In this weeks music workshop we were learning how to play the ukulele. I learned that using Charanga helps to aid playing the ukulele which means that if I wanted to teach my pupils this I would be able to use this resource to help me plan and implement lessons within the classroom. I learned the different chords that are on a ukulele and learned how to use these which led me to being able to play short songs that the lecturer had provided us with. This experience was positive overall as I really enjoyed learning a new skill as I do not have a musical background. A practitioner reflecting is seen as skills being developed when practice is reflected upon. (Burnard and Hennessy, 2006). It is important that I reflect on my experiences so that I can ensure the best learning experience for all pupils. It was interesting to see what songs could be played on the ukulele. We all played last Christmas together as a group. I thought that this would be a good way to integrate music into the classroom as throughout the year the pupils within the class could be learning how to play the ukulele and then once it came to Christmas time some pupils could perform with the ukuleles in the Christmas show, playing last Christmas, as it is only four chords so would not be too challenging for the pupils to complete.

In today’s dance workshop we did our final performance of our group dance. We started off by practicing the dances in our small groups a few times and then we went onto practicing the dance as a whole group. This was useful as it reminded me of all of the steps before performing it altogether. Practicing with pupils before they perform can calm their nerves and it also gives them the opportunity to ask any last questions before the performance. We then did the dance and a lecturer recorded us whilst we done the dance. This is  great way to be able to evaluate your performance and can see what went right and what you can improve on for the next time you do the dance in front of an audience. We then watched the video back and gave ourselves 3 stars, so good parts of the performance and 1 wish, something that we can work on for the next time we were to perform. The 3 stars that I picked were my focus, energy and enjoyment. The 1 wish that I picked from watching my performance back was my timing. Dance should be appreciated and evaluated at the end of the lesson after the performance. Using 3 stars and 1 wish is a good method to allow pupils to evaluate their performance. An experience and outcome that would link to this type of activity is “I can respond to the experience of dance by discussing my thoughts and feelings. I can give and accept constructive comment on my own and others’ work”. EXA 0-1aa/EXA 1-11a/EXA 2-11a/EXA 3-11a. (Scottish Government, n.d).This means that pupils can see what went well in their performance, which will in turn help them to gain confidence as they can see that their performance went well and also they have something to keep working on for the next time that they perform in dance.

Today’s music and dance workshops link together as both could result in a performance for the pupils at Christmas time for example. This is a good way for pupils to build confidence and show what they have been learning to the rest of the school and parents/carers.

References:

Scottish Government. n.d. Curriculum for Excellence: expressive arts experiences and outcomes. Accessed online. Available at: : https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf

Burnard, P. Hennessy, s. n.d. Reflective Practice in Arts Education, 3-12. Netherlands: Springer.

Today’s lecture was about dance in the curriculum. The lecture focused on creative dance and how it should be a fun and child led activity.

In today’s music lesson we were playing the glockenspiel. I found this quite challenging as I am not from a music background and have never read any music before so it was very difficult for me to join in when they were no letters on the screen and only music notes for me to follow. When I am teaching I will ensure that I have an aid for all pupils in the class so that they all feel comfortable when learning how to play music.  We also did an individual improvisation with the lecturer playing the piano which made me feel very nervous. An experience and outcome that I felt could relate to playing the glockenspiel is “Inspired by a range of stimuli, and working on my own and/or with others, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through musical activities.” EXA 0-18a/ EXA 1-18a/ EXA 2-18a. (Scottish Government, n.d).

