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.