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Reflective

Week 2: Creativity, Drama and Music

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This weeks input started with the lecture ‘How to avoid Killing Creativity’.  As a student teacher, I feel excited by the prospect of teaching creatively but I worry that, once I begin my career, the practicalities of classroom management, paperwork and inspections may reduce my capacity for creativity.

Anna Craft (Craft, 2001) writes about creativity in a very reassuring way, making it seem achievable by anyone.   She distinguishes between little ‘c’ and big ‘C’ creativity. The latter being associated with geniuses, experts in their field and eureka moments, whereas the former describes more everyday and ordinary creativity. Here attitudes are seen as important, particularly a playfulness and childlike approach to exploration and discovery. Small ‘c’ creativity requires practitioners to be willing to ‘stand back’ and learn from their pupils. This shared work of creativity, rather than the onus being entirely on the teacher, is quite comforting. If we see children as naturally creative, then it seems most important that we give space for that creativity. It is not then, necessary to reinvent teaching or be Picasso or Mozart.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Csikszentmihalyi, 2013) also allays the fears of those of us who do not consider themselves to be creative. Creativity is not necessarily something that someone is born with, although there are genetic predispositions, there are also other factors at play. It requires persistence and hard work. It is not always the story that is written in a day but the one which is redrafted multiple times, rethought and even restarted which proves to be most valuable.

This is reiterated in ‘ How Creativity Works’ (RSA, 2012 ). Although here creativity is talked about in the context of business and entrepreneurs, it is a good example of how creativity is a transferable skill and attribute.   Another way describe the aforementioned factors which encourage creativity, is resilience or the ability to adapt and  and overcome difficulties. Resilience is seen as a key to overall Health and Wellbeing (Education Scotland, 2010), therefore encouraging creativity in ourselves and others could have benefits out with the expressive arts.

This lecture was followed by a Drama input. We took a deeper look  into how freeze-framing and thought tracking could be used across the curriculum. Somewhat surprisingly, I felt much less comfortable doing the activities by myself than if I were in a group at university. However, I took this as an opportunity to embrace and overcome these feelings of uncertainty and discomfort. I recognise that to grow and develop as a teacher, I need to leave my comfort zone. Tom Senninger refers to this as entering the learning zone, where things may feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar but where the potential for learning is at its greatest. (Senninger as cited in Perruci et al., 2018)

I did not recognise the picture, nor did I know exactly what was being depicted. However,  trying to gauge and express the emotions I perceived allowed me to feel a sense of loss, longing and despair. When I later learned the title of the painting and its inspiration being the Highland clearances, I was able to connect with people who existed hundreds of years ago. I can see many applications for the workshop in drama and out with it. It could be used for health and wellbeing to develop language for feelings and emotions. Or it could be an excellent activity to integrate topic work with literacy. Children could write a poem, story or news report about the experiences of the people in the painting. It could also be used as a way of discussing and understanding the contemporary experiences of refugees.

Drama was followed by an introduction to Charanga Music. Having access to a resource of this kind is an excellent way to boost the confidence of both practising and student teachers. Although I can read music and know some very basic keyboard skills, I do feel a little daunted at the prospect of teaching music.

I was lucky enough, while on placement last year, to see this resource being used in school with a primary two/three composite class. The children each sat at a xylophone and played together as a group.

From this experience, I could see some of challenges that arise when using this resource. The children were very excited to play the instruments and found it difficult to not give into their impulses. The children were handed beaters at the beginning of the lesson, this made it very tempting to play with the instruments and explore sounds. The aim of the lesson however, was to play a piece of music  as a group by reading formal notations.

These difficulties could be alleviated by spending a short time at the beginning of class establishing standards of behaviour and the consequences of not following instructions. I would also review the previous learning of what different notations signify by asking the children to clap the rhythm.  I would ask the children to point to the bars which correspond with the notes. Once all this had been done, only then would I hand out the batons and begin the practical instruction.

Having the opportunity to fully explore all that is offered by Charanga I feel much more confident and excited to teach music.

References

Craft, A., Jeffrey, B., Leibling, M. 2001. Creativity in Education. London: A&C Black

Csikszentmihayli, M. 2013. Creativity: The psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper Perennial.

Education Scotland. 2010. Curriculum for excellence: health and wellbeing experiences and outcomes. Available at: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/health-and-wellbeing-eo.pdf (Accessed 15 October 2020)

Perruci, G. and Hall, S., 2018. Teaching Leadership. 1st ed. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, pp.83–115.

RSA 2012 How Creativity Works- Jonah Lehrer. 16 May. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufnp89NOreI&feature=youtu.be (Accessed: 15 October 2020).

Reflective

Week 1: Drama and Music.

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On the 6th of October 2020 we had our first inputs on Drama and Music.

It is understandable that some people may feel apprehensive about a Drama input as it requires a degree of vulnerability and the willingness to feel foolish. However, I felt excited to engage in a dynamic form of learning after only one day of online university.  The chance to move and collaborate with peers was much appreciated.  If this is true for adults then it is certainly true for children. Frequently, formal education requires children to sit still and listen; drama offers the opportunity to participate and create as part of learning. This will come naturally to many young children; having a learning process which complements this instinctive behaviour  would therefore be advantageous. (Farmer, 2011)

Angela was so confident and joyful in her teaching, I was also eager to participate; something I would be keen to emulate  in my own practice. Her enthusiasm was infectious and the range of ways drama could be used as a teaching strategy was exciting. For my own practice, I can see that the playful nature of the lesson would build on the innate skills that children have. This could be seen as diametrically opposed to the prevailing landscape of education (TED, 2006). Rather than discouraging their creativity, their imagination and play is an essential part of the lesson.  In this way, creative teaching can offer a vital opportunity for children to be creative.

