For our second last week of music, we continued using the glocking spiel with a specific focus on conventional rotation and the pentatonic scale. We focused on improvising through the use of the pentatonic scale which consists of five notes:

C D E G A

After playing along to pieces of music as a group- copying from the board- we then, individually played 16 bars to our lecturer in rhythm to the tune Julie was playing on the piano. I do not feel confident performing in front of others, so I am unsure if I would use this activity within this specific setting. Personally, in a professional environment I would find it more suitable for small groups to practice together and then perform to other groups whilst I monitor their progress. This will ensure no child is pushed our their comfort zone or made to do something they don’t feel comfortable doing.  Prior knowledge should always be a priority before introducing a new concept. As a teacher, I would ensure each child comprehended the basics such as how to hold the beaters properly and the various notes included before incorporating instruments into lessons. Attached below is a video of me completing my 16 bars:

 

The pentatonic scale allows you to play along to any chosen song as the given notes work accordingly. Due to not being confident within reading music, this specific activity made me feel more comfortable for teaching this area, due to the fact, I can create any melody along with any backing track. Glocking spiels can be found in most primary schools and are an excellent instrument for introducing the pentatonic scale to children as you can remove keys if necessary, to prevent confusion with keys.

Following on from last week, in dance we started to collaborate our group routines into one class dance. I really enjoyed watching us form the final dance and look forward to performing it next week for it to be filmed! We discussed simple changes we could make to enhance the routine such as having an awareness of how you transition from one step to another. Dance does not solely improve creativity, it also enhances a childs confidence and team building skills (Cone,2009.) This supports why all practitioners should incorporate dance into the curriculum as our young leaners love it and become so enthusiastic when creating their own routines.

 

References:

Cone, T.P. (2009) Following their lead: Supporting children’s ideas for creating dances. Journal of Dance Education, 9(3), pp.81-89.

Creative partnerships are at the heart of the 21^st century and convey- as teachers- we are embracing the full curriculum and understand the positive impact this has on our learners. In addition, creative partnerships have also been said to increase attainment- as well as- improving the physical and emotional well-being of our students (Creative culture and education.) This then supports the Curriculum for Excellences point: ‘’Children’s and young people’s learning in health and wellbeing benefits strongly from partnership working between teachers and colleagues…’’ (Education Scotland.) In order to provide the best quality education-as practitioners – we could help by having an awareness of the options the local communities offer. All learners often engage really well with visitors coming into the school such as artists/ musicians etc to lead lessons with them. I will definitely become familiar with creative partnerships as it enriches our young peoples learning and as I have previously stated I have a passion for the creative arts.

 

As you can see in the above video, today in dance we were practicing in our groups to finalise our dance sequences which we then presented to the rest of the co-hort. We incorporated dance movements associated with Scotland. When teaching this in schools, it is important to always provide a theme to make the enhance the creative process. I engaged well with this and found it very amusing! As briefly underlined in my last post- all you need – as a teacher to teach dance is 10 basic skills such as jump/hop balance etc. We also played the number game today which can be very useful for learners who don’t engage well with written maths. This is a more practical style for learning maths for any learner, the intensity can also be increased by making the calculations trickier. This increased my confidence today of teaching dance as you do not need to be an expert to engage children within dance.

Music today involved us using the glocking spiels using ‘Figure notes.’ This is an intuitive way to read music and can accommodate for all learners. It has been said to have a significant effect on ASN children whom sometimes don’t participate in lessons as it is a visual way of learning (TDA,2009.) After, exploring figure notes today, it is definitely something I will take on board in the classroom to engage all learners from various backgrounds as there is levels to accommodate for everyone. The video attached below is of me playing “twinkle twinkle little star” using finger notes:

 

 

 

References

Creative culture and Education ( N/D) Creative Partnerships [online] available: https://www.creativitycultureeducation.org/programme/creative-partnerships/ [Accessed: 7 December, 2019] 

Education Scotland. (2007) Curriculum for Excellence: Health and Well-being principles and practice [online] available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/health-and-wellbeing-pp.pdf [Accessed 7 December, 2019] 