In today’s dance session we started off by making up a warm up game in our groups then showing this to the rest of the section and we all played each others warm up games. I feel like this is a good way to get pupils to work collaboratively and be creative and then share their ideas when the rest of the class. After this we did some stretches then went into our groups from the previous week and started practicing our routines. We then added on a starting pose, an ending pose and another dimension onto our dance. Once we had went over our routine and practiced it we started working on our group dance as a whole section. We started off with a pose then one by one spun around to end up crouched down onto the floor, we then went into four lines and did the Scottish section of the dance that we had learned in the previous week. After this we all went back into the semi circle and one by one each group went into the middle and performed the routine that they had been practicing at the start of the session, we then went back into our four lines and did the Scottish part of the dance again and then each of the four lines finished with a different pose. I am really enjoying the dance section in this module and I am taking a lot of ideas away from it that I will be able to use when it comes to me teaching dancing with my class which I know will be different and positive experience for them and  will allow them to be creative too. Creative experience allows self consciousness to disappear. (Csikszentmihalyi, n.d) This is useful for pupils as it allows them to gain confidence in expressive arts.

Both of today’s workshops linked together as I seen how integral the role of the teacher is in enhancing the pupils’ learning within the expressive arts as they need to be clear with what they are showing the pupils in order for the children in the class to succeed.

References:

Scottish Government, n.d. Curriculum for excellence: expressive arts experiences and outcomes. Assessed online. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (n.d). Creativity Flow and the Pyschology and Discovery and Invention

This weeks lecture was on creative partnerships. This was interesting as it showed me how different groups of people like teachers and parents can work together to enhance pupils’ learning within the arts. It also enriches young peoples lives and provides a more rounded experience using specialists when teaching the arts.

In today’s dance workshop we started off by warming up to Scottish music and this would be good to do in the classroom when learning about Scotland as a topic as it integrates them both together. We then played a few more warm up games like splat and a jelly bean game. Everyone had to walk around the room and when jumping bean was shouted you would jump on the spot, runner bean you would run on the spot, jelly bean you would act like jelly and baked bean you would lie on the floor and pretend to be baking in the sun. These types of warm up games are useful to play with the class as they are fun and engaging. First of all we looked at the ten dance moves that we had created last week relating to the ten words. We were then provided with the numbers in a mixed up order and had to do the moves this way to create a small dance. This is advantageous for a primary school class as it allows pupils who may not be so confident with dance are able to join in and be shown that it is not too difficult when you have a few moves that you can join up together. After this we went into a circle and the whole class came up with moves for the numbers 0-9. We then split off back into our groups and answered maths questions to get the numbers 0-9 in a mixed up order and applied the dance moves to these numbers. Then we were given two Scottish landmarks in our groups and had to come up with dance moves that represented the landmarks. Once we had done this we went back as a whole class and put all of our moves together and made up a short dance. “One of the most powerful experiences dance educators can offer children is the opportunity to create a dance that that reflects their ideas.” (Cone, 2009, P81). I found this input very useful as it showed me many easy ways to integrate dance into the curriculum. This allows pupils to work together and be creative. An experience and outcome that could relate to this dance workshop is “I can explore and chose movements to create and present dance, developing my skills and techniques.” (Scottish Government, n.d). This links with today’s workshop as we created movements that represented Scottish landmarks and integrated them together to create a dance.

In music today we started off by looking at figure notes which makes it easier for pupils with ASN needs or have trouble learning to be able to play and learn how to use a musical instrument. The website uses three steps and this means that the pupils are able to work at their own pace but can also still play together at these different stages which allows the pupils to work together no matter what stage they are progressing at. We then moved onto playing the glockenspiel. I found this useful as I had never played it before and by following the shapes and colours on the pages I was able to play the songs after practicing a few times. The songs that we looked at were Frere Jacques, twinkle twinkle, super trooper and jingle bells. I would enjoy doing a lesson like this in my class as the pupils would be able to learn a new skill and also play the same song at the end allowing them all to work together. This means that pupils who are not very confident in music can start off by following an easier music sheet and then gradually progress to the harder music sheets over time.

The dance and music workshop links together as studying the arts allows pupils to be able to work together and be creative whilst learning new skills.

