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!