Reflection 9 (music)

What?: Our music lesson didn't go as well as planned today. We actually had the class basically rearrange our whole song and tune, but I guess that's what we do it for right?

So what?: Making the lesson plan with music is harder than it looks. It was really hard to find words to fit the music that we chose for the book we chose and to make it actually helpful for students. I thought the words that we chose would be helpful. We decided to do pronouns in an easy to remember pattern, but it's still not easy.

Now what?: I would love to use music in my class. I hope I get the chance to incorporate it into the curriculum I am teaching. I know that memorizing a song always helped me remember important facts. I hope that my students will realize those same things too and learn to use music to their advantage.

Where am I heading with the ARTS...?

Before this class I wasn't that big into the arts. I've always known that it's important for kids to have creative art experiences, but I didn't know quite the impact it had because I never liked art or 'the arts'. I've always been more into the athletics then the artsy stuff, but this class and my field experience has helped me realize that arts in class are great for students and expecially for their learning.

I hope that the school that I teach at has a good art program. I hope that I can integrate art in more ways than just the visual arts, too. I got to do a lot of visual arts with the class I worked with and it was really fun, but I would like to see them using drama more. They had a music class which was great, but a lot of them didn't like it at all... I hope that I can get my students excited about art and hopefully I can get them out of their shells and doing some "out of the box" things.

I learned a lot of useful ways to use the arts this semester and I'm excited to use them especially in relation to the texts that we read in class. I love making those connections to language arts and making more creative than just a writing assignment. I am very excited to use arts in my class and I hope I can make it more fun for my students than my teachers did for me!

Back to school...

What?: We went back to class this week... It was rough being back in class and not out teaching! In class we talked about our experiences.

Now what?: It was nice to hear about everyone's experience and what they got to teach in terms of the arts. I thought it was interesting to hear how some teaching did tons and tons with the arts and others didn't do hardly anything with art in their class. I think its funny that teachers can be so different and I love it. Even though we have core curriculum and set guidelines for teaching our students we have a lot of room for creativity.

So what?: I hope that I am one of the teachers that uses art in class. Not just art to do art, but art that will actually give more to the students and help them learn more and be able to take more from what they're learning. I think that is why integrating into the core is so important, as well as having time for art separately, but just including it in everyday is just as important and helpful.

Week 4 in the Field

What?: This week we were actually supposed to teach Monday and Tuesday, but my school, Crescent, didn't have school those two days because the whole Canyons District had those two days off. I got lucky and got a whole week of Thanksgiving Break! :)

So what?: This week I started my big assignments like my Teacher Work Sample and put all the finishing touches on my lesson plans. I had to actually write up my lesson plan for the sarcophagus lesson that I helped out with. I learned a lot from Miss Draper in the arts because she was the arts teacher for sixth grade and she also did a lot to help other teachers in the school out with their arts stuff. She had a lot of great resources and tips for me.

Now what?: I definitely want to integrate the arts into my class. I was never really into the arts. I was just more athletic than "artsy" and didn't LOVE doing art projects, but I have seen a lot of ways that it can be fun for the students to get art into everyday of class. It benefits them a lot too. I am excited to try new things and get more ideas as my schooling goes on.

Week 3 in the Field

What?: This week I helped Miss Draper teach an art lesson. It was really fun and students really seemed to enjoy it. Each class rotated to art again and they all made their own sarcophagus.

Now what?: Miss Draper and I taught the students what a sarcophagus is and why and how they are different from our modern day coffins. We had a few examples from past years and a few books of ancient Egyptian artifacts to help give them ideas on how they decorated their things and sarcophagi. It was really fun! The students liked I think because they're learning about Ancient Egypt in social studies. It was a great way to integrate art into what they're learning.

So what?: I remember doing this in my sixth grade class and it was always so fun to create something that they used in ancient times. I'm sure my students will get the chance to do an activity very similar to this and I hope I get to teach it to them. It's a fun way for them to use different types of art too. They can use oil pastels or chalk or just color it with colored pencils and markers. It's great because they learn more about important subject matter, but they also get to be creative and do something fun.

Week 2 in the field

WHAT?: Last week I taught art! It was so much fun! I taught about color and then had the students paint a self portrait!

