Category Archives: Uncategorized

Thinking about resources

October 2, 2017 Amy Lorimer Leave a comment

Resource	Use	Health and Safety	Storage	Cost
Acrylic paint (10 bottles)	Only pour out small amounts so that there is less wasted	Ensure children are wearing a painting apron to protect clothing and ensure that no one is putting paint near mouth	Should be kept upright – no spillages in cupboard	£28.99
Paint brushes (5 packs of 6 brushes)	Use for paint only, not glue	Ensure all brushes are cleaned properly after use, children should not put brush in mouth	Store in cupboard when clean and dry	£12.30
Painting paper (500 sheets)	For painting and other art lessons	N/A	Some could be accessible in the classroom for when children want to do art, the rest in the store cupboard	£18.79
Glue sticks (pack of 30)	For any arts or crafts activity in the classroom	Avoid contact with skin or near the mouth or eyes	Can be kept in tray or cupboard for child use	£19.23
Tissue paper	To explore the different effects that can be made with tissue paper	N/A	Store flat in a box so it doesn’t get crumpled before use	£4.59
Coloured card	For doing craft, maybe making cards for special occasions	N/A	Store flat in store cupboard	£9.87
Coloured pencils (6 packs)	General classroom use, if they want to add colour to anything	Don’t put in mouth, be careful with sharp pencils	Have a pack of pencils per table group and some spare in store cupboard	£17.94
Crayons (6 packs)	For trying out new techniques when colouring	Don’t put in mouth	Keep in packs or distribute into trays	£25.14
Paint palette (pack of 24)	For each child to have when painting so they can see the girls they are using and how much they need	Use for paint only, not glue	Ensure palettes are clean and dry before stacking away	£13.41
Chalk (6 packs)	Trying out new techniques and colours	Don’t put in mouth	Store in packs so colours don’t transfer onto other material	£18.54

Total spent: £168.80

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Appreciating dance

September 26, 2017 Amy Lorimer Leave a comment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0FU3g6ZqwA

Dance moms – Living with the ribbon

The title of the piece is called “Living with the ribbon” so a prop in the form of a large pink ribbon was used throughout the piece and incorporate into the dance. All the dancers are wearing satin pink shirts, keeping in with the theme of the ribbon.

The stage setting was very simple; a black backdrop with basic stage lighting. The style of dance is lyrical and it starts off with the dancers doing different pieces of choreography at different parts of the stage. The dancers then begin to dance in time, all doing the same and using the whole of the stage so that it is aesthetically pleasing to the viewer. The dance works well with the piece of music and the dancers use their bodies to create the effect of the ribbon.

I like this dance because I think it’s nice to watch but also makes me a little nostalgic as I used to be in a dance team when I was similar ages with some of these girls. This clip was taken from the TV programme Dance Moms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpCiiMB6IRQ

Diversity – BGT final

This performance is on a much bigger scale than the previous dance. The use of technology plays a massive part in the performance as the choreography is in sync with the images that appear on the large screen behind the dancers. It makes the performance interesting to watch.

The style of dance incorporates street dancing along with acrobatics and the dancers use each other for support when doing things like backflips. Throughout the performance there is a voice which almost narrates the dance and keeps suspense of what’s coming next. There are different types of music throughout the piece along with sound effects, it’s almost like watching an action movie.

I enjoyed the dance more when the choreography changed and all the dancers on the stage danced together in synchrony as I felt that it was almost easier to watch as when the dancers were doing different choreography, it was difficult to focus on what everyone was doing. I watched this video on Youtube but I think that it would be a lot more powerful and effective if I was watching it in the audience of a theatre.

3.1 Teaching & Learning, edushare, Uncategorized

Giving blogging another go…

September 25, 2017 Amy Lorimer Leave a comment

I feel that I have neglected my e-portfolio a little throughout MA2; I enjoyed writing out my notes and when it came to writing in my e-portfolio, the thought of it seemed like such a chore. However, the elective module Expressive Arts requires me to document some of my TDT’s electronically so I thought “Why not?”

