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.