To me teaching art is not only about entertaining the students, or expressing their thoughts and ideas, it is about problem solving when something does not go as planned, it is about creativity in how, and what, can one use to produce a piece of artwork, it is about what kind of art does one want to use to express themselves.

When the term 'The Arts' was first mentioned I initially thought of 'visual arts', and why we teach it. However, as we progressed I became increasingly aware of the different kinds of arts such as drama, music, dance etc., and how they impacted society, as well as how they can assist one to express themselves, and understand what others are trying to convey.

Image: https://www.arthousestudios.com.au/after-school-art.html

I didn't think I'd enjoy the dance modules as much as I did, and I found that learning about all the elements that went into dance, and how you can make dance more fun during the process of producing a final performance or product.

One particular form of dance that stuck with me was 'Creative Dance'. Creative Dance is a term used to distinguish a dance education based off self-expression and growth through movements.

They include:

• Preparing for a presentation

• Recording myself

• Creativity

An example could be in mathematics when a teacher is focusing on grid reference, you can implement art by basing a lesson on creating your own island, or town. This ensure the students are creating art whilst linking it to the mathematics topic or grid references.

Studies have shown that involvement in art forms can positively impact students performance in mathematics and reading, as well as having significant positive effects in other learning areas (Dinham, 2023).

Whether art becomes an emotional outlet for students, or is just an easier way to interpret a topic, the arts is an important, and effective way to learn about and teach a variety of topics and content.

https://www.twinkl.com.au/teaching-wiki/grid-references

Personally learning and exploring the arts has helped me by showing and explaining the many types of art one can use to express their emotions and thoughts. I, myself, lean towards drawing or listening to music to help myself through emotions, however I now know that arts such as mime can also help convey certain thoughts and situations as it requires great detail to facial expressions and emotions itself to get a message across.

Image provided by the Padlet 'I Can't Draw' feature.

Here is one I created.

When I first watched the YouTube video 'Emotion in Art' by Jill Poyerd Fine Art (link and video attached), I was brought in by how she defined art, and how it can stop you in your tracks with it beauty. As well as how art, no matter what form, can trigger emotional responses. Whether it be a dance, and the music calls to you, or a drama play that you connect with on a personal level, or simply how the colours of an art piece or the lighting of a video can set the entire mood for the artwork.

Whilst completing this unit I have found that I have become more expressive with my emotions, and use different methods to express them. For example, the music I listen to now expresses how I feel, pop for happy, slow and emotional for stressed or upset, and many more.

Poyerd, J. [Jill Poyerd Fine Art]. (2016). Emotion in Art [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28sHuEJzYh4

I thoroughly enjoyed learning all the details that go into dance, and all the aspects that need to be considered such as:

• Body

• Energy

• Space

• Time

I loved googling dance videos and viewing all the dancers express their emotions whilst telling a story through movement and music.

A few years ago I went through a phase where all I watched was dance videos, and to this day this duet dance with Charity and Andres on World of Dance is one of my favuorites.