CCR #4

I feel pretty good about the outcome of this semester. I didn't enter into the B range in any of my classes. I stayed above the B line, which was way exciting. So, whatever I did worked in that regard, but I could have made things easier on myself by studying with more than two or three people. I really enjoyed studying with 6-8 girls at the psychology study review. It helped me a ton. I have learned how to change my rote memorization comfort of studying into a deeper study that allows me to apply the information so that it actually makes sense in an application scenario. I have never been able to do that before. I was way happy when I only missed one on the multiple choice of the final exam. I need to keep studying that way, really trying to get the depth of the material, so that I can have greater enduring understanding.
I need to work out more. I was extremely tired on most occasions just because of  lack of exercise. I know if I can do that, I'll feel much better and be able to function at a high-order thinking level instead of the zombie mode I sometimes slip into. Eating healthier is also a huge part of feeling well mentally, emotionally, and physically, so that is something tangible I can improve on for next semester.
Another thing I can work on for the next semester of the teaching program will be to maintain regular study habits, rather than massive cram/study sessions that wipe me out.
Overall, I am burnt out, but I feel great about the semester. I made really good friends from psychology study groups that will probably remain some of my closest friends for a long time. I was able to have good experiences this semester that I believe have conditioned my belief even further that the teaching program is the program for me, the elementary education is the profession for me, and UVU is the University where I can achieve the positive future I see ahead of me.

Arts and Arts Education

Where am I heading with the Arts and Arts Education?

The direction I am heading towards with arts education includes trying to incorporate multiple standards from the core curriculum into one lesson plan. When I am given a lesson plan, I am thinking of so much more than, "Hmmm. How was I taught this?" I am thinking about children's books, process dramas, music, creating a dramatic setting in the classroom, making songs, using mnemonic devices, creating visual art to represent deeper thinking, using journals for art expressions or writing expressions, creating newspapers, using hooks to introduce a lesson, incorporating digital stories, using google websites and calendars to organize unit assignments, using backwards design, and so many more things that weren't at all apart of my vocabulary on January 1, 2010. Now, instead of thinking of art as a way to teach kids to make clay pots or color plates for Mother's Day, I am thinking of the Civil War with making a live Wax Museum. I am thinking of the Revolutionary War and the signing of the Declaration of Independence with tea candles, wigs, and an actual voting and signing of the Declaration in my classroom. I want my classroom to come to life with color from creating visual arts, movement from art theater and dance, and rhythm with music and beats. Learning has to be an experience. In order for something to be a memorable experience, it must include more than just basic necessary senses to watch a teacher and lister to him/her talk. A memorable experience will use all the senses to create a lively atmosphere where students can discover how they relate to important events in history, how they connect with music and math, and how they can bring to life their writing with rich detail. Art can bring enduring understanding to the classroom in every subject.

Spring Break.

This week is Ridgeline Elementary's Spring Break, and so that means it is my Spring Break! I'll be back on Tuesday, rested and ready for the last sprint of the semester race. Until then.... Hasta Luego!

Field Experience 3

What.
This week was my last week at Ridgeline Elementary. The students started making easter basket or plate sculptures out of the clay that can be fired to make it glossy and finished. It was done in our sixth grade class and students from the class next door would come and work on it in our class at times. I noticed how even the most disruptive students were very focused when they were sculpting and painting their little baskets. It was very quiet and each of them was figuring out through trial and error how to form their creation. One Negative Nancy student came up to me and said, "Mine is ugly." I quickly responded with something I learned with my first painting, "If it is yours, then it is your masterpiece." I explained that she had put time into it and tried to make it as best she could with what she knew about sculpting. The next time she would get better, and in time, if she became a professional easter egg basket sculptor, that she would probably be most proud of the very first one she had just called ugly. My mother used to paint beautifully, so last year, I decided to delve into my genetic skills to find the painting professional inside of me, and I painted a Willow Tree. Though it didn't turn out too awesome compared to other paintings, it was my own, and I worked a long time on that willow tree, so it was a masterpiece to me. I tried using this experience I had with trying new things with art to help this child understand hers was the first of many 'masterpieces.' She looked at me kind of funny after and said, "I still think it's ugly." It was worth a try though. Maybe someday someone will find that advice helpful.

