Reflection Blog #14

When looking back across the semester I never thought I would come this far with believing the arts can really boost a lesson plan from normal to exciting. At the beginning I was very familiar with visual arts because I had grown up with private art lessons. The other forms I had a vague knowldege about. It was a very new experience to experiment with all the art forms and learn how to apply them into the classroom.
Over the weeks I know I have learned more than I honestly thought I would. Even though it seemed like I wasn't paying attention in class I really was! I do appreciate the enthuiasm for the subject too because it makes me excited to learn. One of my favorite art forms to learn about and explore was dance. It was a really fun day in class moving around and learning how to dance the curriculum. This was the first day I explored a different group in the class so I do think using the arts does bring down cliques.
From learning all of this I found my view point on the arts has changed completely. I am no longer prejudiced towards the arts; I don't scoff anymore. I have seen during my field experience how much kids respond to the arts and projects rather then boring direct instruction and tests. There will always be those few who are resistant but in time they will cave and give in.

Field Week 4

When asking our cooperating teacher about the use of arts in her classroom she said there isn't much time for it. She felt the art rotation was enough and it was hard to integrate more art into her lessons. Her lessons were more of direct instruction with more teacher instruction and more student listening and writing of material.
During the three weeks we were there I was observing her teaching techniques and found myself thinking and planning art-integrated lessons to the material. Most of the art we did at the beginning of the semester would have worked for the curriculum. It amazed me how much art wasn't used in the classroom; after going through this course it just seems like a "duh" for most lessons. Not to say this teacher wasn't effectful because she did teach really well.
As I said before I was imagining the core curriculum with art integration. It's funny to me that it was becoming so natural to me. For our final assessment of the unit instead of a test we decided the students would create a Newspaper article. They needed to pick a mountain man and write three things about him and an overall unit paragraph. They also needed to create the template, post or draw a picture, and make it colorful. The students loved the idea of being able to creat their "test" and tell what they know.

Field Experience Week 3

During this week of field i've started to notice more arts that are being used in the classroom. The students have been taught songs for memorizing their times tables. For example for threes they say the numbers in place of words to "Where is Thumpkin". When working with the students with their times tables we saw a lot of them singing to figure out the multiples. When asking the students whether they liked this they said yes and that it helps them remember better. This is a great mnemonic device in helping them make more connections to remember.
This week of one of our lessons we started the class with singing the "Trapper Song". This is a song to the music of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain". This was a great way to start the lesson. The kids really enjoyed it and had battles on who could sing it the loudest. A few of them were still singing it at lunchtime. The next day they begged for us to sing the song so we used it as a bargaining tool: if we get through the lesson and have time at the end we'll sing and it worked as a great management technique.
I really like the idea of teaching students the times tables with music. In this day and age kids memorize lyrics like that because music is everywhere so in intergrated it in the classroom they can memorize core content too. Music has been a great thing in this classroom and i look forward to incorporating it into mine. Even if the school I'm at doesn't have a special arts program or a section especially for art I'm still going to use it in the classroom.

Field Experience Week 2

This week i noticed the teacher using chimes in her classroom management. When the class is doing individual work and she needs their attention she hits the chimes she has in her classroom. The students know this is when they need to stop what they are doing and pay attention. This is a very affective way to get their attention without causing a scene and having to yell over the noise.
As we do our teaching this week we are going to use this. We've been able to tell this is an effective idea to use in the classroom. We know we're being graded on management and having this useful trick will help us with control in the classroom. We've seen the teacher use clapping as an attention getter but it isn't as effective as the chimes.
When I'm a teacher I'm going to try and find an instrument like the chimes that I'll use for management. I might even use the chimes idea. With all the recent research on music in the classroom its been proven how effective it is. Using music in management is something I've never seen and am looking forward to doing.

Field Experience Week 1

This week during field I haven't seen as much as I would have liked with the arts. I think its because we're only there during the morning and they do the art rotation in the afternoon. There were a couple things that I did notice. One of the things I did like is that while switching activities and subjects she played a singing fish. The kids would laugh and sing along and it seemed to help the transition run smoother. They also would notice when the fish didn't play and always wanted to go back to their seats and re-do the transition with the singing fish. It was pretty funny.
One thing that I noticed is that the teacher is doing a unit on the water cycle right now. I kept thinking back to our class and the group who taught the water cycle with music. I wanted to tell the teacher about it and how effective it was for me to remember the steps but I didn't want to overstep my boundaries.
I'm grateful for all the things I've learned in Creative arts because I do think it helps with the learning process and making connections and helps with long term memory. As I've gone throughout this week I've kept thinking of all the ways I'll be using the arts in my future classroom and how to tie them into the curriculum. I know in the years to come math and reading are going to be the main focus of education but I think the arts can always help with learning the content.

MUSIC PART 2

Today we did our class presentations. I actually had a really fun time in class today and I still have some of the songs stuck in my head. My group did have a few gliches with our words in the song so we had to do some re-arranging. It was kind of embarrassing that we weren't more prepared with certain parts like the "she" and "it" together. I think we recovered well and it was good to have the class involved in the modifications. I liked doing the warm up with the actions to Yankee Doodle.
The one presentation I really liked was the last group who did the Water Cycle. They had really good lyrics and actions to go along with it. The class got really involved and had a fun time. I think for our group we could have made our song at least as long as the chorus too.
I never thought I would use as in instructional technique in the classroom but now I can see how useful it is. It's more of the fact I need to get outside my comfort zone. Kids are more likely to remember certain facts if there is more than one way their brain is being ignited. When music is incorporated you get auditory side and even tactile (if you're using instruments).

Music Part 1

Today in class we discussed integrating music into the classroom. In the reading I found a lot of good ideas and why music is important in the classroom. The one thing that stood out to me in the reading is "music is the universal language". I totally agree with this statement. It doesn't matter who you are and what you know; you can understand what music is and it will always have an impact. In class we discussed the principles and elements of music and the most effective way to teach music with the brain in mind.
I think music can even be helpful to us as students today. I know I'm more calm when I walk into this class I'm more calm and it gives me more energy. I also had a very interesting experience with music this past week. When I went in to take my psychology test the room I was in was playing music. At first I was annoyed because I couldn't focus but then I put the music into the background. I got %100 on the test and didn't know how i did it. But during our class today I realized that the music could have been one of the factoring reasons I did so well on the test. I think it helped me calm down and helped my brain focus.
When I'm a teacher I'd like to use classical music during activities and tests. From my experience I believe classical music calms so when taking a test it may help those who aren't good test takers be able to focus. I also really liked when we did the activity with beat and rythm. It helped me understand music more and helps students learn different counts. We also have a good worksheet from classroom management that used popular tunes for counting.