Training and Development Agency for Schools [TDA]. (2009) Including pupils with SEN and/or disabilities in primary music. [online] Available: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/13802/1/music.pdf [Accessed: 7 December, 2019]

Dance is a unique form of art and combines a mix of physical and emotional benefits. Not only does it get our hearts racing and encourage healthy lifestyles, it also encourages positive mind sets in our daily lives (Creative Scotland,2014.) Before beginning todays lesson, I was very nervous as I do not like performing in front of others. This is a fear I hope to overcome by the end of this module! Similarly to all integrated arts, there are no boundaries when it comes to creating sequences. Our lecturer encouraged us to allow children to form their own dance routines incorporating the 10 basic dance skills:

• Roll
• Slide
• Turn
• Twist
• Gesture
• Hop
• Jump
• Pose
• Reach
• Kick

Despite your personal background of dance, this should not affect the way you teach it. Knowledge of these 10 basic skills allow you to create any dance with children.

Today in music, we were fortunate enough to have a visit from the local primary schools. The lesson was delivered by a group of primary 7 pupils. They taught us the basics of a string instrument: how to hold it/ how to use the bow etc. The children loved the chance of reversing roles for the day. I will definitely utilise this reverse approach in the classroom as a form of assessing what they have learned on a specific topic in music. This allows children to use their own imitative in planning their own learning journey which gives them a sense of belonging in the classroom. (Burgess,2007.) It was so encouraging to watch these young learners passion for music and share it with us.

 

References:

Burgess, T. (2007) Lifting The Lid On The Creative Curriculum. [Online] Available: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/7340/1/download%3Fid=17281&filename=lifting-the-lid-on-the-creative-curriculum-full-report.pdf [Accessed: 5 December, 2019].

Creative Scotland (2014) Get Scotland dancing: A literature review https://www.creativescotland.com/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/26149/GSDLitReviewv2.pdf [Accessed: 5 December, 2019]

 

The introduction of Curriculum for Excellence across Scotland lays out the fundamentals of the basics of education and how- we as practitioners- can best prepare students for the future. Creativity has a specific role to play in providing children with skills to cope with challenging situations and transitions throughout their lives. Creativity also sits at the top of Blooms Taxonomy of skills within the ‘Scottish Government High Order Skills Excellence Group report of 2011. Allowing children to express themselves in a multitude of forms across the board (Education Scotland,2013.)

Today in music, we became familiar with the learning tool: Charanga. This online music source was founded in England- expanding to Scotland due to its popularity across schools. The website was adapted to accommodate for the Scottish curriculum and is used in classrooms all over Scotland to support music lessons. This tool provides educators with lesson plans and assessments to suit a wide range of learners with varying needs. Allowing the chance for all children to participate in music. Everything on this source can also be downloaded which can be very useful as wifi in not always reliable in schools. With the support of charanga, there is no excuses as to why teachers avoid teaching music in the classroom.

Today in our last session of visual arts, we were tasked in pairs to complete questions based on a given image from ‘Emotional Learning Cards.’ We recorded our responses on video: analysis of our emotional learning card From this task, we were able to appreciate the various aspects of the card and voice our own perspective on this. This form of communicating is an excellent way for children to build up confidence speaking about sensitive subjects and not holding back on speaking their mind- remaining respectful when doing so. This format permits children to engage in art within a different format (Pearson and Wilson, 2009.) Engaging with this form of Art in the classroom could be very useful in promoting children to express their emotions- additionally- try comprehend the wide range of feelings they could feel during different time periods in their life.

We also discussed today how- it is only a minority who choose to be assessed within creativity on school visits. Often, due to the fact, teachers have a fear of the unknown and creativity introduces uncertainty in lessons as there is no boundaries when it comes to creativity. When implementing lessons around creativity, abandon learning intentions. Instead, ensure there is a problem you are seeking to solve.

To conclude, we need to remember as upcoming teachers, integrated arts holds equal importance to subjects such as maths and English. It is essential to time manage efficiently, in order to, include all areas of the curriculum to ensure we are providing the best learning experience for our students encompassing all learning tools to aid our experience.