So What.
I wished that the art project they were assigned to do was more connected with the curriculum or was done in their once a week art class because it made all the desks really messy and cluttered the room. It took up a lot of class time not to be related to anything, and no art terms or sculpting mechanisms were taught, so what the students learned was just like what they learned with play dough when they were young--it's squishy, it smells weird, it shapes when you mold it with your hands, and now its different from play dough because it gets put into a magic fire that makes it pretty and glossy."

Now What
For our Arts Integration into our last social studies lesson, we were studying the architecture of cathedrals. Charis and I taught the students about the different styles-Romanesque and Gothic- through a slideshow of pictures that I had taken of about 10-15 cathedrals when I traveled throughout Spain. We showed them some of the major inventions like flying buttresses, and we discussed the Roman and Germanic influence on cathedrals today. We split the students into 6 groups and with each group, they were assigned a story book page where they were asked to write about their cathedral characteristic or style and make an illustration of it with the tools we gave them.
Group one was given the topic of Cathedrals in the Middle ages. They were given paints and paint brushed and asked to paint an illustration  that went with the words they put on their page.
The next group was given Romanesque Cathedrals. We gave them empty toilet paper rolls, construction paper, scissors, and tape and asked them to create a pop up illustration of the rounded feature in Romanesque style cathedrals.
Group three was given a cardboard box, scissors, and tape. We asked them to create a 3-d page demonstrating Gothic cathedrals, with their many spires and massive windows.
Group four was given saran-wrap, permanent markers, and a religious traceable picture. We asked them to create a stained glass window, which was a window that usually depicted a religious scene in cathedrals.
Group five was given the task of creating a mosaic style Rose window, which was a large window with a basic circular design used in most of the Gothic style cathedrals.
Group six was given some images of the architectural inventions back in the middle ages. We asked them to sketch flying buttresses on their page.

All of the groups came up with creative designs for their pages in their 'Cathedrals in the Middle Ages' class children's book. I thought it was a success, but next time, I would have them rotate with their group every five minutes to the other project pages. This would allow other ideas to come into all the designs and to allow the students who liked some forms of art better than others a better opportunity to learn and experience other styles of art illustration.

Field Work 2

What?
This was our second week in Mr. Wimmer's 6th grade class. My partner and I went to their art class, which they have once a week taught by a specialty art teacher. They learned how to make geometric tessellation shapes and designs. Mr. Wimmer is still having them work on their pottery easter baskets. He also always gives them the option to draw pictures instead of writing in their journal. I think that is a good option to allow the students to express themselves in whatever manner best fits their interests.
So What?
Because of this semester, my question with all art projects done in the classroom has become, 'how does this tie back to the curriculum?' Our teacher loves worksheets and seems to give them worksheets without any connection back to the curriculum. The activities are fun and the kids enjoy doing them, but the enduring understanding doesn't seem present. For example, I asked my 4th grader cousin, Ethan, what he knew about Rome. He said, "Oh, I learned so much about Rome. That was one of my favorite things I learned about in school." I said, "Well, what did you learn?" He said, "I don't really remember, but I do remember that we built these awesome roads with mud and rock and sand!" The connection was almost made between world history, creating a road, and Rome's great invention of the everlasting roads, but the tie between the art and the importance to world history wasn't quite clear enough. It needed to be explained just a little deeper the significance of the art project in connection to Ancient Rome.
I believe using art, in the 6th grade especially, is most effective and productive when it is used to meet curriculum objectives in other main content areas and when that connection is made known to the students very clearly.
Now What?
When I begin teaching in the future, I want to make sure that my lesson plans include productive art that allows them to really understand and remember the content in another subject really well. The more things you can teach at once, effectively, the more time you will have to cover all the subjects in the core curriculum. This will allow the students to have a greater advantage in all the grades to follow. Art is a great way to create opportunities for enduring understanding, when it is used in a thoughtful, prepared, and organized manner that ties in well to the subject being taught.

Field Work 1

What?
This week was my first week in Mr. Wimmer's 6th grade class at Ridgeline Elementary for my field work. My partner and I have been looking for ways art is incorporated in the classroom. They made some clay baskets for easter, but I didn't think it was relevant at all to anything else in the curriculum. I have realized that art is much more effective and meaningful when it also has another purpose than just learning how to be an artist.
So What?
In planning my social studies lessons for next week, I realized how confident I feel when I have an art process planned as part of the lesson. We will be doing a "Who's got the motion" warm up exercise the day we talk about the leaders of Rome's government. I love it when the kids appreciate you for coming up with an activity they really enjoy. It really gets me comfortable as the teacher. Arts are something that improve my teacher presence. I feel much more prepared and like I am being a good educator when I allow a positive environment for learning that involves moving around, talking, acting, running, and anything bodily kinesthetic. Most kids in the 6th grade have a favorite subject of recess. Why not involve the things they love about recess into classroom subjects?
Now What?
I would like to incorporate one arts process in each of the 5 social studies lessons because that is one part I can feel confident planning and comfortable conducting. We all have our strong points and weak points. My partners strong parts are the organizational and procedural parts. I like media, art, and other tools that allow me to create things to show or teach the students to help them learn. I think 6th grade students are getting nervous about going into the 7th grade where there will be no recess and too many lockers. It is important to allow them to learn love classroom subjects and not rely on recess for their salvation. This can be done by incorporating creative learning processes through art in all the daily classroom subjects.

Music Week 2 (Reflection 9)

Reflection #9
What did you learn from the process you engaged in to create this music lesson?

From creating the music lesson, I learned that you need to pick an easy tune that can be repeated. We chose a whole new world from the Disney movie, Aladdin, which forced you to have pitch, tone, and know the melody well. Our group was trying to be a little too creative I guess, and I realized it's better to be simple. Like, the rain rain go away song, was perfect because that could be memorized much easier and has a range of octaves that could have been used to sing the song.

While we were coming up with the lyrics, we found ourselves trying to make each line rhyme rather than get across the things we were teaching in our objective.

What did you learn from the actual presentation experience?

From presenting, I learned that it's embarrassing to sing a tune with an advanced melody, and it would have been much easier to have helped the students learn a song we were more comfortable with, like row row row your boat, or something with a basic sound.

I also learned that it's important to have very detailed instructions and to know how everything can work, and then even if the class doesn't require that much instruction, you know whatever you need to improvise or modify the instruction and/or lesson.

So What is important for you to remember and learn?

It is important for me to remember not to squeeze music into my curriculum if it won't help the students learn the objectives. I like music, and I think it is a fun way to learn, but if I think it's going to bomb, I need to not be afraid to totally revamp and reorganize a new method to teach the students.

Now What are your next steps?

My next steps are to add some more musical props to my art methods teaching collection and to use songs as review or help for the test, rather than to teaching a totally new material, like fractions.

Reflection #8 Music- Week 1

What is music and why should it be included in the elementary classroom?

Music can be defined as the science, art, or process of putting instrumental and/or vocal sounds together to create a harmony, melody, rhythm, or other musical styling. It should be included in the classroom to open the students up to an art that is everywhere, allow opportunities for their working memories to encode information and remember it long term, and help the classroom have a lively and positive atmosphere by providing upbeat music.

So what are your goals for using music with your future students, and, So what is important in teaching music to children?

I would like to involve some element of art in every one of my lessons, whether it is just a simple warm up for the day doing some drama or a process of music and dancing with a children's book that takes up the majority of the lesson. Music is just one more element I can add to my list of possible choices to choose from in providing art activities in my classroom that meet the core standards of many subjects.

Some things that are important in teaching children music include the same factors as drama and dance. By allowing them to listen to rhythms and beats, they can coordinate their movements to such. Many psychological theories believe that coordination helps connect the left and right side and it will carry through learning other subjects. Coordination is involved with music by understanding and creating beats and rhythms. The memory's capability involved with learning lyrics is fascinating and can help students work their memories out without all the stress.

Now what do you plan to do to prepare to effectively teach and integrate music in your future classroom?

I plan to not be afraid to come up with clever jingles to help my students remember the water cycle or all the planets. I plan on integrating music not only for study aids but also for the fun it is and the beneficial addition music will be to students' schemas. I plan on using music to incorporate the auditory sense in a more lively way than a lecture. Because, the truth is that music is fun and music is everywhere. It can help students come out of their shells and it can be easily scaffolded to help the students reach new heights of learning and understanding. It is important to teach students about the world and do it by teaching new ways for them to learn things. Music can also be a familiar tool for students to feel more comfortable when learning new information.

I would like to physically prepare my classroom by having a set of bongo drums or chimes to get the students' attention without raising my voice. My voice will never be louder than 30 little voices, so I think a musical instrument would be a non-intimidating, yet clear, class management tool. I would like guests to come in and share their musical talents with the class and teach the class something they can do with basic household items to make music. I would also like to use music as a transition tool between subjects or at the start of the day and at the finish of the day.

Reflection #7 Creative Dance Wk #2

My understanding of using dance in the classroom used to mean that you had to be a dancer to use it effectively. I now have learned that there all all different levels of dancers and dancing. It's mainly about coordination, which can only be learned through practice, which is practiced very effectively through the rhythm provided in dance. I've heard many times in my life that those who grow up taking dance classes are better at any athletics than those who have not been involved in dance. A lot of ballerinas are incredible soccer players, and there are other examples similar to that. So my understanding of dance has changed because I now know that you don't have to be a 'dancer' to teach using dancing activities and exercises, and the purpose of dance goes beyond just moving bodily limbs and appendages in semi-coordinated fashion. Rather, practicing dancing techniques can help students in other areas like athletics and academics. Some activities I really enjoyed from the presentations shared were the following: Acting as a seed blooming into a flower with the care from sunlight and rain, running away from a bully in the book while avoiding obstacles all along the way, telling the story of Cinderella while the other part of the class acts it out with fluid dancing motions, stretching exercises, and more that all involved drama, dance, warming up, and getting familiar with dance elements and getting us comfortable in our own skin. I plan to teach my students the required standards, objectives, indicators, and subject-content written in the core curriculum. I plan on teaching social studies, which can often be a bore(it was for me at least), with role-play, dance, primary source music, and other methods to help the students have experiences while learning. After all, learning is a process, not a product. I can prepare to teach using these hands on, discovery, experimental, bodily-kinesthetic approaches by jotting down ideas from text books, starting a children's literature library of my own, and sharing ideas among my classmates.

Reflection 6 Dance Week 1

Bringing creative dance into teaching children can be very useful to create a social interaction opportunity that may be entirely unique to them. Creative dance can also allow children to become more familiar with their body and even more confident in the way they control it. It is true that victims are chosen by their tentative, irregular, body language; so, bringing in creative dance will hopefully help children be more confident and comfortable with their body movements. Creative dance can also be an evaluative tool for the teacher to recognize struggles with coordination and understand ways to help with developing it.

It became more clear to me as I worked on dance techniques in class today that I wanted to follow directions so as not to be embarrassed in front of my peers. I found that I wanted to have a dance move no one else thought of, though it was uncomfortable. Children may start to realize that they are not the only ones that are uncomfortable or struggling, but as they look around, they may see everyone else having similar difficulties. This can be a good eye opener for children to realize that everyone experiences things differently, and everyone adapts to things in different ways, all struggling in some ways and succeeding in other ways.

For the preparation for field, I will be including some dance activities, and I will feel a little more passionate about its benefits and more comfortable with the exercises. During the class presentation, I want to try out dance activities that have a lot of creative options. I will make sure to include clear directions so that there is room for creativity within the clear understanding of the activity.

To incorporate this knowledge into my practice as a teacher, I was thinking of writing down a few lesson ideas next week during the group activities and then putting them in my activities file of ways to be a cool teacher. I could also just write them in my creative arts sketch book. I could also hi-light them in my book, but books tend to become a cumbersome looking task instead of a useful tool for me sometimes. I may need to take my favorite activities from group presentations and write a few key reasons why dance is important from the book and just start with that for my first useful compilation of incorporating dance into my classroom. I also love props, so it would be helpful for me to make props for the drama activities that would also work for dance, like pom-poms, streamers, fabric, drums, flags, etc.

Reflection #5 Drama

What did you learn from developing a Process Drama from text? What did you learn from the other team presentations? So What drama ideas will you try to implement in your teaching?Now What - How will you prepare to teach and integrate creative drama in your teaching?

I learned that drama can help the class become more unified. After the first day of learning about drama, I was talking to Mallory on the way out, and she had tears streaming down her face because she was laughing so hard. I loved how lively and happy some of the activities made us all become. I also learned that drama can be used for multiple purposes like a weekly or even daily class stress reliever, a lively fun activity, something to do while waiting, etc. I will not be using these drama activities as a reward or take it away as a punishment, but the drama activities will be something that I use to create greater class synergy.

