Art Portfolio Assessment 1

Folio Item 1: Reflection

1. Describe your attitude towards creative arts before you started this unit

My attitude towards creative arts has always been that of a learner. I have never indulged in art so broadly by myself. I have been more interested in expressing myself in poetry which is also a form of art. Other art forms like painting, drawing and dancing have never been my most robust pursuit. Except for poetry, I always considered art to be an intriguing subject, something that has been too farfetched for me since I was always unable to achieve it and pursue it in the best manner possible. I, however, always believed that children should be taught creative arts before school. If a child knows exactly what they are trying to achieve by drawing or painting, or dancing, their interest in the field can increase exponentially.

2. Describe what arts education was like for you

Arts education has always been an interesting subject for me, especially when it comes to teaching children. I believe children are born artists as they do not hold biases around colours, forms and figures. These children create what they deem is right, and that has been a very interesting part of arts education. Arts education has always served to be an inspiring subject since from childhood, I have had an avid interest in painting; unfortunately, my skills never improved, and I slowly became more of an observer and learner. However, arts education has served a pivotal role in re-igniting my interest in the subject.

Folio Item 2: Visual Arts/ Drawing

1. Provide three photographs of children’s drawings that illustrate stages of drawing development in children from 18 months to five years. For each photograph or picture:
   1. clearly labelled to show the age of the child who drew it

b. comment on how their drawings reflect the stage of drawing development

At the age of 3 years, a child starts holding the pencil by its tip. During this time, the parents and teachers can teach them to develop a good grasp (Pinto & Incognito, 2021).   With time the patterns which were haphazard will become clear. They become well directed with figures of their family members and start drawing in accordance with what they see. Henry’s drawing represents the development of his creative mind with time.

2.Comment on the relevance and significance of this artform in children’s learning and development

Website:https://www.u-gro.com/blog/2018/08/process-art-vs-product-art-in-early-childhood-education/#:~

This website shows an analysis of how product-based Art and process-based Art tend to differ in nature. Art is considered to be an imperative part of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) education (Numondjonovna & Qizi, 2022). Each one of the STEAM projects has been designed to provide children with a hands-on experience, and children can use their imagination with critical thinking skills. Through process-focused Art, teachers introduce new tools for toddlers in which they learn and experiment while creating novel elements. Teachers can invite children to create something that is based on their interests. This form of Art boosts self-confidence and independence.

Product-Focused Art, on the other hand, is when a child creates a project with an end goal defined. They follow a set of instructions through which the end result will be gained. Product-focused Art has a right and wrong, which acquires specific skills and techniques (Brovchak et al., 2018).

3.Explain how you would develop children’s dispositions and skills towards visual arts as a teacher

When I start planning for children’s approach to product and process-based art, I will ensure that I keep in mind all the varied ideas of craft and art that a child brings to the table. It is necessary that each child is given a chance and an opportunity to explore their artistic skills. I will create e mixture of product and process-based art so the children can have fun while learning. I will always be keen on reminding them that their ideas are important, and their choice of craft has to align with what their idea is in the class. Moreover, I will provide them with novel ideas and techniques so that they can improve their craft.

FOLIO ITEM 3: STORYTELLING

1. Provide three photographs of children’s story books. For each story book, state the age for which the book may be considered suitable and briefly describe its content.

These books have a rhyming tone to them, and all of these are ideal for pre-k (3-5) years old.

A grey hound

The story of an unlikely friendship between a greyhound and groundhog. The wordplay is gitty in nature, ideal for children.

The Gruffalo

To protect himself from darkness, a mouse invents Gruffalo in his imagination. The story has a rhythm to it that children will enjoy.

Rhyme Crime

Somebody swapped Marlow’s smile for a crocodile! An enticing tale of fun and theft.

1. Comment on the relevance and significance of this artform in children’s learning and development

Storytelling is an important form of art that boosts cognitive development in children. Through the art of storytelling, children learn about purposeful talking and engage their attention in being creative. Storytelling also motivates children to start writing a similar story by themselves, thereby encouraging writing skills development in children (Zivan & Horowitz-Kraus, 2020). Storytelling also improves the listening skills of children as they listen with attention to the teacher/parent. A story has a specific structure known as “story grammar” this allows children to learn a syntactic structure and organization as well (Shruti et al., 2021). It also allows for a combination of the varied and appropriate use of tenses and linking devices related to spoken language.

2. Explain on how you would use each book to inspire a storytelling experience with children.

I will be using each book in the form of repetition in class but occasionally. It will depend on what the children want to read again. The story of greyhound and groundhog is one of friendship which is unlikely in nature. I read this story with role plays and costumes involved in which I will take on the role of the narrator, and the children can act out the characters. The aim is to create an enjoyable and fun experience in which children get a chance to explore the fun side of learning. At the end of the story, I will ask the children what they learned from the story. Gruffalo's story is another form of imagination and the vast expansion of the mind. I will read this book with the creation of an environment that is like the one described in the story. With visual depictions, it will get interesting for the children as they will be keen to understand exactly how the mouse developed the concept of Gruffalo and how Gruffalo helped him conquer his fear. Then I will be designing an interactive session in which I will be asking children if they have any imaginary friends or ideas in mind that they want to bring to class. It can be a very interesting experience with an exploration of imagination. Rhyme crime is a rhyming story that will be read in class in a singing tone.