My Future

I hope that I will be able to teach my students a love for the arts and a desire to keep learning through them.  I want them to be able to have the confidence and the courage to do whatever they want and to thrive at what they are doing.
I want to be a great teacher who uses the arts everyday to teach my students the core standards;  I want to become better in the arts and to be able to teach my skills to others.

Arts Integration in Teaching

After completing field work and nearing the end of the semester, I have a greater appreciation for my elementary school teachers who did integrate art into the classroom.  I have always loved to draw but never thought much about it until this semester.  I had a great experience in field and hope to continue to integrate the arts into my teaching.  It was so much fun to see the students singing for the Veteran's Day celebration at UVU even if it was cold.  They really enjoy music, drawing, and painting.
As a future teacher, I want to instill in my students a love for all of the arts.  I want them to know what it feels like to finish a really great drawing or painting, to play music for an audience, and to become a character they normally would never be.  My hope is that my students will walk away from my classroom with the desire to do everything and to have the tough decision of choosing what classes to take in junior high and high school.

Even More Field

This week has gone by so fast.  The students have had the opportunity to do art projects when they are completed with other work during Homework/Free time.  This class really likes visual art.  They love to draw and paint especially.  It seems like there are always markers and colored pencils littering the floor because they are used so much.  The walls and cabinets are covered with cards and pictures the students have given their teacher.  Most of the students would rather draw and color than do other work like math, reading, and writing.

Field Experience

This week we taught both of our creative arts integrated lessons.  The first one was a role play and it did not go very well.  Some of the students were confused about what we were doing and the others didn't want to do it.  I think the biggest reason it that most of them didn't care enough to pay attention from the beginning of the lesson and we were running out of time.

Our second lesson went great.  We taught the class our song about the Mayflower.  They picked it up but still needed a little help remembering some of the words.  It was awesome.  They all knew the tune of the song and one of the boys was singing it as the got ready for lunch.

Music Part Two

What?
I learned that when you are rewritting the words to a song from a book, that it is easier to write down the key elements from the book first and then create new lyrics from those.  The actual presentation experience was interesting to me because we all taught differently and two groups chose the same song.  It was interesting to learn about some of the things that they taught about.

So What?
It is important for me to remember that my students may not know the difference between rhythm and beat.  It is important to let the whole class explore each of these areas before splitting the class in half to do both.  It is also important that the words fit the song that is being sung.  If they do not fit, it will be harder to learn the song and frustrating for the students.

Now What?
My next steps are to practice what I have learned in the elementary school classroom and find ways to integrate the arts into other areas within the curriculum.  If I do not do that now then I won't do it within my own classroom.

Music Part One

What?
Music is the rhythm of everyday life.  It should be apart of the elementary classroom because students who are exposed to music are able to retain information better and more accurately.  Many students don't even realize that they are learning.

So What?
My goals for using in my classroom are simple.  I enjoy having some background music playing when at all possible.  As the students come in, when they have free time, and maybe even when they are doing group work.  I want my students to enjoy music and to learn from it. 

Now What?
Right now I plan to integrate music into my field experience and to start collecting music that children would enjoy and maybe never be exposed to.  I can practice any lessons with my younger cousins or a group of peers.

Dance Part One

What?
Children's creative dance is not a specific set of steps that children have to learn.  Children are able to explore different elements of dance and at the same time develop a critical thinking process.  Creative dance also helps students remember core materials better.

It became clear that children need the time to move and express themselves.  Creative dance can be taught anywhere studnets can move and have space to spread out.  I really like the idea of using props within the dance process.  It gives children something to add into their performance. 

So What?
This means that I need to be ready to use any space and have props ready for my students to use.  As part of my preperation, I can have a trial run through of my lesson with members of my family or group.

Now What?
Now that I have learned how to use creative dance within the classroom, I can create lesson plans that incorporates dance and other arts in to my classroom. 

Drama 2

What?
I learned that when you read a text and look for ways to teach from the book, it is easier to pick out different processes to teach.  I learned from other groups that there are many ways to do the same concept (thunderstorm).  I enjoyed the books the chose and what they taught.

So What?
As someone who enjoyed Drama as a child, I have many great ideas.  I love doing group activities and mirroring.  I took a class for two or three years called Kid's Act.  It was a private class were we learned creative drama.  Some of the things we did would be good for the classroom.  It would get my students up and moving and help them learn more efficiently.

Now What?
As a future teacher, I will be able to start now to create lessons and to try them out to make sure that they work.  I can use other teachers and future teachers as resources.  I can begin now to integrate not only creative drama into my teaching style but also all of the creative arts.

Drama

What?
I learned this week that drama isn't just acting out a character but thinking about the world in a different way.  Many of the games we played, I have played before but not in a drama class.  I realized that students can be learning how to think critically and abstractly without realizing they are doing so.

So What?
I really like activities that engage children's minds and can get them up and moving.  The game where one student tries to guess who is leading is one of my favorites.  I also like the mirror game.  I learned through American Sign Language that if a person really concentrates on another persons face, they can see other things around them like movements of their arms and hands.  I want my students to interact with everyone in the class and not just their friends.

Now What?
Children need the oppurtunity to move and learn.  Drama is a great way to get a class moving and learning.  It also helps develop their hand-eye coordination.  Drama uses the natural way that children move and interact.  Focusing those abilities within the classroom will help children learn and maintain information better.

Visual Art 2

What?
This week I learned a lot about the principles of art.  The one that I loved the most was balance.  I am very ocd about things being straight and centered but I found myself liking the assymetrical paintings more enjoyable.  I also liked the different styles of the different artists that we learned about in class.  It was fun to see what different things could be done with watercolors.

So What?
As a future teacher, I can prepare by not only doing research about different artists and their styles but visiting an art gallery, reading the books they may have illustrated, and trying to duplicate their styles myself.  I will be able to get a feel for how they create their works of art.

Now What?
This will be important for me and my students because if I know first hand about each painting and the artist who made them, I will be a better teacher and my students will learn better as well.  They will have more confidence in themselves as artists.

Visual Art

What
This week with visual art, I learned that it is a great tool to get students motivated not only to learn but to do well with reading and writing skills.  Integrating art into everyday curriculum is important for learning and improvment.

So What
This means that as a teacher and student, I should integrate that into what I teach and learn.  I know that I learn better when I can see what I am learning.  Everyone, children especially understand concepts better and actually move through the thinking process using pictures. 

Now What
As a future teacher, my goal is to integrate art into my classroom as much as possible.  It saddens me that so many schools are removing not only visual art but all of the arts.  I hope that I will be able to influence other teachers and administrators of the importance of art in our schools curriculum.

Teaching In, Through, With and About the Arts

WHAT
From what I can remember about my elementary education, my upper grade teachers, especially my fifth grade teacher used arts in the classroom.  A few new ideas that I have known but never realized is that art can be used with math and literature.  Many of my teachers did this although I never thought about it until now.

SO WHAT
I have always loved art especially music.  My favorite teacher always had music playing in the classroom when lessons weren't being taught.  I remember doing a lot of art in her classroom.  My least favorite teacher would make us sit and copy from a book in total silence.  As for me being a teacher, I have found that dead silence makes it harder for me to concetrate because I will most likely fall asleep.  By playing music softly in my classroom and having art projects, I will be able to help my students understand and learn better.

NOW WHAT
Now I need to begin to create and gather good techniques and lesson plans that integrate art into everyday curruculum.  I need to practice and understand how effect each technique is with different age groups.