 

References:

 

 

Education Scotland (2013) Creativity Across Learning 3-18 [online] available: https://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/36809/mod_resource/content/2/Creativity3to18.pdf [Accessed: 28 November, 2019]

 

Pearson, M. and Wilson, H. (2009) Using Expressive Arts to Work with Mind, Body and Emotions. Psychotherapy In Australia. Vol.16(1), pp. 55-66.

As practitioners, we are always open to new ideas and practices to develop our lessons. To begin today, Norwegian students came in to speak to us about their teaching experience and the apparent differences in comparison to Scotland. At UWS, we are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to complete a wide range of practical activities in workshops. The students mentioned how their Uni is very formal and their method of teaching is very traditional. One of the main similarities we share is the drive for outdoor learning in primary schools as it provides a chance for children to experience things we simply can not teach in the classroom. Outdoor learning has multiple benefits for children physically as well as improving their social skills (Education Scotland, 2019.)

In art, we ventured outside to investigate the environment and see what we could discover. The aim was to create art in a natural environment. Alongside our university, is lots of undiscovered spaces with lots of interesting resources. Outdoor learning is excellent in schools as it is free of charge and there is a multitude of resources for children to use. We decided to focus our activity on a maths area- time. We decided to create a clock with pebbles, children could use the pebbles to set different times on the clock and get their peers to test them on their prior knowledge of time.

Outdoor learning must have a focus/ problem to solve as this creates outcomes for learning. Leading lessons outdoors provides an unusual learning environment for children, their brains will start to form new ideas as they are not used to working in this space and adapt to the new surroundings. As teachers, we have to encounter all types of weather but this should not deprive children from experiencing outdoor learning as it does not create barriers for the Norwegian students!

‘Garage band’ is a software utilised in music to create and develop your knowledge of music. Prior to this lesson, I had never used ‘Garage band’ before and found it quite challenging to comprehend. To support my learners, I would seek further support in this as there are multiple features than remain unknown to me. For the future generation of learners, I am willing to expand my areas of expertise- to be able to provide the best learning experience.

 

 

References:

Education Scotland. (2019) Outdoor Learning: Practical Guidance, Ideas and Support for Teachers and Practitioners in Scotland. [Online] available:
https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/hwb24-ol-support.pdf [Accessed: 20 November 2019].

In todays music workshop. We were introduced to the two terms:

• Pulse
• Rhythm

The two terms have very similar definitions. ‘Pulse’ is the steady beat played throughout the rhythm similar to a heartbeat. ‘Rhythm’ is a mix of short and long notes played together. If truth be told- I should have remembered these terms from school- however that feels like a lifetime ago now. This is important to comprehend as it can become useful when teaching children the fundamentals of music.

The next activity involved us using 2 drumsticks to play different beats on the floor or the chair in front. We played the game ‘circles and squares.’ This game accommodates for all learners which is very practical in the classroom as you don’t need to have a musical background or a specific skill in it to understand this concept. The word square has one syllable in it and circle has 2. Therefore, we played 2 beats -using the drumsticks- if the image on the board was a circle and 1 if it was a square. I will definitely use this game in the classroom with pupils as it is an excellent way to familiarise their-selves with music notes. This also allows them to create their own rhythmic patterns which can improve literacy skills from repetition of syllables and phonemes (Creative Scotland,2017.) This exercise could enhance childrens abilities in literacy and implement new practices of how to accomplish this.

Today in art, we spoke about the renown Norwegian artist- Edward Munch- whom is very famous for his painting ‘the scream.’ This painting relates to mental health as many people who lived in Norway were depressed at this time due to the continuous darkness and extreme coldness- which led to being forced to remain indoors majority of the time.

We then discussed print making again and what the underlying reason for using this was. Print makes thinking visible through literacy. Ancient Egypt introduced the first form of writing- using stones to create marks on rocks. The book of Kells- illuminated manuscript- made the world literate as it made thinking visible through the form of literacy. As teachers, we become very routinised in our day to day lives and avoid change. Through this method of print making- it allows us to create adaptations in the classroom as it provides a new form of teaching literacy- perhaps making it more enjoyable for all. Bob and Roberta smith is a very famous artist who devoted his work to print making.