SO WHAT?: I noticed that a lot of students like the project (mostly girls), but some students HATED it! I think they have a stigma about art and think they just can't do it. I was never good at art and I made sure that the students knew that it was THEIR self portrait and they could make it how they wanted as long as it included the elements of color that we talked about: hue, value, and intensity.

NOW WHAT?: This week the classes are making a sarcophagus using butcher paper. They have to draw their designs and then they can use chalk to color it. They can also add glitter when they are done with the chalk. Most students really liked this too. Plus, they have 2 weeks to work on it where they only had 1 to work on their self portrait so the stress level went down a lot!

Week 1 in the field

WHAT?: FINALLY! I'm in a classroom! I am doing my field experience at Crescent Elementary in Miss Draper's 6th grade class and I LOVE IT!! It's so nice actually being in a classroom. Really made all this hard work in school feel worth it. I love the students I'm working with even though I've only been in class for 2 days.

SO WHAT?: Well, in art this last week they did a little project that has to do with the science they've been learning... They made microorganisms using coffee filters, water colors, and lots of water! The students used water colors and lots of water to drip the color onto their coffee filter to create a sort of tie-die looking project. Then using the different shapes on their coffee filter they made the different parts of the microorganism they learned about. It was a really creative way to tie the two subjects together and the kids loved it. However, it got a little messy at times, but they had fun and they used the knowledge they had recently gained to make a neat project.

NOW WHAT:? Well, this week in art... I'M TEACHING! I'm nervous! But excited! Miss Draper said I could teach on whatever I'd like so I decided to use that freedom and be creative. I'm going to talk to the students about 3 principles of color: hue, value, and intensity. Eventually the students will create their own self portrait painting using these three principles. I'm excited and I'll blog about the results next week! :)

Music

WHAT?: I love love love music! I think it's great when it is integrated into a classroom. I liked learning the new ways to add music and song to my future class. I think its great when students can learn through music and sound.

SO WHAT?: I like the idea of making the words from books into songs or at least the key words. I think it's a great way for kids to remember important details from the story. I know that I can remember song lyrics and if words are put to music it's easier to recall the information.

NOW WHAT?: I will definitely use music in my class. It may not be actual singing all the time, but my students will have music in their everyday lives even if its just from my class. I think its an important way that people can express themselves and it tells a lot about the history of the world and especially our country.

Creative Dance

WHAT?: I really liked seeing everyone else's presentations and their own interpretations of creative dance from text. It was fun to act out and move in different ways in accordance to the books that the groups chose.

SO WHAT?: I will definitely use the creative dance and movement for books we use. I think it would be fun and creative to use with older classes and novels along with picture books. I loved seeing the different books too. I want to use some of them in my classes. I liked that a lot of groups picked books that used the science standards.

NOW WHAT?: I want to become more familiar with children's books that I can use with movement. I want to use dance especially when we're learning about other cultures. I think it could really bring the ancient cultures to life for the students. I also want to make it a regular thing in my classroom. I want them to expect to be able to move around and get their "wiggles" out!

DANCE!

WHAT?: Today we did dance! It was really fun! I thought it was going to be more actual dancing so I wasn't looking forward to it. But I loved the activity we did with Where the Wild Things Are! It was so fun to act like a "wild thing" and ROAR! I liked the Water Dance book too.

SO WHAT?: I will definitely use some of those activities to help my students get into the books we read. I think they'd have a lot of fun acting out certain parts in books. I also think the brain work out thing we did at the beginning was really cool and I can see how that could help students perform better academically.

NOW WHAT?: I want to find out more dancing activities that I can do really quick and easy in my classes so the students can get the wiggles out of their system and do something fun for a couple of minutes. I think it would help them be able to sit and actually do their regular work. Hopefully I'll be able to integrate a lot of the dance and drama process activities to my daily lesson plans!

Process Drama...

What?: I thought it was really interesting using the different process drama activities with a children's book. I really liked the book that Dr. E read to us in class. It was really fun to use the different drama games while relating it to the book. It made the book a lot more engaging and meaningful, I think. The team presentations were great! I loved that we had a bunch of variety in the topics of books. I liked how one group incorporated music and I liked how another group really tried to get us into the characters perspective.

