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Sandy is my inspiration, my frustration, my epitome of self or how I would like to be, she is my BFF.

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Good Morning

My name is Carmen, I am 52 years young, have 3 children, work full time as a school cleaner, am studying full time and hope to graduate at the end of 2024. I have very little artistic ability, but have lots of opinions on what I like. I will give my all and try my darndest to produce something worth looking at. My goal is to learn how to inspire and encourage my students in the Arts and to be able to give them an appreciation of Art. I have an eclectic background from a trade in Electronics mechanics, to teacher aide qualifications, I was in the Girl Guides for over 20 years and in the Scouts for 10 years. I love the outdoors and swimming. Once I graduate I plan to teach in a rural community or on one of the islands off the coast. Good luck everyone I hope you all achieve your goals and have fun along the way.

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My backyard

In my small backyard we like to grow food. At the moment we have Roma tomato bushes, Jap pumpkin vines, a mandarin tree, and some basil. Fresh is best.
As you can see we also have crows who visit, along with many other species of bird life. We like to be self sufficient and  utilise our household food scraps for compost. My dream is to own acreage and to be able to grow more food and have more privacy.

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Sustainable Forest

What? This week I was left feeling overwhelmed. As I am not an artist of any sort I found this task quite challenging. I came across an activity which I will have a go at using egg cartons.
Imagine if you will these lumpy egg cartons being transformed into trees, starting off as saplings and growing into a forest, which is then chopped down for use later. It is then replanted and the whole cycle begins again. I will be painting the bumps green and coming up with a trunk, not sure yet as to what I will use, but I will find something.

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Life of tree

What?
This week I decided to do the life of a tree. From sapling to mature tree, to products. I used all recyclable materials from egg cartons, to old shopping bags to newspaper and even the glue was made from flour and water. The end products were all materials made of wood, the toothpick, the peg and the pencil.
So what?
When creating my stop motion presentation I wanted to show the usefulness of trees and this was done with the help of my daughter and my mother. It was a fun collaboration.
Now what?
I loved the idea of using recyclable materials to produce a stop motion production to show meaning and bring attention to sustainability, climate change and usability. I would love to use this idea in my future classroom as it gives students a creative outlet to produce a product with meaning.

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Chicken Scratch

Listening to the song, I thought I was hearing chickens becoming panicked. Initially they tried to play it cool as if nothing was happening, but soon it becomes a run and chase to get away from the farmer who's looking to harvest a chicken. I found this activity extremely taxing and difficult, as I don't engage with music. In my classroom I will endeavour to overcome this and use sound and music to enable the students interpret music in an artistic form.

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Ticking Time

This soundtrack reflects the swinging pendulum's role in tracking time and the misfortune the passage of time can bring. The song further demonstrates towards the end, how this passing of time can be unwanted or upsetting with a downward trend in pitch.

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Final Reflections: Drama / English / Science / History

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Final Reflections: Drama / English / Science / History

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Drama is a good way of engaging students with content which could otherwise be a little dry. It also allows for individual interpretation and presentation. Drama and English go hand in hand because you could use drama to aid in the retelling of a story, or the interpretation of a poem or other literary piece, including a piece of artwork. Learning about Science with the aid of drama would provide for a fulfilled lesson, giving the students the ability to research and adapt the concepts into movement. And finally History and drama, history is drama, it has many elements of which a good dramatic production can be made, with the students being able to interpret, research and build a fun filled and educational representation of events. The engagement for this would be amazing.
So What?
For my classroom engaging the students in drama would involve the explicit teaching of dramatic processes, movement, involvement and most of all fun. The learning would come from the engagement, the research for the topic and the incorporation of all ideas, alongside the actual dramatic performance.

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What?
This week we were asked to share our ideas for integrating drama learning experiences in which students in year 4 can learn about the History of the First Fleet, including the experiences of various people upon arrival in the land now known as Australia.
What Next?
My first steps would involve learning about the First Fleet, the passengers, the convicts and how they found themselves on board one of these ships. I would then have the students become one of the convicts, they would write up a 'Wanted' poster for themselves, coming up with their alias, their age, what their crime was and what the punishment was and for how long. We would also look at other characters like the ship's crew and captain, discuss the type of food, and entertainment which may have been available on board these ships. Look at the vocabulary used and costumes for the era. Then as a group we would look at how we could take this information and make it into a drama piece to showcase to other Grade 4 classes. Once all the characters, the costumes, the dialogue, the script and the stage was decided, the students could begin rehearsals, make the props and then perform the dramatic landing of the First Fleet and how these people interacted with the Indigenous people of the land. Their first thoughts, their fears and hopes.
So What?
By immersing the students in the process of producing a dramatic performance will give them a deeper understanding of the content and will engage them in a way they can understand and relate to the content. Not only for history but for creating and performing a drama piece.

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The Crucifix Frog

What?
This week we were tasked with developing a short movement sequence to express the behavioural characteristics of a Native Australian amphibian. This beautiful fellow lives 3 meters underground in the harsh Australian outback and comes to the surface in the wet season or during floods to eat, breed and grow, all this is done extremely quickly because as soon as the water begins to evaporate it burrows back down into the earth. This little fellow is only about the size of a 20 cent piece and has the most unusual way of luring a mate. I found his movements quite adaptive to dance. He twitches the toes on his hind leg starting off slow then twitches them faster and faster, next he takes a step forward and twitches his toes very fast, then he takes a long step forward keeping his hind leg stretched out and twitches his toes a few more times. He then does a quarter turn and proceeds to do this process again with his other leg. All the while looking very disinterested.
So What?
I found this task interesting and doable, especially when using a frog. I feel the students would be able to adapt a dance for this little fellow without too much difficulty.
Now what?
For my classroom doing an activity like this would require preparation and at least one video showing the animals behaviour and movement, so the students could imitate and express themselves in dance. The elements of dance would have to be explicitly taught and as I am not a dancer I would invite someone in to aid me in teaching these elements. I would also look into asking the Indigenous community for help, as they often incorporate animals in dance.