I remember participating in many forms of art in both Primary school and High school. I enjoyed a lot of creativity in storytelling, visual art and music. Whilst drama and theatre seemed to be more of a focus in early childhood, it 'came back' again in High School, when we were able to choose elective subjects. Dance and Movement in primary school would have been primarily explored as part of Physical Education. This, I assume, is the same in the majority of schools today.
The notion of teachers or students 'leaving behind' play and art (O'Toole, 2012, p. 9) did initially fill me with a bit of sadness. I was concerned that my imagined ideal classroom was lacking a creativity vibe. The negative attributes of the 'dialectic of play and art' diagram ate away at me for a short time. Many 'behaviour management' aspects came back to me. I began to worry about my unconscious aim to set up a non-exploring, rule-based, prescribing, closed, horrible classroom!
And then I thought of a grade 5/6 class I have been working with lately, and how the class happily explores a variety of tasks, including visual art. The teacher joins in with the class, and lets their creativity fly. I've seen her use drama, storytelling, visual art and music in her classroom. If she can make art part of everyday life in her classroom, in a government school, and get the best out of her students, then I know I can too.
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I can definitely relate to the parent wanting to step in and 'help', although this does not help in the long term.
ReplyDeleteEven as an adult, I still like to play and be silly. I think this is something which is in all of us, but life and responsibility squashes it down. Hopefully as teachers, we can allow our children to still play and learn from that play.
I am sure that you will be a great teacher as you reflect on what you are doing and how to do it better. That, to me, is the most important thing - reflection. Both on what you have taught and how you have taught it. We shall never be perfect, but we can try to be the best we can, and reflection should enable us to be the best we can.
Yes, reflection and gratitude seem to be some of the key components of being an influetntial, effective teacher!
ReplyDeleteGood point about never being perfect. Sometimes I have to remind myself it is never going to be perfect, and that I shouldn't aim for perfection... as long as students are happy and learning, we shouldn't sweat the small stuff.