I loved my field experience! It was hard to come back to school Monday morning. It was a very good experience to show me what it going to be like when I'm a teacher. I was able to figure out a little of how I was going to teach, when I'm a teacher. Having the Field Experience made me more excited to become a teacher!
My Field Partner and I taught about the Mormon Pioneers and their journey to Salt Lake City. One of our lessons included a pioneer song that we were going to teach the students, but we ran out of time.
In the Elementary School that we were in every 4th grade class got the opportunity to write an Opera about something that they wanted. Our class was doing theirs on the Pioneers. They had written up music about the Pioneers for their Opera. They sung it for us and it was really cool. This helped to get all the students in the class involved in music and learning.
Another thing that my field partner and I did is we taught the students the Virginia Reel Dance. They loved this! At first they had a hard time with dancing with the opposite gender, but they soon got over that. This square dance is going to be performed with their Opera. We also loved teaching this because it got the students out of their seats and moving, along with having fun!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Blog #5 Visual Arts
I had learned a little about arts from various other classes, but I thought that it was a good idea to get children excited about art with learning about the different styles within children's books. I learned the various parts of a piece of art. Another thing that I learned is the many styles of art that there are. I haven't had very many lessons on art, so I really enjoyed this class period. Now when I look at art, I will be able to pick the art piece apart and really try to figure out what the artist is trying to portray.
All of the activities, that the others in the cohort planned, were very well set up. Every art activity was different, which enabled you to see how the artists' portrays the story. I liked doing that activity because it helped us to use our brain along with others to come up with acitvities that came from many sources. I think that it is a good idea to have teachers collaborate with one another to share ideas.
It will be exciting to impliment arts in my lesson plans. Using the visual arts is a very good way of getting the student to create something with their imagination. Studying the visual art of another person helps the students to understand how to look at others opinions and view points.
All of the activities, that the others in the cohort planned, were very well set up. Every art activity was different, which enabled you to see how the artists' portrays the story. I liked doing that activity because it helped us to use our brain along with others to come up with acitvities that came from many sources. I think that it is a good idea to have teachers collaborate with one another to share ideas.
It will be exciting to impliment arts in my lesson plans. Using the visual arts is a very good way of getting the student to create something with their imagination. Studying the visual art of another person helps the students to understand how to look at others opinions and view points.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Blog #4 Music
I love music! Music can make such a big impact in your life. It's all around you. I am really excited that I can choose to use music within the classroom because it makes my day that much better. I think that the students will really enjoy using music as much as I do. It makes the day exciting and almost magical. I do think that there can be an overload though, you don't want to drown your students out with just music all of the time, add variety in there.
As the textbook stated and as we learned in class, using music and dance with teaching information helps the students to remember information better by opening up a different part of the brain to be able to use. I thought that this was interesting because it didn't really occur to me that we didn't just use all of our brain all of the time. When we are able to tap into those unfamiliar territories of our brain, our knowledge expands. I also think that it is important to get the students familiar with music, rhythm, and all those other components of music, early so that they can have a good scheme for music.
It was interesting to see the different ways that other students, within our cohort, used music within their lesson plans. Some of the activities I don't think I would have thought to do right off the bat. I think that it is good for us to be able to plan these lessons so that we can get not only our creativity flowing, but see what others have put together as well.
As the textbook stated and as we learned in class, using music and dance with teaching information helps the students to remember information better by opening up a different part of the brain to be able to use. I thought that this was interesting because it didn't really occur to me that we didn't just use all of our brain all of the time. When we are able to tap into those unfamiliar territories of our brain, our knowledge expands. I also think that it is important to get the students familiar with music, rhythm, and all those other components of music, early so that they can have a good scheme for music.
It was interesting to see the different ways that other students, within our cohort, used music within their lesson plans. Some of the activities I don't think I would have thought to do right off the bat. I think that it is good for us to be able to plan these lessons so that we can get not only our creativity flowing, but see what others have put together as well.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Blog #3 Dance
I think that the book hit on many important aspects of dance. It said that dance is central to learning. I learned that dancing can serve as a warm up to engage the mind so that it's ready to learn. I thought that it was fun to get up and dance with the class. As the book states, dancing uses the students concentration, self-control, etc…that is why it's so useful within the classroom. Dancing is a good way for the students to be able to remember what they have been taught.
I don't remember dancing much in school, when I was younger. There was a time in fifth grade though that we had a luau and our teacher taught us the hula. We had a wonderful time learning about the culture in Hawaii and the way that they express themselves through dancing.
Creative dance is different than studio dance in the aspect that you aren't being taught certain dances or moves, you are the one that is creating the dance on the spot. I believe that the students are able to put more of themselves in the dance when they are creating it. Using creative dance makes the brain think on a whole different level, that's why it's encouraged to be used more. Your brain is working through critical problem solving, because you have to figure out how your body is going to move next.
I want to use dance everyday in my classroom. I believe that creative dancing gets the students to focus and open up their minds to be able to learn. I think that if you were to do creative dance even a couple of times within the day the students would like it. You could have it as a warm-up in the morning, when the students first get to school you could do a little activity on creative dance and this would get them focused and it would also get their wiggles out.
I don't remember dancing much in school, when I was younger. There was a time in fifth grade though that we had a luau and our teacher taught us the hula. We had a wonderful time learning about the culture in Hawaii and the way that they express themselves through dancing.
