I'm sure a lot of schools have a 'cafeteria' approach to art, but that's not been my experience in my Professional Experience placements, or when I attended Primary school myself.

Many of you would be familiar with rotations: when you split the class up into groups (e.g. 4 or 5 groups) and each day they do a different activity. One particular teacher made one of the rotations an arts corner. Some of these art activities were fantastic, and I was really pleased to see the students fully engaged with those units of work, proudly and happily displaying them on the classroom wall. I think it helped the teacher was quite 'arty' herself, and joined in with the task when possible. I, too, was asked to join in and create my own project with the students, not just assisting them with theirs, so it became a real enjoyable session.

Another teacher (different school) set aside a few lessons for students to draw pictures on small bits of card, which was to be used for a Principal's leaving gift book. They were able to be as creative as they wanted. Some children opted to do 'bubble writing' etc. instead, as that was their passion. The same class were involved in Readers' Cup which involved presenting a 4 minute retelling or skit on a particular book, in small groups. It was really wonderful to watch the students rehearse, make puppets, write scripts, make props and give their all in front of their peers.

I understand about arts being considered a 'non-essential' learning area, but what a difference it can make to other areas of students learning if they are given the chance to be creative, share something that is special to them, and be able to express themselves as individuals.

References

Speck, C. (1989). A depth art curriculum for the primary school. A Depth Art Curriculum. Retrieved from https://mylo.utas.edu.au

Source

What strategies would you use in teaching a drama workshop like Fox to primary children?

By not pre-reading the whole book to the class, Kate ensured that they did not have their Making, Presenting and Responding influenced by the final conclusion of the book.  They could use their own imagination throughout the teaching sequence to structure their own final piece.  This would allow the children to use their own creativity (Robinson, 2006) to guide where the learning and teaching.

To be able to ensure that students were not influenced by preconceived ideas about endings, I would use the strategy of introducing a novel or the initial piece to gain their ideas whilst only allowing them the next small step toward the end goal.  This would allow for all abilities to participate whilst allowing all individuals to work to their own zone of proximal development (Hoffnung et al., 2013) both cognitively and emotionally. 

In both Fox and the short video of children from Gordon Junior School, the teacher is relating the topic to their students own experiences.  This enables the students to engage with the lesson more readily as they can understand the characters thoughts and feelings as they relate to themselves.  This is important as it has been proven that children learn more from lessons which they can relate to personally. (Piagano & Gillies, as cited in Ashman, 2015)  Using drama can relate any topic more readily to the children within the class, so this is definitely a strategy I would use in my future teaching.

Reflection so far……

I agree with Rich, that I am beginning to see where drama can be used effectively in the classroom.  It does not have to be a traditional drama lesson in an empty room which is what I experienced in high school.  I had not really thought so much about the way children play and their imaginations letting them go to places they create.  If I can harness that creativity and input some of my own, then ‘the world is my oyster!’

References

Hoffnung, M., Hoffnung, R.J., Seifert, K.L., Burton Smith, R., Hine, A., Ward, L., Pause, C. & Swaby, K.  (2013). Lifespan development: A topical approach. (1^st ed.). Milton, Qld: John Wiley & Sons.

Paglano, P. & Gillies, R.M. Inclusive practices. In Ashman, A. (ed.). (2015). Education for inclusion and diversity. (5th ed.). Melbourne: Pearson, Australia.

Robinson, K. (2006). Do schools kill creativity? TED talk, February 2006. Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en

Source

 Fox

"What strategies would you use in teaching a drama workshop like 'Fox' to primary children?"

It seems that warm-ups are essential to creating a safe, non-judgemental environment for drama-based lessons (Sinclair, 2012, p. 46). I hadn't thought about their purpose much before, but that does make sense.

There are some warm-up games listed on this site.
Some that could be adapted to suit 'Fox':

• Yes, let's (actions or moments from the story)
• Beach, Boat, Bank (Adjust these settings and poses to match the story. For example, one setting could be the desert, another the forest etc.)
• Hot seat or Park Bench, but for the latter, use the book's characters (Dog, Magpie, Fox) in place of free-choice characters (may be better in small groups). Hot seat may work better.
• Clapping circle for general warm up
• And "Zip Zap" (I can't think of a way to tie it to 'Fox' at this stage, but would love to try this to see the energy and fun it creates!)

I would include the Offering and rejecting help activity in a similar fashion to Bird, Donelan, Freebody, O'Toole, & Sinclair (2012, p. 76). I believe linking to human situations that the students themselves are facing could also be appropriate and helpful (as long as the students were comfortable with this). For example, there could be some issues that exist amongst groups of students or individuals, or the school as a whole.