I really liked "Martha's Game" that Charis and I found on the internet. I will most likely use that in my classroom a lot. Also, I really like the tableau/wax museum. I think that's an interesting way to do a form of research reports in Social Studies, and I will definitely write that in my book of "Awesome Ideas from UVU". We, as students, are often encouraged to open lessons with thought questions, but I think that can be a hard way to get a lecture going without some bonding and interacting done first. I think that some of the drama activities we learned will be helpful with getting the children moving and serve as an icebreaker to get the discussions started. I like that the drama activity doesn't always have to match with the subject being taught that day, and I will most likely use the "7 game" and the "who's got the motion" game to keep the classroom alive and awake throughout the day.

I can see how my class will be benefited by preparing my daily lessons with drama warm-ups, on-hand drama activities--just in case the lesson isn't working like I had planned, and drama activities that work with a subject being studied in class.

Reflection #4 Drama 1

What have you learned? What are your new perspectives about using drama in your future classroom? So What kinds of activities do you think you will use most as you begin teaching? Now What - Why do children need creative drama? Why is it important to integrate drama with other curricular areas?

So far, I have learned that drama can be incorporated in the classroom, whereas I had never though possible. It can be done in a way that allows the class to have an effective learning experience.

My new perspective about using drama in my future classroom is that though I get embarrassed to act and to do silly things in front of my peers, I can use that inferior complex and understand ways that aren't as embarrassing that will get my students involved and excited about learning.

As I begin teaching, the activities that I will use most will probably be the warm-up exercises like the 'Who started the motion' game. As an activity while reading a children's book, I will use decision alley, mantle of the expert, machines, and the activity where we draw the outline of the character on a large piece of paper and write down the perspectives about him/her.

Children need drama because life is dramatic, and they need a way to deal with heavy subjects in a lighter way. They need drama because they can use the social interaction help. They also need drama because exercise, moving, and kinesthetic learning is classified as one of the best ways to engage an entire classroom in the flow and interest of learning.

It is important to integrate drama with other curricular areas because it helps liven up each subject. For instance, social studies can be boring- it's a commonly known fact-but with drama, social studies can be fun-which may not be as commonly known. I thought of this idea the other day. I could bring in George Washington style white wigs for the boys and dollar store fabric for the ladies to make wrap-around dresses. We could have a class discussion in a fancy 'tea party' setting where each member will discuss a certain assigned topic. Maybe we could even do a dance from the era. This could be a fun way to present facts and knowledge in a fun and dramatic fashion. Even history can be fun with the help of drama--now that sounds refreshing.

Reflection 2

Reflection #2

What

I have learned about the color wheel, primary colors, mixing colors to get other colors, vocabulary involved in describing objects, shapes, shades, and tones.

So What

I have learned when visual art is included in the learning process, it creates a greater capacity for interest in the subject and therefore, greater recall. I have learned that visual art can be used when teaching any subject to allow the students to be involved in coming up with their own understanding of any given topic. As a student, I have learned how visual art can have a positive impact on my studying/note taking techniques. As a person, I have learned that visual arts is something that fascinates me, and I would like to look into it more. I have understood through the text the psychology involved when visual arts is mixed with learning.

Now What

I've added to my teaching philosophy that in order to prepare to effectively teach my students, I need to involve as many of the 5 senses as possible. Visual arts is a great intellectual way to include sight in the sensory learning experience. With each lesson, I find it important to look for ways to include elements of interest, like art, music, dance, movie clips, etc.

Reflection 3

What? Using children's picture books and their illustrations to teach children how to understand, appreciate, and make art is a perfect introduction to the kind of passion needed to be successful in creating art. By introducing them to one particular illustrator at a time, they can come to know certain elements used in each artist's work to make it their own style. Children can identify styles and elements from different illustrators that they like by how they feel the art enhances the story in the book. They can understand what they like and dislike and can begin to form their own style preferences with their own art, and they can feel more valued as young artists and learners as they learn more ways to create their own masterpieces.