References:

Scottish Government, n.d. Curriculum for excellence: expressive arts experiences and outcomes. Assessed online. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf

Cone, T. 2009. Following Their Lead: Supportiing Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances, Journal of Dance Education. Routledge. P81.

Today consisted of our first dance session. First of all we did a few warm up activities. The first activity we did was lining up in height order from tallest to smallest without talking, this would be a good task to do with the pupils in a class when starting off a lesson just to get their brains working and ready to learn. After this we stood in two lines and faced in a different way from the two people who were at the top of the line. The lecturer showed the two people facing the opposite direction a short dance move and one by one the dance move was passed up to the top of the line to see how well it had been copied and to see if the move was still the same from when it started off at the top of the line. This game would also be good to play with pupils as it is along the lines of Chinese whispers and the children would enjoy the anticipation of waiting to see the move as it works its way up to the end of the line. I feel like this is a fun way for the pupils to interact before any of the learning takes place. We then all got into one big line and when a short music clip came on the person at the front of the line had to do the first dance move that came to their head when they heard the music and everyone had to copy them until the music clip had ended and they then went to the back of the line and someone else did this too. This activity kept going until everyone had gotten to do their own short move to a different song. This is a good way for pupils to be creative and also gain confidence as everyone is getting to do a dance move each but it is a dance move of their choice so it doesn’t have to be really complex, it could just be a jump or a small arm movement. “Students are encouraged to discover multiple ways of moving, make movement selections and create their own choreographic structure or use one provided by the teacher.” (Cone, 2009, P81). We looked at different parts of the body and where different muscles were and also did some stretches that the pupils should learn how to do before they take part in any dance lesson. We also looked at ten basic skills to learn when teaching dance and how to expand on these within a lesson. I particularly enjoyed this input as I have a dance background and it was very interesting and useful to see how dance can easily be incorporated into the curriculum. It was a positive experience and I am looking forward to being able to teach dance within the primary school. An experience and outcome that could link to introducing dance to a class could be “I have opportunities to enjoy taking part in dance experiences.” EXA 0-10a. (Scottish Government, n.d.).

In today’s music session there were Primary 7 pupils with us teaching us how to use string instruments. This was a very engaging and positive input as it was a pupil led input and they were showing us how to hold the bow to play the violin and also what the names of the strings were and how to hold them in order to make different sounds. There were a few things used to aid our learning like feathers and bubbles which is something that I would think about using when it comes to teaching music as I do not have a musical background and this also made me interested in possibly learning how to play the violin. All of the pupils were great to see and I also seen how music was linked to other areas of the curriculum like maths, a sheet with music notes and adding up their values, I found this advantageous and would take this idea forward into my own classroom. Pupils being focused on learning an instrument gives them something else to focus on apart from literacy and numeracy, although this can be linked in, it also helps them to learn a new skill which they can carry on with them when they go to high school.

The dance workshop game and the music workshop links together as both of these could be child led lessons which is good as it allows pupils to gain confidence in themselves and also performing in front of other people too.

References :

Scottish Government, n.d. Curriculum for excellence: expressive arts experiences and outcomes. Assessed online. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf

Cone, T. 2009. Following Their Lead: Supportiing Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances, Journal of Dance Education. Routledge. P81.

Today’s lecture was about observing creativity. I found this very useful as it was very informative and talked about skills that creative teachers have and exploring the school context looking at initiatives that encourage a more creative approach to education. In the context of teaching we looked at defining creativity, understanding the environment for creativity, observing creativity, creativity in practice, creative teaching, teaching for creative learning and sustainable creativity. “In developing creative practice, we are nurturing imaginative approaches to how we work with children”. (Craft, n.d. P3). This means that as I teacher I can be creative with my lessons in order to enhance the pupils’ in my classrooms learning.

