Reflection 5: Drama

What did you learn from developing a Process Drama from text? What did you learn from the other team presentations? 
Developing a Process Drama from text was really fun. I think it is a great way to get the students out of their seats and actively involved in their learning. The thing I learned most from the developing our project was how easy it is to integrate the arts with social studies and language arts. It also helped my to develop more enjoyable ways to asses the students of their knowledge of what we are studying in social studies or language arts. I also learned from watching other team presentations that the more involved we were in the activity the more we enjoyed it so as a teacher I will need to be sure I am excited about the activity to create excitement in my students.


So What drama ideas will you try to implement in your teaching?
I think that mid morning and mid afternoon I will use the games that we learned such as machine to bring energy back to the classroom. During those times of the day, i've noticed that students tend to be sluggish and using the theater games we learned will bring blood back to their brains. I will also use the processing drama from text method. I think it is a great way to integrate the other cores.


Now What - How will you prepare to teach and integrate creative drama in your teaching?
I am keeping a journal of notes, and lesson plans of everything we do in our class as well as ideas or projects I find elsewhere. Having this file will be a great tool for me to use as I integrate creative drama into my teaching. I also want to practice reading in different voices. I think students really enjoy it when you are dramatic as well. 

Reflection 4: Drama I

Today in class we spent time learning different types of theater games that we can play with our class. I really enjoyed the machine game. I felt that it made a lot of us come out of our shells as well as our usual groups of friends. It helped us to laugh and interact with one another. We also, were given a GREAT example of a lesson plan where a teacher has the students process dram from text. From the example of the lesson plan I learned that many other subjects can be integrated into Dram in a very fun way that helps solidify the information in the students minds as well as help them relate to it on a more personal level. As a future teacher, I had never really thought about using drama in the classroom. Today was a great eye opener as to how much fun drama can be, especially when you integrate it into your other cores. I will use this approach in my classroom often. I think that it will have the same effect on my class that it had on our class, it will unite them together.
I thought that all of the games, and information we learned today is very applicable in the classroom, and I intend to use it in my own. I think my future class will really enjoy character as one because it makes them think beyond what they are learning and think about it in more depth. I also think that they will enjoy processing drama from text. There are a lot of activities I could do that involve letting the students move around and I think they would really enjoy that but be learning a lot at the same time.
Creative Drama is very important to children. I believe the most important reason is because it helps them to deepen their learning and thinking just a little more than writing a paper could do. It is important to integrate drama with other curricular areas because it will help the students to view what they are learning in multiple ways. This will improve their scheme which will allow them to remember the information longer.

Reflection 3: The VIsual Arts

What have you learned about the principles of visual art - and looking at/understanding a piece of art? 
In class we discussed the six principles of art, these are:

Proportion – The principle of art concerned with the size relationships of one part to another or to the whole.

Balance – The principle of design concerned with equalizing visual forces, or elements in a work of art. 

Variety – The principle of design concerned with difference or contrast. Combining one or more elements of art to create interest by adding slight changes.

Rhythm – The principle of art that indicates movement by repetition of elements. 

Emphasis – The principle of design that makes one part of the work dominant over the other parts.

Unity – The quality of wholeness or oneness that is achieved through the effective use of the elements and principles of art. 

I have learned that as I look at a piece of art, to better understand it, spend more time looking at it rather than just glancing as I walk by. If I stop and truly process the painting and use these principles as I look I will see into the greater detail of the art. For example, in class we looked at many paintings but the one I enjoyed the most was The Booker T. Washington's Ladder. When I walked into class I made a harsh judgement of the piece and not until we discussed it did I understand it. As a class we looked at this piece we all noticed the proportion of the ladder. We noticed that it was narrow,curved, and as it did not look like a ladder you would want to climb. The artist very much represented Booker T. Washington's life long journey through this piece of art.

What is the value of using children's picture book illustrators as an entrance to both understanding and making art? 


I think there is a lot of value of using children's picture book illustrators as an entrance to both understanding  and making art. I think that when introducing a new style of art it is great for the students to see it applied in something they all enjoy. As we did our presentations I gained a new appreciation to all of the different types of art illustrators use and the creativity they use. I also think using picture books can inspire the students as to what they want to create when they make their own piece of art.


So What can I do to effectively prepare to teach about artists and their techniques/styles? 


I feel that the best way to prepare to teach about artists and their techniques/styles is to do similar preparation that I did with my group to prepare for our group project. We researched the artist and their background, different books and illustrations they have done, the mediums they use, as well as the different techniques. 


Now What -  Why will that be important to me and to my students?


As we have discussed multiple times in class as well as read in the text. Art helps students in more ways than creativity. It will help my students develop better skills in all subjects. As a teacher I feel that if I can master teaching the arts I will be a better teacher because I will be able to reach my students on all levels and help them learn which style of learning they enjoy most. 

Reflection 2: The Visual Arts

What have I learned visual art - from both the text and class? 

In class we focused on learning and defining the elements of visual arts. 

We focused on 6 elements:

Line            Shape         Color

Value          Texture       Space

I learned that it is important to understand all of these elements and have experiences them yourself in order to properly teach them to your students. I found that when learning the elements of art I really enjoyed listening to classical musics. I really felt inspired as I listened to the different melodies. It is also very important not to rush art projects in a class, this may cause the students to be unsatisfied with their work. 

The text was also full of great information on how to teach visual arts. I really liked Blooms Higher Order of thinking. I agree with his theory that the goal of higher thinking is to cause students to think beyond memory or literal level and coordinate higher level thinking skills to solve problems. Another section in the text I enjoyed was the 3rd building block of using art as a teaching tool. I enjoyed the two pronged lesson plan.

So What does that mean for me as a teacher? As a person?

As a future teacher, I feel that it will be very important for me to integrate the arts in to the other standard curriculum. I was shown many examples that art can benefit students, so why wouldn't I use them? It says in the text "art is hands on, it activates aesthetic senses" I believe that using art to activate aesthetic senses will increase progress in other subject areas.

 Now What– How will I prepare to effectively teach my future students? How has my perspective changed? How will this change the way I teach my future students?

I am actually pretty nervous about how I will prepare to effectively teach my future students. I feel like I cannot read enough out of the textbooks, or write down enough of what all of my professors say. I guess that is is okay to be nervous though it is only week 2! I feel that the best way that I can prepare to teach is to do what my professors ask of me as well as put in 150% effort into my field experiences, how will I learn if I don't try? 

My perspective on integrating the arts into curriculum subjects has really change. The first time we met in class I didn't think it was that important to a student's development. But as I read the chapter and listened to our discussion in class I will be using art as many ways as I can in my classroom.