is definitely something that I would use in my own classroom. It is a great way to move past the style of template learning that is still very much present in art in schools today (Gibb, 2012). It is clear that although the same picture was describe to all of us we all came up with very different highland scenes. I think that this will therefore be a fantastic way to keep children on the same topic and idea without restricting them so much that there aren’t allowed to be creative and ultimately end up with 30 of the same pictures.
In this week’s drama sessions we looked at the final 4 conventions mime, voices in the head, monologue and slow motion. Of all the convention that we have covered so far in drama this was the set that I found the hardest to understand. For me, this week really help to reinforce the point that Andrew has been making throughout all our drama inputs, which is that when teaching drama everybody is a student . We also began to look at the ways in which we can use drama as a tool to open a discussion or deal with sensitive subjects such as social justice for example WW2. Using drama can a be beneficial way to allowing children to get into the mindset of a Jew or a Nazi. This would help children to deepen their understanding of the emotions and feelings that these people had during the war. This is shown in the expressive arts experiences and outcomes as drama allows children to experience real and imaginary situations which helps to understand and share their world and others. It helps to highlight why it is so important for all teachers and educators look for opportunities within their own teaching approaches for interdisciplinary learning (Scottish Executive, 2006). This is a lesson idea that I think could be used and change to use with children at every curricular level.
It is clear that for pupils drama is so important in helping children to develop their creative and artistic skills(ibid). As a teacher I feel that there will be lots of benefits for pupils taking part in drama as it can allow them to view information from different points of view and really get into the mind of the character that they are playing which ultimately helps to further their understanding of the wider world. As well as allowing them to communicate their ideas, thoughts and feelings which is an important part developing creativity and the expressive arts (HMIe, 2006) .
References
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. [Moodle Resource] Available: Integrated Arts in Education module on moodle. [Accessed: 25 September 2019].
Gibb, C. (2012) Room 13: The Movement and International Network. [Moodle Resource] Available: Integrated Arts in Education module on moodle. [Accessed: 25 September 2019].
McAuliffe, D (2013) Art and Design Education. In:Bryce, T. and Humes, W. et al. (eds.) Scottish Education. (4th Edition) Referendum, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
HMIe (2006) Emerging Good Practices in Promoting Creativity. [Online] Available: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED544590.pdf [Accessed: 25 September 2019].
Scottish Executive (2006) A Curriculum for Excellence Building the Curriculum 1. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/btc1.pdf [Accessed: 25 September 2019].
