This weeks Integrated Arts inputs where vastly engaging. The inputs focused on the visual arts and music.
In my prior blog posts, I discoursed that integrated arts related subjects are not my strongest curricular areas, but as this module progresses I feel I am becoming significantly more confident in my abilities and my capacity of teaching the integrated arts in a classroom environment.
During this week’s visual art input, I realised that the visual arts are not concerning seeking perfection, but in fact the individual’s ability to create art work that is unique, abstract and symbolic to them. In order to create distinctive art work, we produced our own paintbrushes, we were supplied with a range of materials- a wooden stick was the bases, to design the stick there was wool, cotton wool, feathers, string and other small objects. From the outset, the art work of class inevitably would not be uniformed, however within a primary school environment pursing for uniformity can be challenging, as segments of art can be intricate and complicated for pupils. It is therefore important to allow different variation of art work that represents the individual unique skill set (Holt, 1997). Children will get great satisfaction and achievement from making their own paintbrushes, it a perfect opportunity for them to develop divergent pieces of work.
Once we created our paintbrushes, we then continued onto paint using our paintbrushes. The lecturer read out a Scottish Highland scenery that was concealed from us, the lecturer described the image using straightforward language. By using this method of delivering the lesson we rendered our own perspectives of the image and created unsystematic art work using the paintbrushes and different colour and size of paper When painting I felt some uncertainty and was hoping that the painting would turn out how I was expecting it to. Within the classroom it is important to keep in mind that art should fun and engaging for children, however as children progress through their primary education, they are more aware of their abilities in which they will often compare to their peers and also will be less eager to experiment in subject areas. ‘Some children find art and design lessons frustrating, and would be far happier if there was less mess and greater certainty’ (Kay and Stillman, 2009, p.2).
Before the visual art session, I would not normal like to paint due to the mess generated, but my view has changed, as I found painting to be therapeutic and stimulating, and I am now inclined to paint in the classroom. In order to reduce mess, it is important to have good organisation of resources, using A3 paper children will be able to make their own disposable mixing palate, likewise ensuring the desks are kept protected this can be done by drawing a boundary around the paper and using newspaper as table covers (Cox and Watt, 2007).
The focal point of the music input was understanding how to play a glockenspiel using figurenotes. Figurenotes are coloured and different shape stickers that can be used on musical instrument to represent musical notes and has matching coloured music sheets. Despite being unable to play a musical instrument I would now be able to facilitate children’s musical instrument by using figurenotes as it easy to understand and there is no need to read musical notes. Also, this week we were introduced to Charanga, a primary education website that has a range of music lessons, songs and musicals that can be implemented in the classroom. Knowing that these resources are available is giving me more confidence in relation to teaching the arts to their fullness and ensuring children are acquiring skills from the arts too.
What I assimilated from this week’s input I can relate to the Tallis Habit Pedagogy Wheel (2013), within the persistent category. Within the visual arts input I was ‘tolerating uncertainty’, as I created a paintbrush and was unsure if I had the ability to paint an unseen picture. Within the music input I was ‘sticking with difficulty’ initially I found playing the musical instrument challenging but I ‘persevered’, remained ‘focused’ and by the end of session I felt confident enough to implement within a school setting.
Music and Art provide the opportunities for children to develop their creativity and related skills. A paintbrush resembles closely to the implement that is used along with glockenspiel, therefore children could create their own individual glockenspiel instrumental stick.
References
Cox, S, Watts, R. (2007) Teaching Art and Design 3-11. New York: Continuum International Publishing.
Key, P, Stillman, J. (2009) Teaching Primary Art and Design. Exeter: Learning Matters
Holt, D. (1997) Primary Arts Education: Contemporary Issues. Guildford: Biddles
Tallis, T. (2013) Tallis Habits Pedagogy Wheel. [Online] Available: http://www.thomastallisschool.com/tallis-pedagogy-wheel-guide.html. [ Accessed on 27 September 2017]
