Creative Arts Therapists In School

A Day In The Life Of an Art Teacher - An Introduction

Dec 25, 2006 Jo Murphy

This is an Introduction to a series of articles describing a day in the life of an Experiential Creative Arts Therapist. To begin I will set the scene.

Art is a support subject that has an empowering momentum. It can vitalise the curriculum. The Visioning Wall Project is the example I will use when describing my day.

• For the purpose of this series of articles I have constructed the day to take in all of the year levels I teach.
• However much of the time I will have the same year level nearly all day.
• This makes preparation and clean up easier and smoother .
• It also makes administration easier so that the same year level teachers are released from their classes on the same day.
• My role is to relieve the teachers from their classes for an hour and to teach artistic processes that will support the units of work the students are currently engaged by.

The topic for the Visioning Wall was …”What do you see yourselves doing in the future?”

• So I talked with the children right the way through the project about not limiting their choices to stereotypic roles.
• I endeavored to stretch their imagination.
• We inquired into questions such as “How do people come to choose their life’s career pathway?”

When the children devised a rap to perform beside the wall they quipped “You Can Be What You Want To Be!”

• And so I talked with the kids a lot about how people find out about what they want to be.
• We looked for role models.

One of the Key Phrases quoted from Programme Achieve was “You can do it”

Year Twos had already been interviewing people about the roles, rights and responsibilities at work for one of their class projects. The culmination of this project was a class expo that showcased the roles of the people that they had researched.

1. This exemplifies how the units the children are studying and Art overlap.
2. I was bringing an art activity to a very fertile well prepared environment.
3. My focus of research for 2006 and 2007 is about how the Arts can empower numeracy and literacy.
4. I was supporting the children’s normal work in the class room not bringing something new onto the learning stage.
5. I went to classes armed with a brief.
6. The topic was designed to reach all the children in the school and include input from their families as well if possible.
7. I talked with the children about where they see themselves fitting into the community in the future. (Life's Career.)
8. We kept their drawings to a specified size to keep the quality consistent.
9. They for the most part used manageable materials such as felt Tipped Pens, Oil Pastels, Colours and the like.

For further description see Creative Arts Teacher In Year One

The copyright of the article Creative Arts Therapists In School in Arts Education is owned by Jo Murphy. Permission to republish Creative Arts Therapists In School in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

You Can Do It

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Dec 25, 2006 5:06 PM

Jo Murphy :

Hi Everyone,
This topic is quite a big one.
I am home on holidays and so decided to break the essay up into segments releasing a bit everyday.
What I can then do is match up the 'how to' of it in the Blog section.
For example when I teach year one's (no matter what the topic) I have to begin at the basics of how to draw.
There are some really basic Math's Through Art processes they need to catch early - because the later I leave it the more they muddle
If I left it too long I would have to unteach and then teach again.

So in that sense my duties as their Visual Arts teacher takes precedence over any other aspect of the projects we will do.

Thought I would just say that because this short introduction could leave you puzzled otherwise. However no matter what Programme Achieve campanions the process. I referr back to it when discussing issues such as perseverence etc.

Hope you all had a good Christmas,
Jo

Dec 26, 2006 6:33 AM

Dorit Sasson :

It would be interesting to see how this program combined with your work has a long time effect on their achievements at school and in other areas of their lives. Thank you so much for sharing. I am glad you wrote it! Now I have a more solidifying picture of your work. Looking forward to reading the rest.

Dorit

Dec 26, 2006 6:26 PM

Jo Murphy :

I am applying for funding to engage in a longtitudinal study of the effect this will have on students. This year is the first time that I start at prep.

It certainly will beinteresting to see what has transpired by the end of the year.
Believe it or not I look forward to writing the rest.

I am enjoying your informative articles too! I like being able to take a short break and read what is online. Writing this paper can become long and ardous at times.
Jo

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