Field Experience

I am now finished with my field work and had much fun in the classroom. With my lesson plans that I was able to teach, I integrated art into two language arts lessons. With the Thanksgiving holiday around the corner, I was able to use this as my focus with my first lesson. My lesson was about writing and word choice within writing. Teaching the students how important adjectives were to writing and the excitement and interest that they can bring to a sentence. As a class we made a Thanksgiving turkey that the students decorated with personalized feathers expressing their favorite Thanksgiving dish. There was much enthusiasm in doing this lesson, the students had a lot of fun and they were all very proud of their finished turkey. After the class completed the turkey with their feathers, I had them sculpt their favorite meal on a paper plate with salt dough. This part of the assignment was also very much enjoyed. The second lesson I taught was also focusing on word choice. As a class the students came up with sentences to go along with a picture book that had the text covered. I then had the students illustrate their own story using the text that they had come up with for the picture book. This was also a fun project for the students creating much enthusiasm. In the end, actually teaching students with art was not only fun for them but also a very fun for me to instruct.

Visual Arts

After completing our class on visual arts and actually doing artwork that embraces the art from children's books, I have learned that there are amazing children's illustrators with many different styles of art. Using children's books for teaching visual art within the class is an excellent way to expose art to the class at a level that can reach even the youngest of audiences. As you read a book to a class much emphasis can be placed on the art with the children and as the book is being read, stopping and talking about the art will even bring more attention to the students. Having the opportunity to actually make visual art pieces that focused on particular illustrators was very fun to experience and opened my eyes to many possibilities that may be used in the classroom to introduce students to different styles of artwork. As I go through this program and work towards my degree, I will definitely utilize my findings in my art integration class and focus more on the arts when I am in the classroom as a professional instructor.

Music

Music is necessary for children and their brain development. Many studies have proven that exposing children at a young age(the younger the better, even before birth) that there are many positive affects to the development of the brain. Preparing to become a teacher, I feel that incorporating music into my class is essential. I am hoping to teach k-2 and these are excellent years for music integration. All ages are good, but there are so many fun and interesting ideas to integrate music with the younger students. Just starting with simple tunes to help them memorize phone numbers, days of the week, colors, letters, numbers, months, season, etc. Children seem to respond very positively with the use of music and using simple fun songs and tunes to help them learn and remember all kinds of information.

Dance

Using a creative dance method in class as opposed to a structured dance method helps children themselves be creative. It also helps the student express themselves without feeling constrained to any particular style or movement. With the activity that is involved when people are dancing and moving about freely our minds begin to work more creatively and open up to new ideas. As a teacher I would like to include dance in my curriculum as well as integrate it into other studies. Dance would help my class to warm up at the beginning of the day or invigorate in the middle of a day. That would be the physical advantages of dance. Integrating dance into your studies also has many benefits. I would like to use dance to be able to teach about different cultures when teaching social studies. I would also like to use dance techniques that could be incorporated into math. Or use dance when I am teaching literature. This I would use to express emotions within a book. For example if there is anger to be felt, I would have the students express anger with a dance movement. I believe there are many opportunities within the classroom to use dance and children especially are very receptive to dance.

Drama

Drama is a great way for students to express themselves. There are many techniques that can be integrated into the curriculum that utilizes drama. I feel that just starting your day with an energizer is the perfect way to wake up the class and get them thinking. Creating plays or drama scenes that incorporate a book that the class has just read. Having the students read a poem aloud and emphasizing their favorite lines. Also doing math games that use drama techniques. These are just a few examples of how I would like to use drama in my class. I feel that incorporating activities within your standard curriculum gives children the ability to learn in a more fun and exciting way. It also brings your classroom from a level of boredom possibly to a level of intrigue and excitement. Students need to be stimulated to learn and I feel that drama helps greatly with this stimulation process.

Learning Through the Arts Reflection #1

Through the process of reading, class disscussion, and class activities I have been able to learn more about art integration. Having the ability to teach students about any subject and incorporate art into the program is something that I have always thought is necessary. Now with actually practicing techniques in class, reading about techniques of art integration as well as discussing the subject, I am now becoming more aware of the many possibilities that exist with the integration of art into the daily classroom schedule. I am hoping that the remainder of this course will be able to teach me more of the arts integraion process and give me plenty of ideas and resources that I will be able to use when I begin teaching. I feel that this is such an important aspect of becoming a successful educator. With the possibilities and ideas available, teachers should be using the arts with all their curriculum. If students were taught with this in mind, we would be having much more motivated and interested students.