Reflection # 14 -- Arts Integration in the Future.....

Where am I heading with the Arts and Arts Integration? The future holds so many possibilities and I think it will be a fun time to be out in the schools and teaching the up and coming generation.

Each student is unique and an individual, and they each have different needs and learning styles. I do believe that the arts belong in the schools and that it is an important part for students' learning. A lot of students are visual learners and so if I can incorporate that into the curriculum through drama or visual art then the kids will be better off.

I have learned so much this semester and I know that I have never been a real big drama person, but after those two weeks and seeing the activities and games that we learned about, I think it would be fun and at times can be a de-stresser for students.

So my plan of action is to start watching out for activities that I feel would benefit students, and I plan to get a wide variety because one class is never the same from another. I already have many lesson plans in the dance section that I can use, but I would love to find more for drama and music. Music will be a fun one because if I can incorporate a learning topic into a song for my students to learn then I believe they will retain the information better, plus it definitely works out the creativity of my brain.

Reflection #13 -- Arts Integration In Teaching

Throughout this semester I have seen and learned a lot about arts integration. Even though I feel like I am greater in some elements of arts than others I have felt their importance of their presence in the classroom. Children love to be able to move and express themselves through various forms be it theater, dance or visual arts.

I have learned the importance of integrating the curriculum with the arts. Some teachers feel like they don't have time for the arts, but if a teacher can integrate it through social studies or science, it seems like children tend to remember the information better.

While I was at Sunset View Elementary, I saw that this school did believe in integrating the arts and had several forms. My partner and I noticed that they definitely had a lot of visual art with the other forms we covered in class some of the time. Each class in the school had its own bulletin boards and the children were able to display their work for units they had learned.

It will be fun to be collecting ideas to use in my future classroom and to show students the importance of learning and how fun it can be.

Reflection # 12 -- Field Experience

So the field experience is finally over. And what a moving experience it was all around. The class made us a booklet with letters and pictures giving Morgan and I advice. Some of their pictures were creative and interesting.

In our last lesson we had planned to have them draw pictures depicting important parts of WWI, but with the class and how talkative they were and how we had to keep motivating them to work and our limited time, we weren't able to fit it in.

Over the course of the past week I have been finishing up my Fine Arts Journal and getting it all compiled. I really have learned a lot this course and will be interested to integrate the arts into my future classroom. I know when I did art and such things like that in school I found it relaxing and fun to be able to create such things. I want to be able to share that with my students and integrate learning with art. Some students are visual learners, so they will remember more by creating or being able to visualize it.

I know that by doing this art experience that I am even more excited to do the younger grades next semester.....because more time with kids, brings more knowledge and exciting moments and stories.

Reflection # 11 -- Field Experience

This past week there hasn't really been a lot of art done in the classroom. There seems to be more of a focus on writing and math.

During the student's independent work time I have noticed several of them working and practicing on memorizing a few Christmas songs that they will be performing in a few weeks. The music is a modern song with new words added to it, to help add flair for the kids. They seem to enjoy that better than an old song or one that people have heard year after year.

During one of our social studies lessons this past week we focused on Propoganda and what it was. After explaining that we showed them various examples of Propoganda used during the WWI time period. Then for our activity and to get the students more involved we had them choose one of the following categories to illustrate: 1) Favorite candy/food 2) Favorite book 3) Favorite tv show. The students were trying to make the product look enticing, which resulted in several wonderful pictures.

Next week will be our last two days of teaching, we hopefully will be able to complete one more art project to the students we teach for social studies and teach a Thanksgiving song to the students in our cooperating teacher's classroom.

Reflection # 10 -- Field Experience

This past week in field has been so much fun!! The teacher has integrated writing with art. Each time a student finished a final draft of a writing project she has them do a "publish" which is a visual/art project to go along with the topic of the piece. It is a lot of fun to see the creativity of all the students and so many ideas. It definitely makes me miss being in Elementary School.

We were also able to teach our first lesson this past week and included an art element. My partner and I were teaching on WWI and the 4 main causes of it. After the discussion we had the class split up into 4 groups and each person in that group had to draw a picture depicting their assigned cause. We didn't quite have enough time for the students to finish all the pictures, but they were turning out really well as we had them clean up. I believe we have another art project included in our lesson plans, so we'll have to see how the students respond to them.