In today’s music workshop we looked at Charanga. Charanga is an online music resource. There are lots of options to chose from to alter the way I can use each section of the website. There is scheme which contains a lesson structure and freestyle which gives you more freedom to the way that you structure your lesson. I found this resource to be useful as music is not my strong point so I would be able to successfully teach my class about a music lesson using this resource. There is also a video on the website to show you how it all works which is helpful. For each song that you pick there are six steps which means learning a song could last over six lessons and the pupils could even perform the song that they learned at assembly for example.  I found this workshop to be  a positive experience as it showed me ways that I can easily teach music in the classroom and as I do not have a musical background it made me feel more confident about being able to teach my class music and also linking it to various different aspects of the curriculum. An experience and outcome that could link to this workshop is “I enjoy singing and playing along to music of different styles and cultures.” EXA 0-16a. (Scottish Government, n.d).This links into today’s workshop as charanaga allows you to access music and songs which could relate to various aspects of the curriculum.

In today’s art workshop we were given an image. The image I was given looked like a drawing of planet earth with a few extra shapes drawn on it. The aim of this workshop was to look at the image and speak to it. These were referred to emotional learning cards, teaching the arts is emotionally infused learning. There were three questions that we looked at to be able to talk about the image with. What is the subject matter, what is it about?, Is there a main overall shape or is it composed with interrelating sequences of shape?, Does the mood affect you, the viewer in anyway?. The video attached gives the answers to the three questions that are mentioned above. This type of lesson puts people on the spot and out of their comfort zone. This would be a good way for pupils to work together and discuss different pieces of art. They could also create a piece of writing surrounding what their picture had been talking about which means that it can link in to other areas of the curriculum as well.

Both of today’s workshops liked together as both areas of the expressive arts used technology to enhance the learning. Music used an online website to help us and art used a phone so that we could video the discussion surrounding the piece of art work. This allows pupils to be more creative as technology can help to enhance their learning experience.

References:

Scottish Government, n.d. Curriculum for excellence: expressive arts experiences and outcomes. Assessed online. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf

Craft, A. n.d. Creativity and Possibility in the Early Years.P3

In this mornings lecture we had four students from Norway speaking to us about their university experience which was very interesting. They gave us a talk on their university and talked about the degree that they were studying. In education in Norway there is a big push on sports at the moment and dance is an integral part of their curriculum.

In today’s music workshop we were looking at Garageband. This allows pupils to create music like piano, drums and guitar with the use of an app. You are able to add audio and can also insert movies and put sound over the top of these. You are able to use some of the loop sounds that the app already has but can also create your own which when used in the classroom will allow the pupils to be creative. We were focusing on autumn sounds today which was nice and also would be a good topic to do when discussing autumn and other seasons in the classroom as you could link music into this by using garageband to create autumnal sounds/songs. I liked using garageband as it gives you sounds that you are able to put together, as well as being able to create your own as you can use the keyboard as a piano and create and record the sounds this makes to create a song and then add to it with the already made sounds and short music clips. This is a positive way to integrate music into the classroom and the pupils could also use garageband to create winter songs/tunes that they would be able to use in their Christmas show performances. An experience and outcome that would link to this could be “I can use music technology to compose, record and produce music and to enhance performance.” EXA 4-17b. (Scottish Government, n.d). This would link in with using garageband as it is a way of using technology in order to create music and allows pupils to be able to make their own music through using technology.

In today’s art workshop we were looking at land art. I found some famous land artists. Andy Goldsworthy produces sight specific sculptures and land art which is situated in natural and urban settings.  We went a walk outside in the forest and came across a small pebble beach by the river. My group and I built small cairns using the pebbles that were around us. This could link to a maths lesson in the classroom as we could be discussing balance but also size and weight as the small pebbles would not be able to hold up the larger pebbles. . “Creative teachers seek to avoid limiting the nature of subject boundaries, and make frequent references to and integration with other subjects.”  (Wilson, 2015, P39). This shows that making links to other areas of the curriculum can be advantageous for the pupils learning experience.We also learned that in Norway during the winter they use the snow to create sculptures and this can be used as a way of learning when there is snow in their playgrounds which is very interesting. Using the outdoors to help pupils be creative is useful as there are many aspects of the environment that the pupils could look at and create art, for example using leaves to make rubbings or even the bark of a tree.

Both of today’s workshops in music and art linked together as we were looking at autumn and the environment around us at this time of year and how we can use this to create music and art.

References:

Scottish Government, n.d. Curriculum for excellence: expressive arts experiences and outcomes. Assessed online. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf

Wilson, A. 2015. Creativity in Primary Education.  Third edition. London:Sage. P39

We started off today’s session by having a lecture on our assignment which was very useful.

In today’s music session we were looking at drumming. This was useful as it showed me a fun way to integrate music into the classroom. We used drumsticks and learned a few of the different types of music notes and how many beats that they had. We then followed the number of beats using the music notes and played it along with the drumsticks to two songs. This would be something that would last quite a few lessons within the classroom and this could also lead to a performance at the end for other pupils in the school or even an opportunity for their parents to come into the school and observe the learning that they had been doing. This gives pupils something different to do in music rather than singing and will also make pupils who were maybe not very confident in music more interested and this shows that there are other aspects to music than just singing for example. “Valuing music is the ultimate aim of music education.” (Hennessy, 1995, P49). Pupils will begin to value and enjoy music more when they have experienced different aspects of music within the curriculum.

In today’s art session we were looking at giving people a voice through art. This would be a very useful lesson to do in the classroom when looking at issues in today’s society as it allows pupils to learn about what is currently going on in today’s society or at certain parts of history but also allows the pupils to be creative at the same time. This means that they are able to express their thoughts through art and express themselves, My group chose to speak about equal pay and the quote we decided to use was “equal pay 4 equal work”. The quote was printed out and we traced it onto foam and then dipped this in paint to transfer the quote onto paper to give it the effect that the picture shows. We decided to use red paint as this is a colour that attracts peoples attention and shows the importance of the slogan and what it is trying to portray. I feel like pupils would really enjoy this lesson as they would be able to see the progression of the art piece  come together and see how effective the end piece of art is after it is complete.  An experience and outcome that I felt could relate to this art lesson is “I can create a range of visual information through observing and recording from my experience across the curriculum.” EXA 0-04a/ EXA 1-04a. (Scottish Government, n.d.). This links to the lesson as the pupils observed information and this gave them a voice to create a visual piece of art.

References:

Scottish Government, n.d. Curriculum for excellence: expressive arts experiences and outcomes. Assessed online. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf

Hennessy, S. 1995. Music 7-11 developing primary teaching skills. London and New York: Routledge. P49

In today’s lecture we looked at why music matters. People can experience music in various places such as in class, in school and in their community. There is also many ways I learned that I could integrate music into the classroom.  An example is using ICT in music which links important subjects in school together showing pupils that they can enjoy both of these topics.

In today’s drama workshop we were looking at a few more groups presenting their microteaching. I felt much more relaxed this week as it was not me who was standing up in front of my peers leading the lesson. It was useful to see what drama conventions that they had decided to use and how they related this to the storys that they were using. We also did a task after this where we looked at two characters from a book. The book was called the tunnel and looked at two characters called Jack and Rose. We then used role in the wall to give our descriptions of what both of the characters may have thought of each other within different parts of the story. We picked Jack and inside the outline of the body we put words down that we thought Jack would have used to describe himself and then around the outside of the outline of the body we wrote down words that we thought Rose would have used to describe Jack throughout different parts of the story. I found that this could be a useful thing to do in the classroom as it allows the pupils to engage more with the story and show them how their perception of the character may change as more of the story is uncovered. This lets the pupils discover more of a story to see if their perception changes on the characters and allows them to explore how they could use various drama conventions to act out different parts of the story. An experience and outcome that I felt could relate this workshop is “I enjoy creating, choosing and accepting roles, using movement, expression and voice” EXA 1-12a. (Scottish Government, n.d).