 

Our task today was to decide on a relevant topic of today. I chose mental health as this is a very prevalent topic in our generation. It is also personal to me as I have grown up living with someone suffering from mental health illnesses my entire life. Multiple artists devoted the work to mental health through their own personal experiences such as Van gough/ Pablo Picasso and Georgia O’keefe. Kim Nobles work particularly fascinated me as her artwork provides a perspective on mental health for someone who has no notion of what it’s like living with these cruel illnesses every day. (This can be identified in the picture to the left.) We decided to use the phrase:

”Its okay not to be okay!”

which should be emphasised countless times in schools as our young peoples mental well being is vital.

 

We decided to use contrasting colours to emphasise being different and standing out is okay!

 

When completing this task in the classroom, I would allow learners time to think, pair share in order to gain an insight into others ideas and perhaps accumulate some of their ideas along with their own to form an excellent piece of work. Providing children with choices in the classroom increases their motivation as they have had an input in the lesson and will be passionate about the topics being discussed.

 

References:

Creative Scotland (2017) Attainment, Music and the Youth Music Initiative – A Short Research Report [online] Available: https://www.edubuzz.org/youthmusicinitiative/wp-content/blogs.dir/2405/files/2018/05/YMI-Attainment-Report-2017.pdf[Accessed: 22 October 2019]

Following on from last week, we were now on the delivering end in front of everyone- leading a microteaching lesson. Our lesson was based on the renown childrens fairy-tale: ‘’Goldilocks and the three bears.’’ Through a trial and error process, we finally agreed on this one as a group due to the powerful message it portrays. As teachers, it is vital to always provide children with a purpose, they need to be informed why they are completing an activity and what is the relevance of it. This fable illustrates the idea of how your actions can affect others- through the concept of trespassing. If teaching a lesson on this in the classroom, it could involve the GIRFEC well-being indicators, as we have a duty of care to ensure all children are: safe, healthy, active, nurtured, achieving, respected, responsible and included which is recalled by the acronym: SHANARRI (Scottish Government, 2017.) This story effectively covers all areas of the GIRFEC well-being indicators to highlight the importance of this to students as they should be aware of this. It ensures every child is being provided with a fair chance to excel in all areas of the cfe framework.

 

We incorporated hot seating, improvisation and mime through a range of activities. Overall, our experience was relatively positive. As a next step, I would encourage all to mange our time more efficiently, as, there is not enough hours in the day to relentlessly run out of time in lessons. We have to set timers in our inputs and be consciously aware of the limitations due to time in the classroom environment.

This week we were introduced to music- before beginning I was not aware of the several cognitive benefits music has on a childs development as it develops the specific area of the brain while interacting within music. Music has been evolving all throughout history and will continue to elevate stress for some or pump up the spirits of others. Personally, music is my coping mechanism through challenging times and helps me concentrate whilst studying. Some of the benefits for our young learners include: improving fine motor skills through handling instruments, improves young peoples memory which includes remembering info for all academic areas; enhances thinking skills and encourages children to work well under pressure (Arts Education Partnership, 2011.) These skills are transferrable across the curriculum and could be useful in later life within the workplace. In todays lesson we listened to a track called: ”Shostakovich Piano Concerto No.2” as a stimulus for a piece of creative writing. We were then tasked in groups to congregate our ideas into one story- each group came up with a different story- which conveyed to me the power of our imagination! This would be an excellent exercise to use in the classroom as it would be interesting to see what the children could come up with.

In teaching, communication will continue to be vital for all professionals as well as students. When integrated arts can be utilised to make lessons more active and engaging,:we should take this on board. We must ensure all areas of the curriculum are being taught and remain focused on not forcing our likes and dislikes on children.