Lessons

• TES Australia - Australian Drama lessons for primary schools K-6
• Range of Drama lessons sorted by age level (USA)
• List of commercial classes for students in Launceston Tas
• And of course, ArtPop! Resources and lessons

References 

Bird, J., Donelan, K., Freebody, K., O'Toole, J., & Sinclair, C. (2012). Drama: Social Dreaming in the 21st Century. In C. Sinclair, N. Jeanneret, & J. O'Toole (Eds.), Education in the Arts (2nd ed., pp. 65-90). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford.

Sinclair, C. (2012). Teaching for the Aesthetic, Teaching as Aesthetic. In C. Sinclair, N. Jeanneret, & J. O'Toole (Eds.), Education in the Arts (2nd ed., pp. 43-53). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford.

"Create a 250-word pen portrait that reflects a dominant philosophy from your own schooling. Reflect on the place of the arts and creativity in your portrait."

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.

Source

References

O'Toole, J. (2012). Art, Creativity, and Motivation. In C. Sinclair, N. Jeanneret, & J. O'Toole (Eds.), Education in the Arts (2nd ed., pp. 7-14). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford.

Create a 250 word pen portrait that reflects a dominant philosophy from your own schooling.  Reflect on the place of the arts and creativity in your portrait.

Being educated in the 80’s, creativity was not encouraged as teachers wanted students to ‘toe the line’.   As Sir Ken Robinson states in his TED talk (2006) “education has stifled creativity”.  Education has taken a step in the right direction to allow children to use their creativity.  This can clearly be seen in pedagogy such as Universal Design for Learning (Ashman, 2015) which encourages different forms of expression, allowing students to show their learning in whatever form they desire.  This is very different from my education which more geared towards a transmissive pedagogy which certainly stifled creativity. 

The increased usage of technology also allows for increased creativity.  This allows all children to use their creativity, innovation and flexibility.  Technology also breaks down barriers for those students with learning difficulties as they can express themselves through many different mediums such as iMovie, photos, PowerPoint and animation apps, allowing all children to show their learning.

I am looking forward to learning many different ways to engage children in the various art forms whatever their talents or capabilities. As Rich said, "art is subjective", so what someone sees as not being very good, the next person will think is wonderful. That is what I hope to achieve in my classroom - that no person's work is any better than the next.

References

Ashman, A. (Ed.). (2015). Education for inclusion and diversity. (5th ed.). Melbourne, VIC: Pearson Australia.

Robinson, K. (2006). Do schools kill creativity? TED talk, February 2006. Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en

Having watched Sir Ken Robinson's talk I was inspired by his quote:

Creativity is as important as literacy.

This applies to all of the Australian Curriculum, where we, as teachers, should be striving to encourage the children to be creative in their studies.  This creativity can be in many guises, movement, visual, ICT, musical or written.  The important factor is that the children are allowed to use and strengthen their creativity, not to have it stifled by set structures of rote learning and transmissive teaching.  This is advocated by the Australian Curriculum under the general capabilities of critical and creative thinking. (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2015)   Not only does this allow them to enjoy their studies, it allows them to work to their strengths and so builds an inclusive classroom where risks are taken, encouraged and celebrated. (Killen, 2013)

References

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2015). Australian Curriculum: Critical and creative thinking. Version 7.5. Canberra. Retrieved from: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/generalcapabilities/critical-and-creative-thinking/introduction/introduction

Killen, R. (2013). Effective teaching strategies: Lessons from research and practice. (6^th ed.). South Melbourne: Cengage Learning.

Robinson, K. (2006). Do schools kill creativity? TED talk, February 2006. Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en

 

Image retrieved from:
http://www.saddleback.edu/studentdevelopment/ted-tuesdays-fall-2013

"Share your most formative early arts experiences (be they school-based or not, positive or not)"

Visual Arts

In terms of actual memories, I can remember leaf rubbings at Hollybank, creating bubble pictures, vegetable stamps, decorating real eggs as Easter etc.

During my first degree I took an elective in Digital Arts. I learnt during that unit that art is quite subjective, and that although I didn't think much of my own work, my course coordinator and external markers did think it was good, so I think that's an important aspect to keep in mind when teaching art: remind students that we appreciate different elements of art.

Music

I started playing electronic keyboard from about age 6, and continued on to electronic organ and then piano up until I was about 16. So I have an appreciation for music, especially classical or film-score music. I taught my sister piano at an early age, and she went on to play piano up until her college years.

Drama

I've got photos of myself dressed as 'Joseph' in my preschool school nativity play, and I went on to love drama in High School and college (years 11 & 12).

We state that this blog is 50% the work of Sarah Gale and 50% the work of Rich Talbot. We accept that the grades awarded will be the same for both of us.

Enjoy our blog! 

:)       (: