Reflection #8

What- Music is- a sound must be organized in time and space to make music. Music can be listened to, composed, viewed and so much more. In music you have 5 elements which are: pitch, duration, dynamics, form, and timbre. It is important to include all the elements if possible. Also as teachers you can follow the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teaching and include the habits in your classroom. Music should be included into the classroom for a number of reasons such as it makes us happy, provides a learning foundation, promotes physical and mental health, expresses cultural and personal identity and so much more. In our text I liked what it said about the cultural and personal identity. You can find out what people value and fear when studying the music of a culture. I think this key to include it will allow children to get to know each other if they are of a different culture, race, etc. By playing this music your students will be able to makes bonds and connect with one another.

So what- My goals are to find fun instruments and music that I can incorporate into my classroom and also learn more in depth about the elements in music. I am not very talented with this art form and struggle a bit. I hope that I can practice and feel confident about myself to sing and teach songs to my students in the future. I would love to use music as much as possible into my classroom. I think it that it is important to teach children that music is not just for fun it is something that you can benefit from in many different areas. For example, promoting physical and mental health. There are endless possibilities with teaching music to children you can sing about holidays, historical figures, historical events, water cycle, nouns, verbs, rocks and so much more. By teaching music your students will enjoy the experience and learn at the same time!

Now what- To prepare for my future classroom this goes along with my goals that I said above. I hope to find fun instruments and music. I want to be more comfortable with singing and learn more about the elements of music and demonstrate them effectively.

Relection #7

What- My understanding has changed with learning that there is no right or wrong way to dance. Also that you can truly tie creative dance into all subjects whether it may be science or social studies. I know that if I implement dance into my classroom my students will benefit from it. I want to use creative dance in my classroom because it is a great way for children to express themselves and also a great self-esteem builder. I can use creative dance in numerous ways such as splitting up a book into 4 sections and place children into 4 groups and have them do different movements.

So what- There are several ways to teach, and participate in creative dance. I plan on referring to our text and pull great ideas from there. The text has awesome ideas on how to implement creative dance into the classroom. Also I can use the other group dance lessons and have them as examples to refer to.

Now what- I plan to teach my future students the importance creative dance can have on them. All of my students would somehow benefit from creative dance in some way whether it is developing self-control, concentration, exercise or more. I plan on preparing by knowing the different types of movement out there and also being familiar with the several ways to implement creative dance into my classroom.

Reflection #6

What -One new insight that I have is that creative dance is fun for everyone! You do not have to be a fabulous dancer to participate in creative dance. There are endless possibilities with creative dance. There are many reasons why creative dance is important to incorporate into the classroom. One reason is that dance can develop confidence and self-control. It lets shy children get out and express themselves. Also, dance is good exercise. It gets children up and moving. It is especially great for those who cannot sit still for a long period of time. It is important for children to know that in creative dance there is no right or wrong way.

Well at first I felt awkward and uncomfortable as I worked in class. Later after moving for a while I started to loosen up and not really care what moves I was making or care if others were looking at me. As we read Where The Wild Things Are the dance moves we were creating applied directly to the book. For example, when we were pretending to be the Wild Things the book seemed like it came to life. I saw that I could use forms of dance to extend a books message and to make it stand out more.

So What- To help me prepare for next week, I received a better understanding of creative dance. I am more aware of what creative dance is and how I can implement it into field. I can also get ideas from our book to use in the classroom, whether it is a book or introducing a new unit. Participating in creative dance made me realize how practical it is and I was surprised at how comfortable I felt in the end of the dance number for example, being a tree and moving its branches. At first being a tree was awkward, later I saw how the book came to life.

Now What- I plan on actively interpreting books into dance movements and practicing new ideas for creative dance and using them in my classroom. I hope to be aware of the different steps I could use and also finding the right music to go with my dance numbers.

Reflection #5

What- I learned that there are a variety of options to choose from when developing a process drama. There were ideas given in the book that correlated with specific curriculum and also there were the 21 Red Hot Process Tools that we could use. I also learned that you can perform the process drama in a number of ways you could section off the book or you could do a process drama for each page if you wanted to. Depending how much time you have you can pick short or long process drama tools to use. I learned great ideas from the other teams that I wouldn’t have thought of to use with a certain book. It also gave me a visual of what the process drama tools will look like. Some that were used didn’t appeal to me when I read their description, but when I saw them performed in class I loved them.

So What- I hope to implement several ideas into my teaching. I love the 21 Red Hot Process Tools they are awesome! I especially like the ideas given in the book which correlate with specific curriculum. The book is easy access to great ideas. For example, say my subject is Social Studies I go straight to the book which has several ideas that I can use. My students will truly have a fun experience when I incorporate drama into my classroom. I want to make my classroom a place that is fun and entertaining for everyone!

Now What- I hope that I can become more familiar with all the process tools out there. Also it would be great if I could demonstrate more of the tools. I think it would be beneficial for me if I put together a book that has all the tools that I like and what I would use those tools specifically for. Again this would be easy access!

Reflection #4

What- I have learned how to use theater games in the classroom and the 21 red hot process drama tools. One new perspective about using drama that I have is that drama is not all about acting, which a lot of people believe it is. Also, that there are multiple ways to integrate drama into your classroom. I really enjoyed performing some of the process tools. They were great! All ages of children will love participating in the theater games as well as the process drama tools.

So What- I think I will use a variety of activities as I begin teaching. The activities that I personally like include: hot seating, decision alley, interview, role-on-the-wall and pantomime. I especially like the interview activity we did in class. I thought this activity was a great way for students to be creative and have fun being the character or newscaster in the interview.

Now What- Children need creative drama for several reasons one it can let children out of their comfort zone and be theirselves. Creative drama can build their self-esteem. Drama can attract all types of students and their learning styles from pretend interviews to pantomimes children will find what they like best.

Drama can make hard curricular areas more interesting and fun. You are still able to teach the curriculum, but you can use many effective drama tools to deliver it more effectively. For example, when learning about the Revolutionary War you could use the performance carousel when groups prepare scenes representing parts of the drama story, then arrange them in chronological order and perform them in sequence without interruption. There are endless possbibilites when integrating drama with the curriculuar areas. Children will enjoy what they experience and never forget how you used drama into the classroom!