Online Art Practices

The first topic I spent half my time in. We discussed a lot of interesting lesson plans for art class. One idea was to go outside, collect some pieces from nature (leaf, rock, tree branch) or from around your home (figurine, bowl, precious stone) and then use it in an art project. Whether the student is drawing or crafting was unimportant, as long as they were engaging with that object which represented their “place” and creating something from it.

For drama, and interesting idea came up where the students could do the same activity, getting stuff from around their home, and then create a silent movie or voiced over movie or play with the objects. This could get particularly interesting with figurines. What’s great about this activity is the cross-curricular nature of it — the potential for writing and creating a script or story ties into English, and the visual aspects could be augmented with artistic touches such as drawing backdrops for the story.

Lastly, we discussed music. Specifically, how the students could create sound effects with their instruments for either an already existing play or movie or for one created in another class/subject area. For example, the teacher could send the students home with a list of descriptors that the students either need to compose a musical tune for or recreate with their instrument in other ways. For example, wind blowing can be created by blowing through the instrument while randomly moving the fingers around. Or, a loud bang could be created by a trumpet playing really loudly one note. The possibilities for creativity are endless.

Infusing Aboriginal World Views into your Practice

The second topic I spent the other half of the hour in. I was the only one there at first, but after spending four minutes by myself writing things into the document, more people trickled in until we at one point at 15 people. The discussion began chatting with another music teacher candidate at UVIC. First, I asked the question of “what are the world views” to “how do you do that with music?” My discussion partner had a wonderful resource to share that provided ideas of music activities that reflected each of the FPPL respectively.

Principle 1 (Wellbeing): Collaboration of ideas. Community outreach concerts. Activities with students discussing how the music makes them feel. Community activities (guest teaching, getting parents involved). Reach out to local music specialists to bring students to them to watch their concerts or work with them in activities.

Principle 2 (Holistic): Self-reflective listening journals. Units that focus on local music. Group breathing exercises. Mindfulness exercises. Exploration of folk song lyrics and where or why they were written.

Principle 3 (Consequences): Develop jointly a set of rules in classrooms regarding instrument care and maintenance and respectful play. Student conducting. Physiotherapist to perform AT, posture, etc.

Principle 4 (Generational): Responsibility as a member of the ensemble. Work with students to maintain school and instruments. Buddy system with older music students helping the younger.

Principle 5 (Knowledge): Develop relationships with local music specialist. Drum creation.

Principle 6 (Embedded): Discuss context of music played, what it’s trying to convey, and relevance of piece to individual. Perform solo from memory. History of artists. “Write a letter to the composer, alive or dead” activity. Soundscaping.

Principle 7 (Patience): Learning how to take time to listen to others during class. Reflection journals. Reporting practice and rehearsal experiences. Students record themselves and reflect on their playing and singing. E-portfolios.

Principle 8 (Identity): Discovering one’s heritage through music. Recognizing identity is influenced by surrounding cultures. Music listens to shapes you. Text/language. Back to folk music — pick a folk song from student’s culture and background, research it, perform melody on their instrument or write paper. Pick something passionate about and do a score study.

Principle 9 (Sacred): Students connect their personal moments to music (write a song with personal feelings embedded to show that not all things should be shared by someone else unless permission is given). Invite into sharing circle. Strengthen connections to music and others. Recognize whether personal stories are appropriate to share at all in class.

Resources shared:

https://opentextbc.ca/indigenizationinstructors/
https://www.firstvoices.com/home
https://grav.madland.ca/timeline
http://www.integrativescience.ca/uploads/files/Two-Eyed%20Seeing-AMarshall-Thinkers%20Lodge2017(1).pdf