I was particularly interested in how Drama could be used in social studies, such as history. Using an image as a prompt, small groups spent time thoroughly investigating and discussing what they could see. A range of drama strategies were then used to deepen the children’s understanding (Baldwin., 2009).Their sense of discovery and excitement and creating meaning was palpable.  They made Soundscapes, Tableaus and used Thought Tracking to share their learning with the rest of the class. This seemed to be an excellent way to harness a child’s imagination to engage them in another time and place. I am also interested in the possibilities it presents for allowing children to access primary sources as a way to discover and make their own conclusions. This avenue for analysis and evaluation is an opportunity for children to develop their higher order thinking skills. (Churches, 2008).

The Drama input was followed by Music, where Julie reassured us that to teach music we did not need to be professional musicians.  This is reiterated in the supporting materials; all that is required is that we  allow children to participate in and we ourselves are willing to teach and learn through music. (Daubney., 2017)

In this input we engaged with a listening task. After listening to a piece of music as a whole class, we broke off into groups and created a story based on what we had heard. It was interesting to compare the similarities and differences as we came back together as a whole group.

Our story was about a family of elephants and the trials and tribulations they experienced throughout the day.

It was particularly enjoyable that there was no right answer, each group could have vastly dissimilar stories but each would be equally valid. The images the music had conjured up for each of us and the way it made us feel were not set against any rubric so there was no risk of failure.

From ‘ 10 Lessons that the Arts can Teach’ by Elliot Eisner

Learning to collaborate and learning through collaboration is acknowledged in Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy as an essential skill for the world of work in the twenty first century (Churches, 2008). These kinds of activities, therefore, can engage students in discrete disciplines but also develop skills that are relevant across the curriculum and post formal education.

As a classroom assistant, I have seen the practical ways music can be used,  both as  a tool for learning as well for classroom management. For the latter, I have often seen teachers use “tidy up songs” as an indication that a lesson has come to a close or use a quiet, often classical, piece of music to play when children are engaged in quiet work. If the the music cannot be heard, then the class volume needs to be reduced. This can also give children exposure to music they might not otherwise have and helps create a calm atmosphere.

I have also seen  music used to aid spelling.

Spelling songs are useful to support children in their reading and writing, particularly auditory learners. If they asked how to spell a word, instead of laboriously looking up a short word in a dictionary, the teacher, I or fellow pupil would sing or even hum the tune. This usually triggered their memory. Instead of looking elsewhere for the answer, the children realised that they had the tools to help themselves.

In a similar way, when a child came across a word they couldn’t decode phonetically, we would sing the associated song, pointing to each letter as we sang the letter name.

Both of these inputs demonstrate the way Music and Drama can be embedded across the curriculum, in ways which add meaning and provide scope for creativity. I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge in these areas and develop my skills in creative teaching.

References

Baldwin, P.  (2009) Improvement Through Drama; A creative whole class, whole school continuum. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Churches, A. (2008) Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy.

Daubney, A. (2017) Teaching Primary Music. London: Sage

Farmer, D. (2011) Learning through Drama in the Primary Years. California: CreateSpace

TED (2006) Do schools kill creativity? February 2006. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity?language=en  (Accessed: 10 October 2020).

Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and Creation of Minds. New Haven: Yale University Press.

 

Introduction

Introduction to Integrated Arts

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This week we had the introduction to the module, as well as the usual review of the timetable and assessments we were also introduced to Eliot Eisner.

My first entry on this blog is presented in two parts, the first in the form of a video which is linked

In this video I document my re-creation of the poster ’10 lessons the Arts can Teach’ (Eisner., 2002)

While making my poster, I began to reflect on my own education and how this related to the lessons Eisner puts forth.  In my experience, the Arts were presented as individual and discrete disciplines. They were often used as reward for work in either literacy or numeracy and withdrawn for misbehaviour or incomplete work. As someone who was very slow I often missed out on art and drama activities.  It was clear that they were not considered as important as other areas of the curriculum and I rarely remember the arts being used as a tool for learning.

Lesson ten from Elliot Eisner’s ’10 Lessons the Arts can Teach’

There are however, some exceptions and those exceptions have had a profound impact upon me as learner.

Having still not learned to read and write and continuing to fall behind in all other areas of my education, by age nine my parents decided I would benefit from additional support. I began one-to- one tuition with a tutor who specialised in supporting dyslexic students.

Anne’s teaching style was a revelation to me. Before, learning and school made me feel sick with dread. Putting pen or pencil to paper meant I was going to fail, that I would do something wrong or even worse – that I wasn’t trying and purposely misbehaving.

Instead of  learning to spell using only Look, Cover, Write, Say – the preferred method of my class teachers, Anne encouraged me to combine pictures and words in flashcards. I would choose the picture that I wanted to use, she would help me draw the card and write the word in the middle.  As decoding words was difficult for me, having a picture to use for context helped me to recognise the word and eventually conjure the image of the picture and word in my mind without having to refer to the cards.

These are two of flashcards Anne and I made

During spelling assessments, if I didn’t know how to correctly write the word I could draw the corresponding picture instead and as many letters as I could remember. This removed my fear of failure and feelings of inadequacy.

As I became literate I felt a whole world open up to me. I suddenly had access to whole new form of expression and exploration. Art was the key that unlocked that door and removed the fear from learning.

It is from these personal experiences that I now start this Integrated Arts module. I look forward to being able to implement the Arts in my future teaching and be confident in having the Arts as a central part of my pedagogy.

References
Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and Creation of Minds. New Haven: Yale University Press.