Arts Intigration (the Finale)

What?

I feel as if I am getting a very good idea of how I’d like to integrate the arts into my future curriculum. As I’ve said before, I feel that the Arts are important for any classroom, and for a child’s growth in all subjects.

So What?

While I was able to integrate the arts minimally throughout my Field Experience, I feel that I was constricted to what the teacher felt was “appropriate” in her classroom. When I have my own classroom, I know that those restrictions won’t be there and I will feel a lot freer to integrate things like process drama and choral reading.

Now What?

I have already started thinking about how I could integrate the arts into the curriculum I am familiar with. I have several lesson plans in mind and have even rough-drafted a few ideas. Even though I am planning on moving out of state to teach, I do not feel as if that will affect my desire or drive to integrate art into my classroom.  

Arts Integration in Teaching

What?

This week we talked about our Field experiences. I wasn’t surprised that each and every student had a different experience…even the ones that were in the same partnerships. Some had teachers that integrated the arts extensively, others had ones that didn’t at all, and most had teachers that did, but only when they had a little free time.

So What?

I honestly feel that arts integration is important for students…especially in the Elementary levels of Education. I don’t feel it should be a time-filler or an afterthought—it should be integrated into every subject. How else are we supposed to keep our students’ attention?!

In my Field classroom, the students went into a separate classroom to sing, dance, etc. Our teacher didn’t allow us to go with them, wanting us to stay in the classroom with her. This disappointed me quite a bit, especially when she failed to ask the students what they had learned when they returned to her classroom. And even when they did do artwork, it was normally just as a time-filler. For example, the students drew and painted turkeys to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. It didn’t really have anything to do with the curriculum or any lesson  she was teaching.

Now What?

I have said it before and I will say it again. In my future classroom(s), I fully intend to integrate art in every aspect of my students’ learning. Even if the school doesn’t support the arts, I intend to fight it and slip arts in wherever I can. Singing a section of required reading, dancing a scene from their History books, creating a collage to depict math ideas—arts can go anywhere. The teacher just has to be willing to integrate it.

Student Teaching: the Finale

WHAT?

This week was our final two days of student teaching. I have to admit that I will miss it—my experience was wonderful and the students were amazing. It will definitely be an experience that I remember for the rest of my life.

SO WHAT?

These last two days we taught two small lessons—reading group lessons with four-five students at a time. We were each assigned a group of the most advanced readers last week, and asked to instruct them in a guided reading book. I had my group do a Literature Circle, where they each took a “job” such as summarizing the section they read or finding words they didn’t understand and listing them. We would then discuss them during the circles. I also gave them a further assignment, which was visualizing and drawing a scene from something that they read. Whether the reading incited a memory or a day-dream, I wanted them to draw it and then share it during our last meeting. They responded eagerly to this lesson and asked to do it several times over.

NOW WHAT?

I decided to make the class a present from the photographs that I took of the students over our time there. I am making a type of digital story for them, consisting of the photographs and a special song that I thought embodied all of the students within the class. I wasn’t able to finish it before our last day there, so our Cooperating Teacher gave me permission to bring it to her after school sometime within the next few weeks, and she will then show it to her class.

Student Teaching (Week 3)

What?

During our second full week of student teaching, we taught our last three lessons, plus some. We also got to assist with the school’s fourth-grade “Mountain Man Festival”, and had a blast doing it!

So What?

Our three official lessons this week were a lesson on verbs, a lesson in Math, and two individual book groups that we’re working with. I taught the lesson on Verbs, reading the students a book on verbs called “To Root, to Toot, to Parachute”, and then we played a game that integrated social studies with verb-words. In our Math lesson we taught the students how to do 3x1 multiplication, and the different ways to solve it. We passed out a worksheet that half the class worked on while the other half played a multiplication game with dice. Half way through the lesson, we switched and had each group do the other activity. It worked really well and the students responded eagerly to both ways of learning.

Now What?

The “Mountain Man” festival was a lot of fun, and yet another chance to bond with the students and learn about their individual personalities. It lasted all day so there were no lessons taught Friday. Unfortunately, my partner and I realized that we only have two more days of student teaching before it’s over, and that has been a real downer. This experience was invaluable, our class has been amazing, and I wish that I had more time with them.

Student Teaching (Week 2)

What?

This week we had a full five days of student teaching. My partner and I were asked to teach two lessons, one on Visualization and one on a book Genre. Ashley (my partner) did Visualization, while I took Genre, and taught about Fantasy.

So What?

I chose to do three activities—a question-session, a game, and an activity where the six tables each took an element of Fantasy, and made a picture about what they visualized when they thought about that element. The question session was a lot of fun, with the students answering all of my questions enthusiastically. They also liked the game—which was a relay between two teams to see who could come up with more “Fantasy” words. The poster part could have gone a little better—they didn’t want to stop once they’d finished.

At the end of my half-hour teaching session, I showed my digital story on the “Elements of Fantasy”. It was a huge hit with the class, and they left for their rotations still talking about it.

Now What?

Ashley and I will be teaching at least three more lessons, although our cooperating teacher has requested that we help her with more than that, as well as remain the whole day on Friday to help man booths for the schools’ Mountain Man Festival. The lessons we’ll be teaching will be Math (teaching 3x1 multiplication), English (teaching about Verbs) and Reading Comprehension in book groups.

Music (pt.2)

What?

Writing music lyrics is fun. Fitting them to an already established tune is much harder. But it was a fun process, and I enjoyed learning about how to turn a book into a song, and then to put that song to music. In fact, I enjoyed the whole process until our presentation day, when I felt too sick to really participate.

So What?

We need to remember that while songs are fun (and should be sung during free time in the classroom), songs that fit into the core curriculum are scarce. So most teachers need to make their own or “borrow” from others’ ideas.  And that’s alright. Teachers need to be flexible so they can alter songs to their own needs.

Now What?

I’ve already been looking through Thanksgiving songs that we have received in some of our classes, along with looking at books I could potentially turn into a song for that Holiday. Since our student teaching will be ending right before Thanksgiving Break, I think it would be a fun last-day activity to have us teach the class these songs and sing them together (to give them something to remember us by).

Music (pt.1)

WHAT?

The elements of music are rhythm, melody, harmony, tempo, dynamics, timbre, and form. Music is a way to express yourself and your emotions through non-verbal or verbal means. You can sing a song, or you can create a piece of music that has no words, but expresses your emotions. It should be taught in the classroom because it is a way for children to learn something in a fun and non-threatening way.

SO WHAT?

Music is important to the classroom, not only because it adds a dimension of interest to your lessons, but it also gives students yet another way to express themselves and prove they understand what you are teaching them. For example, if you create a song to teach them a math concept, and then every student aces that part of their test, you know that your song worked (one of my teachers did this, and we always got those parts right on our tests, because we had a solid way to remember what he taught us). Music has been linked to memory, and if you give your students a piece of music, along with any subject or topic, you can be sure they will remember it.

NOW WHAT?

As I mentioned before, I have been in classrooms where the teachers took totally unrelated subjects and put music to them, making it impossible for their students to forget. In the same way, I plan on putting hard topics that I plan on testing about, to music. I also plan on using music as a fun way to get my students’ minds off school, if even for a few moments so they can work their energy out. I love music, so even if the school I teach at doesn’t have a set curriculum for it, you can be sure that I’ll find some way to wiggle it into my classroom every day.