Reflection # 9 -- Music Seed Strategies

I have always loved music and it has been influential in my life. I know that I never really appreciated music time in Elementary, but as I grew older and realized what an impact it can have on learning, I wish I had payed more attention. I liked the quote in chapter 12 that stated, "Musical sounds charge the brain, stimulating whole brain involvement. Through songs and music, students increase general vocablulary, fluency, and understanding. Music develops listening skills, and listening is a main pillar of learning" (pg 309). I believe that this is so true, music helps people learn better and increases learning activity.

From the process in class I understood better the different elements of music and learned how to integrate them together. I learned about the steps a teacher should go about in teaching music to children; 1 - Whole To part 2 - Sing Not Say 3 - Listen In Many Ways 4 - Be Actively Involved. At first I thought it sounded a bit complicated and a lot of steps to do, but as we were going through the lesson it went by faster and really flowed. It was a lot of fun.

During the presentation I had a harder time, there were a couple of members of the group who it seemed like wanted to do things only their way. For example; we had activities all planned out and written up and then they got on and completly changed it. And then during the presentation it felt like they were the ones who wanted to do all the talking. I know that the presentations were short, but I still could have had more to say/do then just leading a round a couple of times through. But overall I think it went relatively smooth and I'm glad I got that done. I think part of it was due to the stress of starting field that same week.

As I prepare to become a teacher and if I want to integrate music then I should prepare myself by learning about music and finding activities and create lesson plans that use music to help teach concepts. Like certain math equations have songs that go with them to help students remember....I still remember a few, so I feel like it would be good to find and prepare things like that. I have read the text book and I liked a lot of the ideas it had.

Reflection # 8 -- Integrating Music In Curriculum

There were 2 quotes from Chapter 12 that I really liked that I felt went really well in defining what music is.

"Music elements are so embedded in language that it would be hard t even talk" (pg 306).

"Music is used to grapple with powerful feelings and attempts to understand relationships with thers. A vast range of music pieces and songs are available to reflect our deepest emotions from love to despair" (pg 307).

Music is a big element that is all around us. And it is important to have it in elementary schools because it can be used as a great teaching tool. As a teacher we can use music to integrate curriculum and as the children sing the song it tends to stick with them more. Like in the text is states, "...using music as a teaching tool can cause students to get deep into difficult subject matter" (pg 303).

My goal as a teacher to help children appreciate music and have them realize the importance it can play in their lives. I know that I liked music in elementary school, but I didn't appreciate it to the fullest. I just viewed it as a way to get out of the teacher lecturing and more of a fun activity. But if I can have my students realize what a role it can play in future learning then the better off they could be in remembering the information. I know that I don't want to force it on them and say they have to do it, because from experience, no child likes to be forced into things. For example, I played the piano for 8 years, but didn't really enjoy it because I was forced to practice and started to rebel a bit....but now I enjoy playing and can sit down and just play for fun. So I want to be able to make music fun for students.

To help integrate it I hope to collect songs that kids will find fun to learn. I know there are several books out there that are written for these types of projects. I can increase my knowledge about music and ways to teach it effectively (i.e. teaching students things like the different types of notes; whole, quarter, half, eighths).

Reflection # 7 -- Dance and Movement Seed Strategies

A lot of people when they think of dance as movement like Jazz, Ballet, Tap etc. But with creative movement/dance the children don't really have to worry about set choreography and just be themselves while representing a movement. It is really fun to watch kids express themselves and how they move and retain the info about what they are learning through movement.


In my childhood I took several years of dance and I loved it, and I always wanted to choreograph my own music, so I would go home and just make up my own dance with different steps each time. So now as I look back at it I would be moving creatively and didn't even realize it. Then in my freshman year at UVU I took a creative movement class from Becky Ellis and loved it. So it is definitely something I want to integrate into my classroom because it is important for kids to be able to move....and the fact that as a teacher, we can turn it into a lesson is even better.


In class it was fun to do the presentation and watch other groups. All the books were so different and unique, and it was really fun (except for the fact that we had to keep getting up and down, up and down so often). I hope to show the importance of movement to my students and get them excited for lessons like that.


I will prepare by looking over lesson plans that have been made for movement and look at books that have potential for movement and make up plans that I can use.

Reflection #6 -- Integrating Dance in the Curriculum

I took a creative movement class for elementary students my first semester in college and absolutely loved it. I had taken dance classes before, but being able to see a different side of things and seeing that children can learn and retain the information by moving about was incredible. It is definitely something that I want to try and integrate into my classroom.



In the reading, I liked reading all the different types of activities that were suggested for all types of curriculum and to help children feel more comfortable.

