Over the course of my life my wonderful parents made sure I was constantly involved in the arts. Both of my parents are educators and firmly believe in a child having a well balanced life in all areas, and to them that meant I began my study of the arts at a very young age. My parents put me in piano lessons when I was 4 years old and I loved every minute of learning the piano. Now as an adult, sitting down to play the piano is a way I deal with things I am experiencing.
So What?
I believe that the arts have greatly impacted my life. As I said early I learned to play the piano at a young age and because of this I understand that in order to improve ourselves we have to practice. The Arts taught me responsibility and dedication.
My favorite teacher was my 6th grade teacher and this was because she understood that students are on different planes of learning. Within 3 weeks of the school year starting she realized that the reason I was struggling with math was because it was too easy for me. I was not doing my work because I was bored. She got to know all of her students on an individual level and learned their needs.
My Least favorite teacher was my 8th grade geometry teacher. She did not make me feel excited to learn and made all of the students afraid to ask her questions, and seriously, in geometry you need to ask questions.
As a future teacher I want to be sure I include all of my students in my learning environment, and to make them feel like they can soar above their own expectations. I want to make sure the get a balance of all of the topics they are required to learn and help them to grow to be excited about learning.
Now What?
I think that the best thing I can do to prepare to effectively teach and integrate the arts as a teacher is to put my best effort into our class. Do the reading, the projects, and research the different methods we learn about even more in depth.
I have had many teachers who have integrated the arts into my education and they all did it very well. However, only one specific one comes to mind. My very first "school" teacher, my grandmother. She taught me preschool while my mom was attending BYU and to this day I remember her always bringing out the arts in everything she taught me. Every Wednesday we would have painting hour and during that time she told me to paint how I felt about what I had learned at her house this week.
I really enjoyed our Jigsaw activity in class on Thursday. I felt that it helped my learn things from the reading I may not have learned from reading them alone. A few things that I learned from this activity as well as from my own personal reading are:
Integration of the Arts make a student's education whole. Everyone has creative capacity and integrated the arts into education can help a student learn how he/she learns best. It is important to understand the children are natural problem solvers and it is important not to squash their ability. Let them do the work.
So What?
I believe that the arts have greatly impacted my life. As I said early I learned to play the piano at a young age and because of this I understand that in order to improve ourselves we have to practice. The Arts taught me responsibility and dedication.
My favorite teacher was my 6th grade teacher and this was because she understood that students are on different planes of learning. Within 3 weeks of the school year starting she realized that the reason I was struggling with math was because it was too easy for me. I was not doing my work because I was bored. She got to know all of her students on an individual level and learned their needs.
My Least favorite teacher was my 8th grade geometry teacher. She did not make me feel excited to learn and made all of the students afraid to ask her questions, and seriously, in geometry you need to ask questions.
As a future teacher I want to be sure I include all of my students in my learning environment, and to make them feel like they can soar above their own expectations. I want to make sure the get a balance of all of the topics they are required to learn and help them to grow to be excited about learning.
Now What?
I think that the best thing I can do to prepare to effectively teach and integrate the arts as a teacher is to put my best effort into our class. Do the reading, the projects, and research the different methods we learn about even more in depth.
