Art and creativity

My name is Elise, and I am very excited about the subject ‘Introduction to the Arts’ as these subjects were amongst my favourite throughout primary and high school.  I enjoyed drama during high school and always took part in the high school plays.  Visual art was a subject at which I excelled in my final year, and I have since become a primary school textile teacher at a Steiner school in Hobart.  

During high school, I played flute for many years and have recently begun to learn the piano, as I believe music is essential in any classroom.  I am less familiar with visual media, however my previous career in marketing and advertising may assist me when teaching critical thinking and analysis.

The chapter in Education in the Arts (Sinclair et. al) particularly resonated with me.  I believe allowing children to ‘play’ is a huge part of their learning, where the arts occur spontaneously and naturally.  My work as TA in the Steiner school kindergarten reinforces this, as most of the day is dedicated to child-led play and all toys are open ended.  During children’s role play, I have seen ‘play cloths’ become robes, scarves, or river, and sticks become swords, buildings or fences.

Ken Robinson’s You Tube clip is inspirational but I disagree that every school places “creativity” low on the curriculum. Working in a Steiner school, creativity is used to facilitate all areas of learning.