It is important to have children's dance/creative movement because it allows the children to experess themselves through movement without having any set choreography. It allows them to excercise and have fun without perhaps realizing that they are doing more things at once (dancing, excercising and learning).


I am not sure if I have really gained any philosophical knowledge about this week so far, but as for pratical knowledge there were a few points; like I mentioned above about expressing themselves and excercising. Children love to move and we should encourage it, not inhibit it.


Next week in class we are to present our own creative movement lesson for the upper grades. And the suggested topic is to try and find a social studies book to create our lesson. By doing this we can see what it takes to come up with a lesson to have children learn about history etc. As for field, if we get lucky and pick a topic that the field classroom is learning at that particular time then we are set and can try it, but if not, at least we will have some ideas and could shape another lesson around the topic they are currently learning.


I would need to be able to understand the importance of movement (which I believe I have already) in order to bring movement like this into the classroom. The movement and how in depth the teacher goes is based on the class and what the teacher feels they are prepared for. So I will need to work on how to be able to judge that.

Reflection # 5 -- Drama & Storytelling Seeds

There are so many ways out there that children/students can express themselves and enjoy the art of drama and storytelling. I was amazed as I was reading at the ideas that it gave and made me think that if I (a person who never felt comfortable acting and such could do it) then I would want to try to implement that in my future classroom.


The presentations were really fun to listen to and participate in. I really liked the books that were chosen. But as I looked over the EDEL 4540 site and read over other sections ideas, that it was interesting that so much could be done with books. I had heard of some of these books before but never imagined putting these kinds of activities to them.


When I do begin to implement things in my classroom I would want to start out slow and get the children used to doing things like this. I would start up with a warm-up or two and gradually move onto more active activities and ones that make them thing on a deeper level and help them to understand what points the author was trying to convey. I really liked how our textbook had a section about "Connecting Drama to Curricular Activities" and had ideas for core focuses like social studies, literacy, math and science.


This is definitely a topic that makes me re-think my feelings about drama and the importance it plays in the classroom. I will definitely study some more about it and read up on different activities that I would want to use in my classroom. I believe that as I read children's books that I will get ideas in my head that would make me think, "I could do such and such an activity for this book." The future holds many possibilities.

Reflection # 4 -- Integrating Drama In Curriculum

I have never been one that had enjoyed doing drama. I love watching it and love going to plays and such, but when it comes to me doing it I become a little self-concious.

But while we were in class and doing some of those activities I loosened up a bit and had fun making all those different types of machines and realized that would be a fun activity to get kids moving and their creativity flowing.


In the reading I learned that drama has many positive effects on students like these 2 quotes,

1) "Vocabulary increases as students, read, write, speak and lisen to interesting words related to drama activities. Writing becomes more descriptive. Students write greater amounds and with greater proficiency, which shows clearer thinking and how to organize and develop ideas" (pg 205).

2) "Drama is a key teaching tool with a track record of increasing peer interaction, social relationships, and conflict resolution skills, because drama is a group art" (pg 206).

I have definitely seen strong points about using drama as a part in the classroom, it builds relationships between students and they can have fun expressing themselves physically rather then writing something down. Even though I haven't been really into doing drama myself I still have time before I have my own classroom in which I can work on this.

It is important for the children to have drama because it can help them develop many things like social skills, empathy while increasing motivation, concentration, focus and creative problem solving. It is important to integrate it in your curriculum because it livens things up in the classroom and students can learn that way instead of by listening to a lecture or reading about it.

Reflection #3 -- Visual Art Seed Strategies

The text from this week was filled with so many ideas. I would read one and think that is a great idea, or I remember doing an art project using this method. I would definitely want to refer back to this as a teacher to get ideas. I really liked how they also had sections of how a teacher could add art into a certain core focus, ex: social studies, literacy.


It was fun in class on Monday to look at the pictures around the room more closely and examine them for how the artist added different elements like rhythm, unity and balance. Then to do the table activity where we chose from a variety of pictures featuring those differnt elements.


I think when I become a teacher I will really want to integrate art into my classroom as much as possible because it allows the students to freely express themselves while still learning. There are so many options out there as to mediums, tools and methods that it will be fun to experiment and try out some of the suggestions from the text.


By using the illustrators as an example it lets us see that each style is unique, but it is that element that makes the book fun to look at. Little kids are intrigued by the pictures and colors in books and so as teachers it would be good to start them at a young age to look at art and have them see and visulize the qualities of the pictures.


Now the way that I can prepare is to start now and trying out differnt things and seeing what I like and making notes for future reference as to what is good and would be useful. I know that as a future teacher and a human that I will look at art more closely at art and the try to figure out the elements that the artist has chosen to use.