Creative dance is different than studio dance in the aspect that you aren't being taught certain dances or moves, you are the one that is creating the dance on the spot. I believe that the students are able to put more of themselves in the dance when they are creating it. Using creative dance makes the brain think on a whole different level, that's why it's encouraged to be used more. Your brain is working through critical problem solving, because you have to figure out how your body is going to move next.
I want to use dance everyday in my classroom. I believe that creative dancing gets the students to focus and open up their minds to be able to learn. I think that if you were to do creative dance even a couple of times within the day the students would like it. You could have it as a warm-up in the morning, when the students first get to school you could do a little activity on creative dance and this would get them focused and it would also get their wiggles out.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Blog #2 Drama
It's interesting because I wasn't apart of any drama classes or clubs in my early education, but as I'm learning more and more I get excited to bring that emotion into my future classroom. I believe that using drama within the classroom is a great idea. One way for children to learn is by hands on and doing things. Incorporating drama into the classroom would help to satisfy that need. Also, I think that it is a good idea because the students aren't going to do very well just sitting in your classroom listening to you lecture all day, they want to get up and get involved. If I were back in elementary school and I could decide how I wanted to learn, I would definitely include drama into the school day.
To me I feel that having a few little drama activities throughout the day would break it up for the students so that they won't be looking at the clock waiting for school to get out. You could use drama to teach about any lesson. There has got to be some activity that you could find to present with any topic of any lesson. I think at the beginning of the school year if you were to do some drama activities that involved the whole class it would bring some classroom unity and then as the year goes on you could use a little more of the grouping and individual activities.
When you incorporate drama in with your other lesson plans you are teaching two subjects at once. This will also help with the concentration of the students to stay on task. I believe that it also helps the students to remember what they have learned better when they act it by connecting it with emotions. You could use a mini drama activity when you notice that the students aren't paying attention or that they are just aren't listening. We do theses in Dr. Byrd's Education Psychology they are called Brain Boosters, they would get the class back together and focused. Most of their energy would be released so that they could listen to the lesson.
One of the things that I want to do when I begin teaching is to make historical people come to life. I feel that it is a very good idea to get the students to learn about people and then dress up, as we did in Dr. Rameriez Social Studies Class, or just pretend to be them, and present it to the class. I think at the beginning of the school year if you were to do some drama activities that involved the whole class it would bring some classroom unity and then as the year goes on you could use a little more of the grouping and individual activities.
To me I feel that having a few little drama activities throughout the day would break it up for the students so that they won't be looking at the clock waiting for school to get out. You could use drama to teach about any lesson. There has got to be some activity that you could find to present with any topic of any lesson. I think at the beginning of the school year if you were to do some drama activities that involved the whole class it would bring some classroom unity and then as the year goes on you could use a little more of the grouping and individual activities.
When you incorporate drama in with your other lesson plans you are teaching two subjects at once. This will also help with the concentration of the students to stay on task. I believe that it also helps the students to remember what they have learned better when they act it by connecting it with emotions. You could use a mini drama activity when you notice that the students aren't paying attention or that they are just aren't listening. We do theses in Dr. Byrd's Education Psychology they are called Brain Boosters, they would get the class back together and focused. Most of their energy would be released so that they could listen to the lesson.
One of the things that I want to do when I begin teaching is to make historical people come to life. I feel that it is a very good idea to get the students to learn about people and then dress up, as we did in Dr. Rameriez Social Studies Class, or just pretend to be them, and present it to the class. I think at the beginning of the school year if you were to do some drama activities that involved the whole class it would bring some classroom unity and then as the year goes on you could use a little more of the grouping and individual activities.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Blog #1
When I thought of incorporating arts into the classroom I would always think of projects like painting or drawing a picture. Now that I know that there is more to art than that I can have fun with my students. I now know that arts is a big part of getting your brain to think a different way.
You can connect pretty much every lesson with some type of art project that would be appropriate. I like how you can use the arts to help the children remember things easier, for example the color wheel and using the different colors as categories. This way the children can always correlate the colors with a certain topic.
I am so excited to learn more ways to incorporate arts into teaching, because I like making things fun and interesting. Children always want to have fun so teaching through, with, about and in the arts fulfills that need for them. I want to teach this way because that is how I learn best, I can remember information that was presented to me in an interesting way.
I also really liked how games can be a teaching tool. We were learning and having fun at the same time, like the mirror game. I was laughing so hard through it, but I still learned what it felt like to be a leader and take on that role. I remember that experience because I'm emotionally connected to it.
You can connect pretty much every lesson with some type of art project that would be appropriate. I like how you can use the arts to help the children remember things easier, for example the color wheel and using the different colors as categories. This way the children can always correlate the colors with a certain topic.
I am so excited to learn more ways to incorporate arts into teaching, because I like making things fun and interesting. Children always want to have fun so teaching through, with, about and in the arts fulfills that need for them. I want to teach this way because that is how I learn best, I can remember information that was presented to me in an interesting way.
I also really liked how games can be a teaching tool. We were learning and having fun at the same time, like the mirror game. I was laughing so hard through it, but I still learned what it felt like to be a leader and take on that role. I remember that experience because I'm emotionally connected to it.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)