 

References:

Arts Education Partnership (2011) Music Matters [online] available: file:///C:/Users/derby/Downloads/Music%20Matters%20Final%20(3).pdf [Accessed: 25th October, 2019]

Scottish Government (2017) Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) [online] available: https://www.gov.scot/policies/girfec/wellbeing-indicators-shanarri/ [Accessed 25th October, 2019]

 

 

Integrated arts inspire pupils to communicate their feelings through words and/ or gestures in multiple forms, and can enable them to discover and improve their own potentials in other areas such as literacy. (Thomas, S.) We discussed today how children of todays generation are not as familiar with distinguishing the difference between a piece of text and a picture as they are so dependent on everything being modern and through the use of technology (touch screens). This explains the deterioration of libraries, as many people, access books online now which defeats the purpose of abstracting your mind from the constant usage of technology. (Flood, A.)

Carrying on from our previous session in art, today we had to write words on our paintings to symbolise our memories of the Highlands. Proven to be quite difficult- as this was a very long time ago for me. I then began to research poetry associated with the Highlands to embark on new ideas. Eventually, settling on the idea of relating song lyrics into my landscape, special to me, as my Grandad always used to sing this to us: ‘’ Donald Where’s Your Troosers’’ by Andy Stewart. Now, having a deeper insight into the meaning behind the lyrics it is actually very comical to listen to again. A poem/ song can create an entire landscape in a few short/ precise lines which demonstrates we are not bound by text. This particular pedagogy can be very useful for learners having difficulties with formal academic writing pieces. This provides a new theory to try and develop in the classroom as teachers of the future generation.

 

 

 

 

 

Microteaching- in drama today, my peers led their own pre-planned lesson. Everyone was to incorporate all conventions taught within previous sessions. This activity emphasised how important planning is as a teacher. We can’t rely on the use of technology to get us through as it can glitch at any point. Therefore, plan B is always necessary in order to be prepared for upcoming barriers. I liked getting involved in the organised activities of our peers- it became apparent everyone was nervous about the same issue- performing in front of a group within the same age range. Observing everyone else allowed us to identify what we had to do to overcome barriers. Equally split up the parts and ensure each person speaks for an appropriate length of time. Also, encourage everyone who hasn’t worked together to work collaboratively in order to familiarise yourself with others. The next workshop will highlight if we were successful or not and reflect on next steps.

Each workshop today was very interactive as we brought a piece of art to life through the use of words in visual arts and adapted to various characters surroundings throughout different plays in drama.

 

References:

Flood, A. (2016) Library use in England fell dramatically over last decade, figures show [online] available: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/16/library-use-in-england-fell-dramatically-over-last-decade-figures-show [Accessed: 10^th October, 2019]

Thomas, S. (N.D ) Help your child develop literacy skills through arts [online] available: http://www.peelschools.org/parents/helpyourchild/Documents/6-8/Literacy/Help%20your%20child%20develop%20literacy%20skills%20through%20the%20arts.pdf [Accessed: 10th October, 2019}

This week we were tackling controversial issues in drama through the use of different conventions such as: Mime, Monologue, slow motion and voices in the head. As well as, in art, we enhanced different ways to make our lessons more unconventional through inventing our own paintbrushes.

Art should be a subject providing each individual with freedom. This will enable them to achieve unique destinations within their work. In todays lecture, we were introduced to ‘Room 13’- an abandoned room in a primary school- transformed into an art studio located within Caol Primary School. Where this specific form of art exists, there is a sense of independence in their learning and enquiry based pedagogies can thrive. (Adam et Al,2008.) The room is divided into three spaces (The office/ main space and cleaning area.) The pupils are assigned responsibilities in each designated space. In order to, distinguish roles and keep the room in order it is so important everyone follows instructions carefully. Working alongside the pupils in the art studio is an experienced artist who instigates a lot of ideas for the projects. It is a well established room within the local area. Therefore, funds are vital to support this, which are raised from selling photographs to the public of the artwork produced in the studio. Initially, it was perceived to be a radical idea for many-however- further research encouraged people to adopt this excellent idea. It was such a huge success, hence why it has now been developed globally for primary school pupils (Gibb, 2012.) Emphasising the importance of permitting freedom within the classroom- as practitioners- allowing children to formulate their own ideas of what it entails to be ‘successful’.