So What?: I liked a lot of the different process drama games for books. I like the idea of having students visualize what is going on in the book and how they would feel, its simple and lets them think for themselves. I also like greeting activity where we walked around and then had to greet each other in creative ways. I think kids could have a lot of fun with that.

Now What?: I will definitely use some of these drama games in my classroom. I think it brings the characters to life. It can be especially useful for more boring subjects, dealing with history and things that happened a long time ago. These games can help the students realize how things happened and put them in the shoes of characters and help them really understand different times. I think also just being animated while reading stories to your students helps them get into the book. I like the thought of using picture books for older classes too, not just young students.

Drama, Drama, Drama

What?: I haven't done anything with drama except for my 6th grade play. We did Hamlet and I think I had 2 lines... I loved these games! I was having a hard time not laughing though. My favorite games were the mirror games and the machines.

So What?: It was really fun trying different things like that. I've never thought of drama in that way. Its always just been acting, but I guess that is acting. I think kids would have a lot of the fun with those two also. You get to be creative and its so simple there isn't a lot of pressure with it. I know when I was little the arts were not my thing, well they still aren't. I always felt like I wasn't good at anything with art, but now I've realized that its just your own thing that you make creative.

Now What?: I would definitely like to use the drama games in my classes. I think they are a good way for kids to get up and move around and do something fun to get their minds working and moving. Also, I think kids get really nervous getting up in front of peers and acting and this makes it easy and fun for them.

Art and Illustrators

What?: I loved looking at the different prints of paintings and photographs individually in class. I love looking at art and the feelings that some of these pictures make me feel. I thought it was interesting looking at the pieces of art with the elements of visual art in mind.

So What?: I think looking at the art and talking about it in terms of the elements with my students would help them undrestand the elements and see how they work. I really liked learning about the different illustrators and the ways they draw, paint, scratch, or color their images. It was really interesting to see how fun and different some of the books are.

Now What?: I'd like my students to be able to see different types of professional art around the classroom. I'm also going to be using books and illustrations from some of the illustrators that were presented in my classroom. I like the idea of just a quick explanation and then having students move around to different activities having to do with that explanation or example of information.

Visual Arts

What? I knew a few things about the elements of visual art. I learned about shape, line, space, color, texture, and value in high school. Of course I didn't do a fun activity for each of them like I did in EDEL 4540. I liked the different ways to learn about each of them. It was simple and having us do it ourselves will help me remember specific details about the elements.

So What? Well, now I know certain activities I can do with my students to learn simple or complex elements. I also really like the idea of the students moving around the room to different stations. Its fun and they get to move around while they're learning. I'm also looking forward to using these elements in different activities.

Now What? I really didn't ever like art when I was a kid, but I think I would have liked something similar to this. The moving around to different stations and different activities would be fun because I wouldn't have to sit and work on the same thing for very long. I would have a hard time with some of the activities with cutting out shapes and things, but it was a fun and new way to learn about art.

Teaching In, Through, With, and About the Arts

What: In the reading I realized how much the arts really impact students learning. I think it gives them a release. I know I didn't like math or science when I was in school so when we had something fun and like art or a project it helped me take a break from the stuff that was hard for me. I liked how one of the "10 Building Blocks" was Differentiate. I think its so important to make accomodations and changes to lessons to fit certain kids needs and make things flexible.

So What: When I was growing up I didn't like to draw, paint, or act, which were the most common arts activities my teachers used. I did like to color pictures that were already drawn and I loved music, but I've never had a very good voice. A lot of the art project I had were hard for me and made me feel like I just wasn't good at art, but I know there are many different projects kids can do that they will be good at. In sixth grade we had an assignment dealing with the Renaissance era that was dealing with arts. We had several different options of how to complete and fulfull the assigment. We could've drawn a picture, written a song, made a map, or make something from scratch that would've come out of that era. I like the thought of giving so many options with the assignment.

Now What: To prepare for my future classes I need to get more creative. Like I said, I never really got into art so I have a hard time coming up with fun creative ideas sometimes. I need to make sure I keep notes of good ideas and I'm excited that we're keeping a journal for this class and hopefully I'll be able to really use that in my future classroom. I need to learn more about the arts and the different areas of art. Its not just drawing and painting, but there is music, drama, color, ect. I'm exicted to learn more!