Very Creative Drama

What?

Today we learned about Theatre games, and how to develop a Process Drama from text. We also went over the Elements and Principles of Drama. I took Drama all through High School, so I knew right away what was being drawn when Professor Escalante put the exposition-picture up on the board (I enjoyed seeing it again, though). I had forgotten the principles of Drama, however, and was happy we reviewed them.

I actually did several of the Theatre Games in High school, although “Machines” was new to me and I enjoyed playing it (probably more than the other two games combined).  And I don’t ever remember doing Process Drama, so it was a new and interesting to learn. I liked how we incorporated our body-movements and voices into the story to help our understanding.

Theatre Games and Process Drama are definitely going to be activities I incorporate into my classroom. I am a firm believer in bodily activity helping the mind grow, so I’m always looking for new ways to get my students out of their seats and their bodies active—these will be a perfect way to do that.

Now What?        

                                        

I will definitely use Theatre Games, perhaps at the start of class or an important lesson. It will make things fun for the kids, but also get their minds working. I also plan on playing music a lot in class and allowing students to comment on it (I really like how Prof. Escalante plays music when we come in, and sometimes while we’re doing activities). Process Drama can be used for almost every subject (Science, Social Studies, History, English, etc.) and I intend to use it a lot. I already had several ideas on having the kids act out scenes in books—I just never realized that that sort of activity had a name!

So What?

I honestly feel that children need creative drama to give their minds opportunity to expand. Drama encourages children to think as they are doing fun activities—meaning it isn’t just a brain-booster to get them ready to learn. It requires a lot of mental input and personal ideas from the student. I also feel that Creative Drama allows the true personality of a student to shine through. Those that are shy are given the opportunity to be at their best and most open. Those that are more outgoing are given an outlet for their energy.

I feel that Drama should be integrated into the general curriculum for the same reasons. It is a sad fact, but humans tend to isolate the quieter, shyer members of society if something isn’t done to encourage them to work together and get to know each other. Drama helps shy students come out of their shells by allowing them to pretend to be someone else; and any child can do it well, if given the opportunity. Drama encourages friendships where friendships normally wouldn’t occur. If you use it in all aspects of your teaching, you are giving students all the more reason to interact with each other and understand each other. That and, as said before, you are giving them every opportunity to stretch and enhance their minds.

Principles of Visual Art

What?

I have learned that every principle of art has a use in any one picture. Each principle is important, and adds as much to a work of art as any of the others. For example, balance in a picture is imperative, but artists all have different ways of balancing their artworks (or photographs); they also use the other principles in different ways (e.g. some use “incorrect” proportions to help tell the picture’s story, or unite the picture in bizarre and interesting ways.)

Using children’s book illustrators as examples is probably one of the best ways to introduce the principles of visual art. This is because CB illustrators create several works of art that are then bound into a book to tell (or help tell) a story. Not only do students have several examples of all the principles at their fingertips, but because it is a children’s book, they can also see how pictures and stories go hand-in-hand; in fact, in some CB’s, the pictures are the only thing you have to tell you the story.

So What?

Well, I thought the activity we did in class to learn about CB illustrators was a perfect way to teach and learn about different artists and the Principles of Visual Art. Researching the artist, his/her artwork, some of the books they’ve illustrated, and the techniques they used, was a lot of fun and very informative. Teaching that information to the class was a way to cement the information into our minds, and to learn about the other groups’ illustrators. This would make an easy opening to any unit about historical artists (such as Da Vinci and Van Gogh).

Now What?

Personally, I think that discovering fun, informational activities like this in our teaching program can reflect on how I teach my students in the future. Lessons I enjoyed learning I can adapt to fit my students’ age-group, such as slightly altering the lesson/activity we had in class, and then giving my future students a similar one. In fact, almost any lesson I learn now, I can turn into a lesson I teach them!

Elements of Visual Arts

What:

This week we learned about the elements of visual art, and how to utilize them in different ways.

So What?

I have always believed that interactive learning is important to a students’ development; learning the elements of art and how to use them in different ways is an important lesson to teach at any grade level. The activity we went through today was eye-opening, especially when I realized that I use several elements of art (such as texture  and space) almost every time I doodle. It is something that I feel is instinctive in everyone, but the elements of art put what we do into terms we can understand as students and as teachers.

Now What?

Perspective-wise my opinions haven’t changed much…seeing as I already planned to utilize the Elements of visual art in my future classroom anyway. Learning about the terms and doing activities that help to cement the ideas into my mind help, though. I feel that by going through these lessons, I am getting ideas on lessons I can teach my own students, and learning to become a better teacher through it. I will definitely be sharing what I learn in this class with my students in the future.