Mmadd About The Arts (3e)

For primary education courses in Creative Arts

MMADD About the Arts: An Introduction to Primary Arts Education is aimed at pre-service and beginning teachers who would like to teach the arts in their classroom but don’t feel they have the skills or knowledge to implement a quality arts program. This text seeks to provide some introductory theory and practical suggestions for implementing creative arts lessons.

This book introduces students to Music, Media Arts, Visual Art, Dance and Drama and encourages them to challenge children to move deeper into their understanding and experience of the differing art forms.

MMADD stands for Music, Media, Art, Dance and Drama.

1. The state of the arts
2. The creative arts classroom
3. Music education
4. Media arts education
5. Visual arts education
6. Dance education
7. Drama education
8. Integration and the arts
9: Putting it all together: Programming in the arts

•  The Draft Shape of the Australian curriculum: Three primary processes have been proposed for the National Arts Curriculum: Generating, Realising and Responding. For clarification, these are used in  this text along with similar processes that have been used in state curricula prior to the introduction of the Arts Curriculum.
• Chapter 2: ‘Principles of learning in relation to the arts’ includes constructivist learning, inquiry-based learning and authentic learning.
• Chapter 4: ‘Media arts education’ now includes further information about electronic media, eg. interactive whiteboards, using Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 applications in the classroom, digital story telling and Youtube.
• Chapter 5: ‘Visual arts education’ includes further information on teaching Aboriginal Art.
• Chapter 7: ‘Drama education’ includes further information about Process Drama.
• Chapter 9: ‘Putting it all together: Programming in the arts’ includes an additional program: Antarctica: A cool experience – see above.
• Many photos have been updated.
• myeducationlab: an online study tool designed to complement this textbook. It includes a wealth of extra material to enhance the use of the text and to stimulate deeper learning.

For students and lecturers myeducationLab includes:
- An eText
- Australian classroom videos which demonstrate how theory works in practice, in the areas of music, dance, drama, visual arts and integration.
- Online quizzes relating to chapter objectives and content which are great for revision or to help students learn basic concepts before undertaking practical tutorials in each artform, the creative classroom and integrating the arts. Quizzes are marked online and students get immediate feedback on their work.
- Useful website links to classroom resources, lesson ideas, programs, flashcards, songs and much more, that are invaluable for students’ assignments, classroom teaching and further study.

For lecturers myeducationLab includes:
- Powerpoints introducing the basic concepts in each art form as well as integrating the arts – useful for lectures and student revision prior to completing the quizzes.

? Learning outcomes let students know what they will achieve and learn within the chapter.
?  A theoretical overview of each of the art forms gives students a framework for teaching the arts in the primary classroom.
? Activities to introduce and help students to understand the different art forms available to them. These practical activities assist them in incorporating the arts into a variety of integrated arts programs. Areas discussed include: musical elements, forms of media, different forms of visual arts, elements of dance and elements of drama.
? Springboards for discussion is an interactive section in each chapter which allows for group discussion about issues and problems that will/may arise in teaching the arts in the primary classroom.
? The songs and learning experiences in this book will provide support for pre-service and beginning generalist teachers as the book contains a wealth of practical classroom ideas that can be adapted and used to suit the needs, interests, cultures and prior experiences of children in the classroom.
? A References list at the end of each chapter lists the books available for further study that may be at their local or university library.
? Sample Integrated Arts Programs include:
   o I am Me
   o Wombat Stew
   o Transport
   o The Sea
   o Sounds Great!
   o Advance Australia Fair!
   o Antarctica: A cool experience!

Deirdre Russell-Bowie has been teaching, lecturing and researching in creative arts education in several countries for over 30 years and has published prolifically in journals, professional publications, national and international conference proceedings, and popular magazines. She was the president of the Creative and Practical Arts Association for 10 years and during that time organised and presented at primary arts education conferences around New South Wales.
As well as being in demand as a practitioner-researcher, Deirdre has produced over 30 creative arts resource books, cassettes, CDs and videos that have sold both nationally and internationally. In 2001 she was awarded the prestigious Australian Award for University Teaching (Social Sciences), in 2002 she received the University of Western Sydney Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence and in 2007 she received a national Carrick Citation for her outstanding contribution to student learning. She has been at the forefront of the development of the creative arts website <artsmmadd.com>, which includes many of the resources she has developed and used in classrooms over the past 30 years and which are used in the myeducationlab website. These resources are available free to teachers and also provide opportunity to network online with other teachers across the country and around the world. Deirdre is currently Associate Professor in Creative Arts Education at the University of Western Sydney.