In today’s music workshop we listened to a piece of music that was seven minutes long. “Listening is the fundamental skill necessary for experiencing music as a performer, composer or audience”. (Hennessy, 1995, P38). Children can develop their listening skills by listening to various different types of music which in turn can help them be creative when it comes to the children creating their own music or analysing other peoples music. We took notes whilst listening to the music. The kind of things I had written down were when the music was happy or sad, louder or quieter and when the pace of the music changed. We then had to work in groups to create a storyboard about the music piece. My group decided that it had sounded like some sort of chase, so this lead us to create our storyboard about a rabbit being chased by a fox. When the music was quieter the rabbit had found a hiding place but then once the music had quickened up again the fox was chasing the rabbit up and down hills. The music ended upbeat so our story ended with the rabbit escaping from the fox. This would be a very useful method of incorporating music with art in the classroom which pupils would find enjoyable as they would be able to be creative. This means that the pupils can draw whatever they felt that the music was describing which allows them to be engaged with the music that is playing and they can then be creative with what they draw after the music clip has been played.

The drama and music sessions linked together today as both workshops encouraged us to use words to describe certain characters and then going on to gain an image of these characters whether it be imaginative or drawn on paper.

References:

Scottish Government, n.d. Curriculum for excellence: expressive arts experiences and outcomes. Assessed online. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf

Hennessy, S. 1995. Music 7-11 developing primary teaching skills. London and New York: Routledge. P38.

In today’s drama workshop we were focusing on micro-teaching, My group were the first group to do our lesson was made me feel quite nervous as we were teaching our peers the same age as us and not younger children. We focused on the story Giraffes can’t dance. We started off by giving a brief outline about the start of the story about how Gerald the Giraffe can’t dance and how he could not go to the jungle dance because he was laughed at and was embarrassed because he was not able to dance. Once we had done this we did our first drama convention which was we at teacher in role. One member of the group sat in front of the class and acted as if they were Gerald the Giraffe. We asked everyone questions like: Do we feel sympathy for Gerald? Do we want to just enjoy the party and are not phased by Gerald not being able to dance? and also Is there anything that we could do to help Gerald? I found this to be a good convention as it allows the pupils to put themselves in the Giraffes shoes and say how they think that they might feel. This convention worked well as everyone was engaged with it and was asking the Giraffe if he was frustrated, sad and also would he like some help to be able to learn how to dance. The next drama convention that we looked at was thought tunnel. The group split into two groups and one person from each group walked through the tunnel. This was also a good convention as each individual person could say what they wanted to Gerald, whether it was positive or negative. This would allow the pupils to empathise with Gerald if they felt sorry for him or if they felt like he was embarrassing when he danced. The last drama convention that we looked at as part of our micro-teaching lesson was monologue. We asked everyone to act out how the scene of the jungle dance and one character was to speak their thoughts either as the Giraffe or as one of the jungle animals. This was useful as it allowed people to decide how they wanted the story to end and most groups were positive and had invited the Giraffe to dance and Gerald did the monologue about feeling happy as he was included and was no longer embarrassed since he was now able to dance. This allows pupils to be able to gain confidence as they are able to work as a group to discuss the way that they wanted the story to end which also allows the pupils to be creative too. Pupils can work together or individually and this allows them to learn from each other but also learn with others through creating and researching. (Marshall, 2014).

In today’s art workshop we were looking at the paintings that we had created the previous week about the Scottish highlands. We  looked for a poem, a quote or words that we felt related to and described our painting. The quote that I chose was “allow natures peace to flow into you as the sunshine flows into the trees”. As you can see from the picture I made the words meet at the parts of the picture that the quote was relating to and I also made the writing of the words the same colour as the painting to integrate it all together. This would be a good lesson to use in the classroom when looking at certain topics. The pupils would have to use their research skills to find something that they could write on their painting. This allows the pupils to be creative as they have to figure out where to put the quote or poem on their painting in order for the painting to flow. An experience and outcome that I felt related to this art workshop is “I have the freedom to discover and choose ways to create images and objects using a variety of materials.” EXA 0-02a. (Scottish Government, n.d).This art lesson allows the pupils to have freedom to create and add to their piece of art the way they want to using the words to enhance the piece of art even further.

