Reflection #12

What It is hard to believe that field ended this week! It went by so fast! As I look back at our integrated art lesson plans I am glad we did them! Way worth it!

So What Overall, I am disappointed that our cooperating teacher does not integrate art whatsoever into her classroom. She has been teaching for 17 years now and from observing I don’t think she has ever integrated the arts. As weeks have gone by and we have learned about art, drama, music, and dance I was so excited for field to begin. As we have learned about the forms of art I have enjoyed every minute of it. I can see how beneficial it is to incorporate them into your classroom. I was hoping I would have a cooperating teacher who would integrate the arts in some way, but that didn’t happen. My partner and I had to take charge regardless of the situation. If my partner and I didn’t teach any lesson plans we wouldn’t have seen how integrating the arts works. I am grateful that we were able to have the students experience and interact with the arts. It was a great experience and I look forward to the future with my own classroom.

Now What From having this class and teaching the arts in field it all comes down to me for my future students to experience the arts. I hope that I can go to Art Conferences to get more ideas of how to incorporate them. Also I can get ideas from colleagues and see what they like to use. There are many tools that can help me integrate the arts into my future classroom. One tool being our textbook, it is filled with several ideas and even better its all in one book. I hope that I can start preparing by gathering ideas, books, websites and more to start a Art folder that I can refer to when I teach.

Reflection #11

What? Field is about to finish up and it has been a great experience working with the 5^th graders. This week my partner and I integrated the arts with one of our lesson plans.

So What? As we continue teaching about Colonial America this week we taught about life in the colonies which are: life in towns and cities, life on plantations, and life on the frontier. To integrate one of the arts into this lesson plan we decided to integrate process drama as an intro to life in the colonies. We took parts from their textbook and used one of the 21 Red Hot Process Drama Tools called “Speaking Objects”. For each life we picked an object and spoke in its point of view of its surroundings. For example, for life in towns and cities we told the students that they were the church steeple in the town. We talked about how we could see the children running to school, farmers at the market selling their goods, men and women going to the tailor, and more. With life on the frontier we were a candle flickering in the windowsill. We told the students that we could see papa chopping the wood, mama mending the clothes, deer grazing by, etc. The children really enjoyed participating with process drama it let them make a visual of what life was like for the colonists. I am excited to use more of the 21 Red Hot Process Tools in the future.

Now What? I plan on integrating arts as much as I can into my future classroom. All students enjoy the arts and can benefit from them. I would love to be able to be more familiar with the 21 Red Hot Process Tools and practice them. They are easy for everyone to participate in and are so worthwhile! I am excited to teach my future students and to share with them the impact arts can have on their lives!

Reflection #10

What? We have been in field for over a week now and I am enjoying every minute of it! When it comes to integrating the arts into the classroom my cooperating teacher does not incorporate the arts. This week my partner and I were able to teach our second lesson plan and integrate the arts into it. We incorporated music into our lesson plan.

So What? We are teaching 5^th graders about Colonial America. We were teaching the students about the 13 Colonies. We made up a song about the 13 Colonies and put it to the tune of Yankee Doodle. The students loved singing the song! What we did was sang the song first then the students sang the words that were in bold. We then taught half of room the beat and the other half the rhythm. They practiced the rhythm and then switched sides to practice the beat. We finished up the song with singing it in rounds. Our song was catchy and easy to follow along with. One little boy said, “This is way fun.” It made me appreciate the arts even more and how important it is to have them in your classroom.

Now What? I hope that I can encourage my cooperating teacher to integrate the arts into her classroom. Whether you sing a song or use processed drama there are so many options that you can use. In our text, it shows how beneficial it is for students to be apart of the arts. Also with my future classroom and students I want to try my best and incorporate arts as much as possible. The arts do great things and have such a strong impact on children. They make learning fun and engaging for everyone!

Reflection #9

What-I learned that it was somewhat difficult to find a tune that worked with the lyrics we made up. It took us a few tries to find a tune that fit. I thought “This Old Man” was perfect for our song. Also it is not as easy as it looks to come up with lyrics for a song. We had to think about what to include in our song to connect with the book and also the core. I learned from presenting that it is important to know the beat and rhythm to teach students a song. Having a warm-up is beneficial for everyone as well. There are several ways to do warm-ups such as singing Bumblebee… bumblebee… Prior to teaching your lesson you should find out if you can use your song in a round. We didn’t know that you usually don’t sing “This Old Man” in a round, but when we did sang it in a round it didn’t turn out so bad. Incorporating instruments into your music lesson is also great.

So What It is important to know if your song will work in a round. I think it is important to know if you will be using instruments or not. In addition to using instruments, find ways that you can teach the song for example, use the Brain Compatible Rules or the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Singing. Get everyone engaged and involved to have a fun experience. If you cannot create your own lyrics, use other sources that will work for your lesson. The Internet has endless possibilities for lyrics and tunes of songs that you can use.

Now What -My next steps are working on my own voice and practicing to become better for my future students. Also I think to start putting together a folder of songs that I can use and ideas of how to teach the song, what instruments to use, etc. I hope that I can incorporate music as much as possible into my classroom. Music is great for all ages of children!