 

 

In todays lesson, we sourced raw materials to invent our own tools for producing art. There was no set outcome of what the paintbrush had to look like. Personally, this sounded very appealing to me as I like to be unique and not follow the crowd. My outlook on this task was very contrasting in comparison to majority of the co-hort.

 

 

 

 

 

Unintentionally, my so called: ‘paintbrush,’ could of been mistaken for a wand. However- it still managed to complete the job. Reassuring me how boring the world would be if we had no originality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We created paintings with our paintbrushes based upon a short description of the Highlands. Considering the tool used, I think mine was a good attempt. Encompassing a varied system of colours to stimulate different ideas as to what it could be.

No teacher should expect every child to produce the same standard of work in art. Different pathways can still lead to successful destinations. Therefore, in the modern classroom, we must remain realistic when creating activities as every learner has different needs ( Csikszentmihalyi, 1996.) Some schools are very limited for resources- therefore- in certain situations, we have to make do with what’s available. I will definitely use this activity with my own class as it conveys how anything is possible with just a few materials (sticks and string.)

Our last workshop in drama consisted of us developing dramas based upon posters of those affected by historic events such as the Holocaust. Incorporating the use of mime and monologue conveyed a very poignant message. The use of mime was very appropriate as it is a drama presented without the use of speech. All jews had their right to freedom of speech removed through inhumane Nazi policies that ruled their country. This is an excellent form of teaching children social subjects while incorporating other curricular subjects. We must remain sensitive when teaching subjects such as this one, hence the importance of drama to express serious matters in an empathetic, interactive form.

 

References:

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996 ) Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention [online] available: https://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/36806/mod_resource/content/1/creativity-by-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi.pdf [Accessed: 26 October, 2019]

Gibb, C. (2012) Room 13: The movement and International Network [online] available: https://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/36834/mod_resource/content/3/Room%2013-%20Claire%20Gibb.pdf [ Accessed 26 October, 2019]

‘’ we do not of course have to accept what others say but there is every chance that our response to art will be enhanced by a variety of opinions and responses.’’ ( Fleming, 2012.) There is often no right answer when it comes to Expressive Arts. ‘Thinking is sculpting’- we discussed this term in todays lecture. My interpretation of this is we need to let our imaginations run free when it comes to visual arts. In some cases, a picture can provoke many more thoughts and feelings than simply reading an academic text can. Hence- the importance of ‘visual essays.’ We analysed a text bombarded with quotes and academic language which we then depicted through drawings.

Personally, I found this task quite challenging as I had a text with very little similes or metaphors so it was difficult to visualise what the writer was trying to portray. On the other hand, what amazed me was the different interpretations individuals had on the same text.

 

 

As you will notice from the picture above. Our art workshop today would seem very absurd to many but I engaged very well with this task. We had to create prints with our hands using black paint. We were able to form anything we wanted out the prints. Rotating our creations round the cohort to provide everyone with the chance to add anything they believed was missing. The rotation concept might not appeal to all learners as they usually take pride in their own work and would not want someone drawing all over it. However- as the teacher – we can emphasise how this might enhance the piece of work through allowing another person illustrate what they see. A fresh pair of eyes can often identify new ideas.

 

 

 

 

We were provided with the picture above as a stimuli for our allocated drama activity’s today. This is a famous painting by Avril Paton known as ‘Windows in the West.’ Through the use of four drama conventions:  Still image/ thought tracking/ flash back and flash forward we visualised the different events that could occur in the tenements. This could be used in the classroom for social subjects’ through the use of: flashback/ flash forwards to represent a timeline. In addition, it could be incorporated into literacy by implementing ideas for a creative writing piece by using this as a stimuli for the beginning or end of the story. This highlights the importance of introducing drama to our classroom as it supports other areas of the cfe framework.

 

References:

Fleming, M. (2012) Justifying the Arts  [online] available: https://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/36831/mod_resource/content/1/Fleming%20M%202012%20The%20arts%20in%20education%20an%20introduction%20to….%20ch1.pdf