Today we learned about and played theater games and process drama. We observed our professor reading a story and implementing several dramatic elements into her reading and between readings.
I loved this class day! I've always enjoyed drama and studying it. I loved all the ideas that were used while we were read "When Jessie Came Across the Sea". How clever. We seemed to cover so much material, yet I felt I wanted more. The mirror/reflection activities I think could be very valuable, especially to slowly establish trust within the classroom. All the activities were very creative. I liked the interviewing activities where we were a character from a story. I can see that applied in the study of social studies, or perhaps even science. It gives you some freedom to create, yet is also a way to assess what students do understand.
I think students need creative drama as a safe way to express themselves without the structure of memorized lines. Children are so creative and improvising can be very therapeutic too. It helps in perspective taking - which we are learning in Ed Psych is critical for learning empathy and developing emotional intelligence. Sometimes it seems grade school kids just want to be the funniest one, so I'm not sure how you would or IF you would try to regulate that. Humor is wonderful and I get that. But I would hope students would feel safe enough to be serious and intense when it is appropriate.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sarah Sumsion Edel 4540 Sec 2 Reflection #3
Today we learned the principles of art: proportion, balance, rhythm, variety, emphasis, and unity. We also shared our illustrator study and participated in activities relating to different illustrator's styles.
I found this very enjoyable. I learn more and more about art and almost wish we didn't have to move on to drama yet- although that has always been a favorite of mine. I have felt so uneducated when it comes to art, so this class has really opened my eyes and mind to what art is all about. I feel a little stupid asking, "Do artists know all this when they paint?" But it was one of those dumb questions perhaps others were thinking too. I really liked finding the curriculum connections for our group because it made me see a bigger picture than just "coloring" for art.
Having this class makes me want to have better art "decorations" around the room than the typical, cartoon-like cut outs you buy at teacher supply stores. Think of the art we could post around a room to better label classroom centers or important rules. I hope to integrate more art not only into my classroom but with my own children at home. In fact, 2 of my boys were bickering over something today so I brought one into my room and showed him my creative arts journal and he was really curious. He guessed what my texture segments were (chicken skin, starry night, patterned clothing). He saw one "shape" element I had made (a snowflake) and decided he wanted to make snowflakes. The fighting stopped, he was being creative and his hands and mind were being put to good use. I also challenged him to make a picture using only a piece of paper and a hole punch. We then looked through the hole punch picture and saw pieces of a bigger picture (parts of the room). I showed him how it was sort of like my text art boxes I had made in Word then filled with a painting. The glorious thing for me - 30 minutes of no fighting!
I found this very enjoyable. I learn more and more about art and almost wish we didn't have to move on to drama yet- although that has always been a favorite of mine. I have felt so uneducated when it comes to art, so this class has really opened my eyes and mind to what art is all about. I feel a little stupid asking, "Do artists know all this when they paint?" But it was one of those dumb questions perhaps others were thinking too. I really liked finding the curriculum connections for our group because it made me see a bigger picture than just "coloring" for art.
Having this class makes me want to have better art "decorations" around the room than the typical, cartoon-like cut outs you buy at teacher supply stores. Think of the art we could post around a room to better label classroom centers or important rules. I hope to integrate more art not only into my classroom but with my own children at home. In fact, 2 of my boys were bickering over something today so I brought one into my room and showed him my creative arts journal and he was really curious. He guessed what my texture segments were (chicken skin, starry night, patterned clothing). He saw one "shape" element I had made (a snowflake) and decided he wanted to make snowflakes. The fighting stopped, he was being creative and his hands and mind were being put to good use. I also challenged him to make a picture using only a piece of paper and a hole punch. We then looked through the hole punch picture and saw pieces of a bigger picture (parts of the room). I showed him how it was sort of like my text art boxes I had made in Word then filled with a painting. The glorious thing for me - 30 minutes of no fighting!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sarah Sumsion's Visual Arts Reflection #2
What: I honestly feel like I know so little about art (painting, drawing, etc.) that learning about the basic elements: space, line, shape, color, value and texture were very eye opening to me! Putting them into practice in class were quite helpful for me to see how the elements come together. I enjoyed evaluating the art pieces in class today for the basic elements.
So what: This means a lot as a teacher because how can I teach something if I don't understand it myself. Applying basic principles of art and having them cross over into other subjects (math, science, social studies) is so exciting to me! I think I've been doing more of this than I realized (as a substitute teacher) but now I know why it's good to do this and how it is helpful.
Now what: I truly hope to incorporate a lot more creative arts into my teaching than I originally thought was possible. The section in the textbook that talked about having a place to display things that are beautiful was very appealing to me. I even penciled in my book "There is beauty all around..." to allow students to display things they find, make, or discover that are beautiful to them. Enough places in the world look for the ugly and bad. I like the idea of focusing on beauty. I loved the idea of an art word wall! Why not? Those words are inspiring and eye-opening. I did not know the proper definition of hue, tint and value in art before. I understood them in context, but I learned 3 new words today! To effectively teach my students about art, I need a lot more exposure. I plan on going to the Springville Museum of Art and really appreciating the different basic elements in each art piece. Before I looked at art purely subjectively - does it appeal to me or not? Is it pretty? Would I want to hang it up at my house? Now I can look for the different elements then hopefully teach my students to do the same thing, as a first step to learning about art.
So what: This means a lot as a teacher because how can I teach something if I don't understand it myself. Applying basic principles of art and having them cross over into other subjects (math, science, social studies) is so exciting to me! I think I've been doing more of this than I realized (as a substitute teacher) but now I know why it's good to do this and how it is helpful.
Now what: I truly hope to incorporate a lot more creative arts into my teaching than I originally thought was possible. The section in the textbook that talked about having a place to display things that are beautiful was very appealing to me. I even penciled in my book "There is beauty all around..." to allow students to display things they find, make, or discover that are beautiful to them. Enough places in the world look for the ugly and bad. I like the idea of focusing on beauty. I loved the idea of an art word wall! Why not? Those words are inspiring and eye-opening. I did not know the proper definition of hue, tint and value in art before. I understood them in context, but I learned 3 new words today! To effectively teach my students about art, I need a lot more exposure. I plan on going to the Springville Museum of Art and really appreciating the different basic elements in each art piece. Before I looked at art purely subjectively - does it appeal to me or not? Is it pretty? Would I want to hang it up at my house? Now I can look for the different elements then hopefully teach my students to do the same thing, as a first step to learning about art.
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