So What? I can effectively prepare to teach students about artists and their styles by introducing one artist at a time through children's literature. I can spend an adequate amount of time providing facts about that artist's life that will interest them. I can read them that artist's collection of children's books without showing them the illustrations, and then I can show them the illustrations after. That would help them understand how much illustrations add to the story. I could then ask the children if they pictured the story different in their minds than what the illustrator drew or if they were able to picture anything at all. We could have a class activity where we could each draw how we each pictured the story and see the similarities and differences between the book's actual illustrations and the class's new illustrations. Each member of the class could draw a different scene, and we could place their pictures in place of the artist's pictures to make the students feel like illustrators of a children's story. Before having them do their own illustrations, I could teach them about the techniques that certain artist used in the book and ask them to incorporate one of them into their piece of art. By the end of the year, they should be able to know how to use many techniques and create a masterpiece all on their own of a story of their choice.

Now What? It will be important to me to teach my students art because I have a strong belief that it improves all other areas of thinking and learning. I will model my passion for art along with my excitement for other subject areas, and through that, I can motivate students to be more engaged in learning- whether it be learning art or learning other subjects through art. Incorporating art skills into my curriculum will allow new schemas to be created and make for a more diverse and creative learning environment. It will be more diverse because there are so many different ways of expressing art and so many styles and elements with all those categories of art. Art will open up the classroom to a broader range of interpretation for new ideas, and it will create a greater opportunity to reach positive conclusions and experiences about learning and education overall.

Reflection 1

What has been your personal experience with the arts?

My personal experience with the arts has been with classes, gift-making/creating, experimenting with painting, teaching art lessons in the sixth grade as a teacher's assistant, my current job, and student council in high school.

I have taken one art class at UVU-sculpting.

I have invested much time in making gifts for friends and family that involve mod podge, pictures, painting, gluing... crafting. Some of the gifts have also included computer graphic design.

I have experimented with painting on canvas and trying out different acrylic basic painting.

As you can see by my lovely willow tree, I still have loads to learn, but at least I try. This tree is a masterpiece to me, and I suppose that's all that matters.

I also taught a water-coloring lesson and a paper college lesson for a 6th grade class I assisted.

I also work in the art department here at UVU, cleaning the print making room, drawing room, and painting room. I am constantly around art, so hopefully my subconscious is picking up some tips.

Did you have teachers who taught and/or integrated them in your education?

I remember having a separate art class in elementary school that I enjoyed. We made characters for the story we were writing in class, which made art integrated in the class somewhat. I remember I made two little models of the main characters in my 'story book': Jack and Lilly. After they came out of the kennel, they were missing some appendages, but I just glued them back on and was happy as a lark to have little people to go along with my story.

Another teacher that integrated arts was in the 1st grade. I remember doing lots of gluing and painting. I also remember making a ceramic ornament at Christmas time.

I don't recall many teachers after elementary school incorporating arts into our general education curriculum.

The most art experience I have had with creating art was probably in my four years in Student Council. We always made and assembled the float at my house, and I was always decorating hallways or making banners or signs for events. I learned how to construct a balloon arch for an assembly in the large gymnasium.

So What impact have they had in your life?

The impact teachers have had in my life has been immense. I always wanted to please them so it was easy to behave, and when they gave me praise and made the topic interesting, I loved my experience even more.

What were some of the characteristics of your favorite and least favorite teachers?

My favorite teachers were always so passionate about what they were teaching. They loved the book we were assigned to read at the time, they loved the algebraic system, they were so passionate about writing interesting and descriptive stories, and they fascinated me with how much they knew and loved about the subject they were teaching. They all used lots of visual aids that really kept my attention.

So what does that mean for you as a future teacher?

That means that my main goal as a teacher will be to be so enthusiastic and outgoing with the students. It means that I must be passionate about teaching and about the subject I'm teaching. It means I must use visuals and hands on experiments, creating different pathways in the brain to make learning connections in each child's brain.

Now What do you want/need to do in terms of you preparation to effectively teach and integrate the arts as a teacher?

I always present the best lessons when I am the best prepared. I know this will especially be true with a 6 hour day. I need to keep the attention of my students and art seems to do that with the vast majority, so what better way is there to interest them than by integrating creative arts? As I go along in school, I plan on writing lesson plan ideas in a 'master idea notebook' that I can look at later for 'excellent' ideas on how to have creative interesting lessons in my future classrooms.