Reflection #2 -- Integrating Visual Art In Curriculum

This weeks assignment was about chapter 6 and learning about visual arts. I learned that there are six elements to art and that it comprises all art out there. These elements are line, value, shape, space, texture, color.

In the reading I found several quotes that I found interesting and made me think more.

Quote 1: "Visual Literacy is about understanding and knowing how to create visual images to express thoughts and feeling." (141) I didn't even realize that one has to have an understanding on how to make the visual art to truly express what one is feeling. But as I look back to the projects I have created I have realized that I really put a lot of thought, feeling and personal touches to my work.

Quote 2: "Visual art makes the invisible visible. Student-made visual art allows us to look inside their private world of thoughts and feelings...." (148) Some students may be quiet in the classroom and their art could be a way to assess their feelings. It can provide information for like children who are not fluent verbally.

Quote 3: "Visual art integration planning is about finding connections with other academic areas. Meaningful connections can leverage learning in science, social studies, literacy, and math by using the power of the visual art to engage and promote the higher order thinking, especialy problem solving." (156) Some teachers may believe that they don't have time to do arts in their classroom, but it is a good idea to integrate the core subjects in with art. It helps so the teacher isn't just lecturing and the kids can do hands-on work.

Quote 4: "Drawing is actually 'the first language for all children.' Children proceed to separate the two becasue we teach then to narrow their view of literacy." (171) When I read this I found this so true. Young children are captivated by shapes and colors. So like when you are reading a book to a child they mostly look at the pictures while you are reading the words and they are taking both in. It is important to integrate the two together and not to narrow the views and seperate them.

In class it was fun to go through each station and create visuals to go along with the definition. I know that I am a visual/hands on learner and so I believe that this will help me remember the terms better. I think it would be a fun activity to try on children in the 4th, 5th or 6th grades.

As a teacher I can hope that help my students realize the importance of visual arts and the many ways it can be used and applied to everyday life. I really hope that I can start watching myself when I do art projects and pull out the characteristics that I am using and continue to build on them. Then in the future when I have a class I can talk to them about things like what line, shape, color or value are.

Reflection #1 -- Experience With The Arts

There are many kind of art forms in the world. I have always enjoyed art throughout my life. I wouldn't say I can create a wonderful masterpiece (like painting), but I am creative enough to make things look good. I know that cooking or dance can be considered art forms, which I absolutely love doing. In my elementary classes I had several art projects that I did that I enjoyed more than others, like making a tree and then taking water colors to darken the background then sprinkle salt on it to create the effect of it snowing. In my later years in high school, when I became involved in Pre-school (for one of my classes) I got to create a lot of visual aids and bulletin boards that I loved making and using. I get a calming feeling when I am in this element.

In Chapters 1-3 I learned that fine art is often linked with emotion and to get a reaction. People interpret it differently based on past experiences in their lives. There was a quote in the text that I found intriguing, "If the human mind was restricted to academic intelligence, most of human culture would not have happened." I like this because it basically states that without creativity we wouldn't advance and grow as a culture/society. Which also goes along with we need creativity because it is vital for students to survive. We need to make school more lifelike because it is the key to motivating students. There are also different levels of integration which include: teaching with, teaching about and in, and teaching through. We should also delight in diversity, because no two children are alike and they won't create the same art, so we need to praise the child for the effort they put in.

I think a lot of my teachers integrated art into the curriculum some way or another, but I would still have to say my 9th grade art teacher, Mrs. Bolduc, was amazing. She had a quirky personality and she brought out a side of me that I didn't really show that often, and she showed me new sides to art that made me appreciate it more. In the dance category I had several teachers, but my favorite was Mrs. Wardell, who recently changed over to teaching 5th grade, but she taught me for 12 years, and it was an amazing and freeing feeling to express myself through movement. For foods, I basically taught myself to cook/bake. I thought it would be fun to take a Food & Nutrition class in middle school and that teacher (Mrs. Peppinger) was so full of life and she made me feel special and show me new recipes that I continue to use today.

As a teacher in training, I am hoping I can incorporate movement and art in my classroom a lot. It seems like children learn and retain information if they can have little breaks or can express themselves on a regular basis. I want to share my passion for learning with future young minds.

I hope as I continue to learn that I gain knowledge of other ideas of how to implement art just not into certain subjects but into most of the subjects, because a lot of students are visual learners, so to teach to things they can relate to and have fun with, I am hoping will prove effective.