Reflection #2: Visual Arts

I have taken a lot of visual arts classes in my day, so as far as the principles and new knowledge, I knew most of the stuff already.  But what I didn't know was how to really apply all of that to an elementary classroom.  As a teacher, this will be very important to know and use.  I really believe that art can open a lot of doors for students, and that it is very important in the classroom.  Art is a way of expressing yourself, and students need something like that.  I loved when we did the activity where we discussed the different pieces of art hanging around the room and what elements and principles they included in them.  Doing this in a classroom can allow students the practice of being able to see that on their own.  They could be looking at a piece of art, or even something in nature and pick out those different elements and principles they see.  I want to prepare to effectively teach my students by learning as much as I can about it so that I can incorporate it in to my classroom.  I want to get as many idea's and different activities I could do.  I really liked doing the group project on the illustrator because it's something that can easily be applied in school.  It allows students to see that illustrators are artists and that they can copy their technique or use it to get ideas of things they can do on their own.  My group for the project all worked very well together.  We picked an artist and put our heads together to come up with our activity of cutting out the paper and layering it as did David Wisnieski.  I contributed by helping make the hand out, helping come up with the idea of what we could do, and by bringing some of the materials for our class activity.

Reflection #1: The Arts and Me

Art has always been a very important part of my life.  Before I switched my major to Elementary Education, I was going into Graphic Design.  I loved all the classes and the experience that I had majoring in art.  When I was little I always loved doing the art projects in elementary school.  It was my chance to be creative and make something.  I remember having art centers and learning to draw different things.  I also remember in 6th grade I had painted a sunflower and I had been lazy and painted the leaves all just plain yellow.  I showed my teacher and she said something to the effect of it being kinda boring because it was all one color and sunflowers really aren't like that.  It got me thinking and motivated me to do more, and I added some different shades and it turned out pretty dang cool when I was done, if I do say so myself.

I feel that art plays a huge role in education.  Schools today are making cuts to save money and art is usually the first thing to go.  I loved the clip we saw in class where art was being integrated into the classroom, because it really showed what a positive impact art can have on students and education.  There are many assignments and projects that can be done for science or history, or any other topic that can include art in them.  Art can be a part of the daily routine if the teacher puts forth a little bit of effort.  As a teacher I want to make sure I include art in my classroom.

This semester I hope to learn new techniques and ways of incorporating art in to the classroom.  I want to get as many ideas as I can so that I can use them when I am a teacher in my own classroom, and also use them during my field experience.