Reflection #7 Sarah Sumsion

Today in class we applied dance experiences to a book we prepared as a group.

I quite like implementing dance into science - not necessarily just free expression, although I see the place for that. I like thinking "how am I going to move to express this object/animal/thing in nature/etc". I was trying to memorize my ed psych info and I made up a little dance movement to remember certain stages for one of the theorists. It helped me remember it better for the test.

I plan to use creative arts in my classroom. It's a great way to get kids moving in a day. I hope to implement all the arts within the unit. There is a certain level of trust necessary to make dance successful. With younger kids, they probably won't care as much, but if older students haven't experienced dance in their school years, they could be increasingly self conscious. I might implement dance a little later for them, or little by little. I could be wrong, but this seems to make sense to me.

Reflection #6 Sarah Sumsion

Today in class we learned how to integrate dance into our teaching. We learned about the acronym "BEST" for dance: body, energy, space, time.

I was impressed by how easily it was to integrate dance. I got very excited about how to relate it to science and math units. Those subjects were a little trickier for me to see how to integrate drama into. The video was very inspiring and encouraging to me to see what massive strides could be made in many different subjects, just by integrating the arts.

I already have ideas spinning in my head about how I want to integrate the arts into my curriculum. I hope I can even try some when we teach during field experience. I am much less intimidated by dance that I thought I would be. It was fun to feel my body stretch and move in ways I haven't moved it before (or at least in years). I can see a group of adults (like us) having a lot of fun and being educated incorporating dance. I like the idea of letting student choreograph their own end-of-year programs, perhaps after a year of exploring about dance, instead of just a teacher always instructing them how to move.  I also loved the Greek dancing. I've done some of that before and was truly moved by the beauty and meaning in it, not to mention had a good workout!

Reflection #5 Sarah Sumsion

Today we learned some theater games and listened to group presentations of process dramas as they correlated to children's books.

All students and grades could benefit from these types of activities because it makes topics and ideas and concepts more personal and applicable. I love the idea that process drama can help people develop perspective taking and empathy. I seem to be really hung up on the idea of helping children develop emotional intelligence. If this is one method that proves successful, I would encourage any teacher to utilize it.

These activities really mean a lot to me as I have always loved games and theater. I have actually done a lot of these types of things without knowing they were part of a bigger picture and bigger meaning. I was a substitute teacher all last year and subbed over 80 days of the school year. These activities were things I did either of my own accord or because a teacher had it in her sub plans. Nearly always the activities brought greater meaning and understanding to the students. I'm hoping I can have the courage to do some of these with the 6th graders I'll be working with in November. I know I'm the adult, but I hope I don't feel self-conscious and get stage-fright.  Last night with my children I told them a story and used 3 of the ideas from today's group presentations. My 4 children (ages 14-5) fully participated and seemed to really enjoy the activities.  A teenage boy can sometimes think things like this are childish - but he totally got into it! Love this unit!

Reflection #4 Sarah Sumsion

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.

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!

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.

Sarah Sumsion Reflection #1

I feel very proud to say my grandmother earned a Master's Degree in music and my mother (age 59) just graduated with her Bachelor's Degree in music (first one ever at Dixie State College to earn a 4-year degree in music/vocal performance). Clearly I grew up in a musical family. I sat at a piano from a very young age and have played ever since. I was exposed to many styles of music. I also learned to play the violin and took fiddling lessons. My mother sings and I have grown to love singing also. I have always had a love of theater as well, enlisting neighbor kids to put on little plays, or reading plays as a form of entertainment. However, dance is one of the arts that has eluded me. I don't seem to enjoy it, understand it very well and certainly will struggle with knowing how to adequately integrate it into my teaching.

Since I do not considering myself an artist either, I like the idea of free-expression through art (painting, drawing, coloring, scultping, etc.) I really need to study art myself a bit. I can appreciate art that looks like something, but have a hard time appreciating art that looks like paint splatter, or like a 2-year old could do it. Abstract images escape me.

I hope to have lots of music, singing, and reenacting in my classroom. So many memorization requirements are strengthened when put to music, at least for me. When things are reenacted, you can better understand how a child understood a subject, what stuck with them, how they felt about it, etc. I like the notion of "no wrong ideas" when it comes to art. I think it is highly personal and subjective.