I feel that the drama session and the art session link together as both gave the opportunity for us to use our own imagination in order to add to the piece of work that we had started off with. This gives the pupils a bit of freedom as they can put their own twist on their work which in turn gives them confidence as they can see that they have created a piece of art or a drama scenario on their own.

References:

Scottish Government, n.d. Curriculum for excellence: expressive arts experiences and outcomes. Assessed online. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf

Marshall, J. 2012. Visual Inquiry: Learning & Teaching Art. Volume 3 Number 3. Intellect Ltd.

In this mornings lecture we discussed Room 13. Room 13 studios facilitate the work of young artists but adults can also use this space to be creative. It was first set up by a group of young artists who ran the studio as a business. Room 13 helped towards constructing CFE. “Room 13 offers young people a platform from which to speak” (Gibb, 2012) This in turn gives young people confidence to speak about their learning and how they are able to be creative.

During today’s art workshop we started off by using a stick and some materials to create our own paint brush. This was quite interesting as it was good to be creative and think about what materials would work well to be able to paint and also hold the brush together. To start off the painting we put a border on our A3 paper which meant that we had a space to paint within. The lecturer then described a Scottish highland scene to us. Examples of some of the things said were the upper third of the painting was the sky which looked cloudy, dull, grey and blue. There is a strip of mountains that rise up higher on the left than on the right. We then used this description to paint the picture using the paint brush that we had created ourselves. This is a very useful way of doing art as it allows the person to be creative as they have an image in their head of what the description looks like and how they will paint it. This means that when using this method in the classroom that every pupils’ work does not end up looking the same. Also, this means that the pupils have a starting point to work with which is useful as they will not feel confused on what to paint as they have had guidance on what the painting is supposed to look like. I found this to be a positive experience as it was interesting to see how the painting turned out in the end as I only had the brush I had created myself to use. I found it quite challenging at times as I had to be careful what parts of the brush that I dipped into the paint so that the colours all didn’t merge together on the painting. In the classroom this type of art lesson could be related to other parts of the curriculum like the topic that the pupils could be working on. For example a topic about Scotland or another country.

In today’s drama workshop we looked as using monologue and voices in head. This was useful as it allows the person to put themselves into the characters perspective and think about how they could be feeling. The topics we looked at were the Holocaust, Grenfell tower and immigration. These topics are useful to cover in the classroom when looking at history and world issues as you could incorporate drama into a part of the lesson to make it more engaging for some pupils. This means that I would be able to integrate different parts of the curriculum together to enhance the pupils’ learning. An experience and outcome that I felt related to this drama workshop is ” In response to  variety of stimuli, I can use my characterisation to create characters using different approaches, making use of voice, movement and language. I can present my work to an audience.” EXA 4-13a.(Scottish Government, n.d). This is a good experience and outcome as the pupils could be given the stimuli of the Holocaust, especially if it relates to their current topic, and use their voice through monologue to describe and portray how the characters may be feeling. The pupils could also create a performance relating to the topic that they have been working on. This could be shown to other classes in the school or even the pupils’ parents or carers to demonstrate what they had been learning about.

The art workshop and the drama workshop linked together as both of the aspects of the arts that we were shown today could be linked to other parts of the curriculum to aid the pupils learning whilst integrating two different areas of the curriculum together

References:

Scottish Government, n.d. Curriculum for excellence: expressive arts experiences and outcomes. Assessed online. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf

Gibb, C. 2012. Room 13: The movement and International Network. NSEAD/Blackwell Publshing Ltd.