The first TDT I’ll be sharing on my blog is one that I enjoyed taking part in with a group from Expressive Arts. The task was to make a silent movie, which meant that there was no dialogue whatsoever, only music to tell the story. In first year, Sharon showed us this video which was made by the Spanish Lottery. It is such an emotional video and this is because the powerful music emphasises the emotions felt throughout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOnrzULj-BE

Our take on ‘silent movie’ was a little different than this advert and we instantly thought of old black and white movies. We could have been a bit more creative with the story line but we opted for a simple change of emotion so that we could easily display the different music used for such contrasting emotions. If this was a lesson that I was doing with an upper years class, I would definitely spend a lot of time with them thinking of a story and then replacing whatever dialogue they had in their role-play with music which they created.

In our silent movie, we chose to use piano as our main instrument as one of our group members was confident in playing piano, and we also used different percussion instruments. We kept it simple and just used two people as actors and the other three (myself included) played the instruments and also recorded it.

watch here

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Experimenting with ICT

January 18, 2016 Amy Lorimer Leave a comment

Today we used a new programme called Animoto, which is definitely something I would use again because it was really fun and easy to use. I feel like I’m beginning to get more confident with ICT which will definitely be something that is of great advantage in the classroom. Using ICT with children by using an interactive whiteboard provides a visual aid and also allows the children to be interactive and also feel engaged which is extremely beneficial.

Sharon’s input was very helpful as it made us think about internet safety and that this is really important because we are surrounded by technology and have such easy access to the internet. Gone are the days of taking a class down to an ICT suite to “find four interesting facts” about a certain subject. This type of activity has no real impact on pupils and it is simply just a copying and pasting exercise. A helpful activity would be to actually evaluate the website and to write a bit about what the children learned and why the source they used was helpful.

There are a lot of resources that I could use as a teacher to keep the class engaged such as using Class Tools to access a timer or class names so that everyone in the class has a chance to talk and give their thoughts. Also Pinterest is something that I definitely will need to start using more as there is such a vast range of posts and will give inspiration for ideas to use in the classroom.

This is the Animoto that Eilidh and I created! We didn’t realise until after we had finished it that we were supposed to make one with the theme of Internet Safety. We decided to use images from social media to create an animation of our time at University so far. The site is relatively easy to use and so this is definitely something I would give a class as an activity and give them a theme to set it to. It might be a good idea to allow them to record their own music and use pictures that they could take in the classroom if the school has use of a camera. Then this allows the children to use several forms of ICT in a safe and secure way.

1 Prof. Values & Personal Commitment, 3.4 Prof. Reflection & Commitment, edushare, Uncategorized

Reflecting on Professionalism

Link November 3, 2015 Amy Lorimer Leave a comment

After watching the Youtube videos, I began to reflect on what it really means to be a professional in education. In the first video, there were many similarities between teachers and doctors and how being professional is so important in both of these fields of work. In the video, the teachers involved also spoke about what it means to be an exceptional teacher. some of these were; team work, enthusiastic, dedicated and those who keep up their own professional development. i very much agree with all of these attributes and believe that these are vital in order to pursue a career in teaching.

In the video, there was a very inspirational woman who went above and beyond what was expected of her in her role of a teacher. She set up support groups for fellow teachers in order to develop each others’ skills and to inform one another of their own teaching methods in order to continue their own personal development. I think this is something that all teachers and student teachers should be involved in, in order to learn from one another and find the best methods that work for them and how to get the best of their teaching career.

In the second video, many teachers spoke about their thoughts on professionalism which was very interesting to hear different points of view. One of the teachers thought there is now more focus on professionalism of teachers in society as many are now benchmarked and are ‘ranked’ on how well their pupils are doing. This can provide some stress for teachers if they feel like they are constantly being compared to others, instead of working together with other colleagues.

Another teacher spoke about how important it is to be a role model, which is something I agree with entirely. Speaking and acting professionally in the classroom, and having attitudes that are appropriate will influence children in a positive way and will hopefully encourage children to model their behaviour around what you have been displaying.