Expressive Arts

Expressive arts

So, it’s been a couple of days since I posted my last contribution to this blog…so I figured I would start making up for what I’ve been doing.

The rest of last week was largely pretty dull. We had classes at Jordanhill like usual on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of last week. However, by Thursday things started to get interesting. On Thursday and Friday we had 2 days of ‘Expressive arts’ workshops which turned out to be really fun.

Thursday morning, once I found my classroom (of course they had to hide all our classes in buildings we don’t usually use) we started with Visual Arts. I was rather dubious about my ability to draw or do much of anything artistic, but I think I may have proved myself wrong. We had to draw out a fish in charcoal, make a charcoal imprint of that fish on a piece of Styrofoam so we had the shape of the fish. Once it was on the charcoal we had to score the Styrofoam along the lines so we could make an imprint of the fish. Next we slathered ink all over the Styrofoam and then placed in on a piece of paper…so we had an ink impression of my original. Afterwards we made a frame and I experimented with colours and largely ignored the professor’s request to select a modest colour scheme. The idea was that we could do this project with our students at the primary school level. I really enjoyed the whole experience and brought my fish home. It is now on the wall of my flat. Check out the photo.

After art we had drama, which was less interesting, but still loads of fun. We talked about using drama as a powerful tool for the students and how we could make students feel more comfortable about the whole process. We did some still frame scenarios that we can use to help the students build storylines and such. It was good, but art was better.

On Friday we had music and it was hilarious. The first instructor had tons of props and puppets and such and we walked around in a circle and sang little children’s songs…with puppets…and hand clapping…and circles!!! It was great! After that session we had a musical session where we had basic instruments like drums and shakers…and we sang calypso music. Oh my…it was priceless!! Oh yeah…camp folk…you’ll love the fact that they are fully expecting me to use the song “Boom Chic-a Boom” as an educational song!! Oh boy…as Nick Frauley would say.

I got further good news…apparently the referee in chief over here in Scotland seems inclined to let me ref a little bit over here…so that’s good news. I’m looking forward to having my gear arrive ( by the way…thank you very much Mom and Dad) so that I can keep reffing…even just a little bit.

Anyway…that’s all for last week…but the weekend is a whole other kettle of fish…but maybe a story for another day. So…take care, don’t be shy to drop me a line anytime…and stay safe.

All the best from Scotland,

Bruce