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.