Reflection #15

What: This week's blog, which just happens to be our last week of school (woo hoo!), is about where I am heading as far as art integration is concerned.  

So What: Throughout my field experience journey, I have learned many things.  I have learned that some teachers LOVE art and some definitely do NOT. Some teachers love math and some love other subjects.  I have learned that each teacher has their OWN specialty and excel in different areas.  This, I have learned, is why teachers collaborate and work together.  They work together because some teachers really do need help in some areas, but at the same time they could be amazing in other subjects.  Art is a subject that not too many teachers are fantastic at.  Most teachers really have to work hard at incorporating art into their classroom.  It takes a lot of work, just like teaching math, english, or any other subject.  Something else I have learned through my experience is that teachers can teach one lesson while teaching 3 subjects at the same time.  A math project could involve math, art, and language arts.  This is such an awesome thing!

Now What: Something I plan on doing is involving multiple subjects into my lessons.  I don't want to just teach math when math time comes around in class.  I want to involve the children's creativity and their imaginations. I want my classroom to be filled with my students work and projects they have worked on all year.  Most of all, I want my students to understand that I feel strongly about every subject, not just one or two.

Reflection #14

What: Art in the classroom... Is there time for it in the classroom and is it worth it to make the time for art?

So What: My cooperating teacher at Edgemont Elementary was not very good at incorporating art into the classroom, but she was also not opposed to the idea of putting art in the classroom. She has realized that the students learn SO much more through art, and enjoy class so much more when they are able to do art.  One of the ways we incorporated art into the classroom was through a Reader's Theater.  Our lessons, during the 2 weeks, were about the events leading up to the American Revolution so we decided to find a Reader's Theater about those events, and low and behold, we found something that fit what we were teaching perfectly!  It something about the Stamp Act, Tea Act, Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, etc... It was great!  And, the best part was that it had 26 parts, exactly how many students were in the class.  We practiced this play for an entire week and the students performed it on Friday for other students and a few parents.  We helped the students project their voices, get into character, and really get a sense of the time period they were acting out.  It was 100% successful!

Now What: I think art is such an amazing thing and I really enjoyed listening to other people's way of integrating art into the classroom during class today.  I hope that creating my art journal will encourage me to put art ideas into my journal and keep it updated and filled with ideas that I find enjoyable and what students would find enjoyable as well.  

Back to Classes- Reflection #13

I am blogging today because I forgot to blog last week since I was out of town all of Thanksgiving week.  I wanted to talk about my overall experience in field.  

I was really impressed with myself when it came to teaching, and even surprised myself a little bit.  I expected to be scared and nervous while teaching, and instead I was excited and ready to teach the students the information I had been asked to share with them.  Something I learned while teaching is that kids love any kind of interactive lesson.  They love when they are up and moving, and really experiencing the material being taught.  The taxing activity we did with the students (we taxed them each day to help them understand the different taxes the colonists experienced) was an absolute HIT.  They loved it!  They got so upset any time we took money (which was fake), you would've thought it was money they had worked really hard for.  

Teaching fifth grade was a real treat, in my opinion.  Fifth graders are the type to not show emotion in fear that others may make fun of them, but they really do care about you (as a teacher) and want to build a relationship with you.  I enjoyed my fifth grade class much more than I thought I would and it's gotten me very interested in seeing how I'll like the younger grades.  

November 21, 2010

This past week in class was great!  We incorporated art into our lesson and we ended up using it for a few lesson plans (a few days).  Mine and my partners assignment was to teach social studies for 5 lesson plans and incorporating art in social studies can be difficult, but we made it happen, and made it so all of the students LOVED it.  

The American Revolution is what we've been teaching the kids for the last couple weeks, and something that we really wanted to find was a Reader's Theater about the American Revolution.  Well, since the Internet has everything anyone could ask for, we were able to find to one that went along perfectly with what we had been teaching.  When we told the students we would be doing a Reader's Theater they became so excited and really got into character.  We practiced everyday for 5 days and then performed the play on Friday for 2 classes and any parents who wanted to come.  The boys wore colonial hats and the girls wore aprons.  It was amazing.  

I truly believe that these students learned 100 times more by doing the Reader's Theater than if we would have just stood up at the front of the class and lectured.  It was something that they could get excited about and look forward to.  

Reflection #11

This past week has been another really great week in field.  My partner (Aubrey) and I have started teaching and have already taught 3 times.  The subject we have been given is the Stamp Act and the Boston Tea Party, and then everything in between as well.  I've never been a huge Social Studies fan, but teaching 5th graders is really fun.  They don't care to know every detail, and the information is explained very basically.  I think if high school students were taught the same way as elementary students (in Social Studies) then our high school graduating classes would know more about our countries history (and other countries histories).  

One of our lessons that we did was we gave each student 15 tootsie rolls. Then we told them that they were the colonists and we were the British Parliament-we would be taxing them on certain things.  We taxed them on what color hair they had, what they were wearing, what gender they were, etc.  The students got really into this lesson and got very upset.  We explained to them that this is what the colonists felt like.  They were being taxed on things that they didn't feel were right.  They were being treated unfairly and poorly.  

I've really enjoyed teaching the 5th graders in my class and have learned so much from them and from teaching them.  They're a great bunch of kids and they behave wonderfully.  I can't wait until next week!

Reflection #10

Since we're in field now I'm just going to blog without the what, so what, and now what. I've been in field for 4 days now, and it's great. There's so much information to take in and so many things to learn from my field teacher, Mrs. Bishop. Mrs. Bishop is a 5th grade teacher and this is her 16th year teaching. She's enthusiastic about teaching and loves her students to death. She really enjoys being in the classroom and being around kids all day, which takes a lot of patience, which she definitely has.
Something I have noticed, however, about the class, is that there isn't a ton of art. They focus a lot on math (an hour to an hour and a half every day) and on language arts. I have only been there from 8 am until noon so they may do more art after lunch. They also have one day a week where they go to an "art" class with an actual art teacher. They went today and they were really excited when it was time to go to art, which is a great thing. It's too bad that it's only once a week, but I guess that's better than never.
I look forward to learning more about Mrs. Bishop's class and learning ways that I feel comfortable teaching.

Reflection #9

What: This week (as in yesterday) we presented the songs we created and taught them to the entire class. Something I learned from doing this activity is that people remember things better when the information is put in to a song. There are many people who know the 50 states because of the "50 States" song, or prime numbers because they have been placed in a song, and so on. Music leaves such a large imprint in our minds and helps us remember things we learned weeks, months, and maybe years ago.
So What: Something I would really like to do when I'm a teacher is either make songs about main subjects or find songs that have already been made. When teaching about the presidents of the United States, a song would be really helpful. Or, learning about the water cycle is something that is hard to remember, and if a song was created about it (like Matt Jensen's group) then students (and myself) are more likely to remember the cycle. When students learn a song they sometimes don't even realize they are learning something new, but later when asked a question about it they can refer to the song.
Now What: The next steps for me would have to be to save any song I come across that teaches about something that would be taught in school, regardless of the grade. Also, I would like to experiment and try teaching songs to the students whom I will be student teaching. I will have many opportunities to do this while I still have 4 semesters of being in the schools. I am truly a believer in teaching students songs to remember information. I have experienced it first-hand and know, without a doubt, that it works (probably better than any other method).